The Way of Righteousness

Introduction

In our world and in our society, we delight in a lot of different things…

Some things just really bring us a lot of joy—whether that’s time spent with our families, or watching your favorite show, or sleeping in, or your mother’s cooking…

There are so many things that we delight in—some of which are good things, but often they are not…

For example, some delight in substances such as drugs or alcohol.

Some delight in sexually immoral things.

Some delight in sowing hatred or division.

Devotional

The very first Psalm—Psalm 1—talks about this, about taking delight.

In this Psalm, it tells us what we should take delight in, and the blessings that come from taking delight in that thing.

But first, it lists some things that we ought not take delight in…

Psalm 1 and verse 1 says this:

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers...”

Look at the first word the Psalmist uses here—that word is “blessed...”

In other words, what the Psalmist is going to talk about in verse 2—that thing is going to be a great blessing, a great source of joy and happiness, for the one who partakes of it.

But here in verse 1, these are things that the blessed one will not do.

Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked… nor stands in the way of sinners… nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

Now, the Psalmist uses three different actions and three different groups of people in this verse, but they’re conveying the same message by way of repetition: this is about the one who abides with/in evil.

Instead, the Psalmist offers this alternative in verse 2:

“…but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

It’s to this person that the blessings come—not the one who abides in evil company, but the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord.

Of this person, the Psalmist says (verse 3):

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

To the one who delights in the law of the Lord, to the one who delights in His scriptures, in His precepts, and in his paths, that person is like a tree planted by streams of water.

The tree planted by streams of water has no other need for a source of life—the stream of water is abundant and is able to give it life everlasting—to the point where it yields its fruit in season and its leaves will never wither.

This is the promise of blessing to the one whose delight is in the Law of the Lord…

But the wicked, they do not have this same blessing.

It says of the wicked in verses 4-6:

“The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

The way of the righteous is not the way of the wicked.

While it’s true of the righteous that they are as a tree planted by streams of water, with leaves that don’t wither and with the promise of prosperity, the wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Here one moment, gone in the next.

Righteousness promises sustainability and life everlasting, but wickedness guarantees temporary living and, eventually, death.

Conclusion

Here in Psalm 1 we have two ways of living, and they are at odds with each other.

On the one hand you have the wicked, who are unable to stand in the judgment, and who are guaranteed to perish.

But on the other hand you have the way of the righteous, whose true source of righteousness, whose delight, is in the law of the Lord. Who not only delights in the law of the Lord but meditates on it, who not only abides in it but lets it abide in them.

We have the choice: what will we take delight in? Let us pray…