Dwell in the Word: Psalm 1

Consider these questions as you Dwell on Psalm 1 today:

What does it mean to be a blessed person according to Psalm 1?

What is the difference between walking in the counsel of the wicked and delighting in the law of the Lord?

What are some practical ways that we can meditate on God's word day and night?

What can we learn from the contrast between the blessed person and the wicked person in Psalm 1?

How can Jesus Christ help us to be the kind of righteous individuals that God desires us to be?

What specific steps can you take this week to delight in God's word and grow in righteousness?

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Transcript:

We come to Psalm 1 today and begin our journey through the psalter, and we see this description of the blessed man, the one who walks not in the council of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners and doesn't sit in the seat of scoffers. As we look at this and if we stopped at that first verse, our idea here would be that this blessed man is blessed because of what he avoids. Yes, that is absolutely true. We want to avoid the wicked and sinners, and we want to make sure that we are not those who scoff. But at the same time, there is an active element to this. The one who is blessed delights in the law of the Lord. They go to God's Word. In fact, it says that on God's law, He meditates day and night. Now, as we look at this word meditates, it's important that we understand what it means in a Biblical context. For us, the idea of meditation is something that's very passive. It's emptying your mind. But the idea of meditation in scripture is very active. In fact, there's an element of plotting to it that this is something that we are deliberate to do to get to know God's word and to have it baked down deep into us, that we immerse ourselves in it.

 We see that when that is done, there is a very good result. The blessed one is like a tree planted by streams of water. That person bears fruit and their leaf doesn't wither. That is a great image. We want to be like that tree, right? But then the Psalmist gives us the contrast, the way the wicked are. The righteous one is like a tree, but the wicked are like chaff. The righteous one bears fruit, but the wicked one is just blown away. What a contrast. Not a weak tree or tree that barely bears fruit or withers occasionally, no, the difference is between a tree that bears fruit and has water and it doesn't wither and chaff. That just blows away. That's completely worthless. That's the way that the wicked are according to the Psalmist. And so what do we read in verses 5 and 6? Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the 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 message continues here. You want to be like the righteous one. You want to be like the blessed one.

 Here is where we're going to really dwell as we think about this Psalm today. As I look at this, I see this, and I say to myself, I want to be that blessed man. I want to be like that. But when I evaluate my life, I find that I don't live up to this. I am not able to do this. I need someone who will do it for me. As we come to the Psalms, we want to remember that Jesus is the one pointed to here. He is the blessed man. And because he has done all of this for me and has given me the gift of faith and has built me up in that faith, I can have confidence that I am blessed. We need to remember that because it is Jesus who unlocks the Psalms for us. When we see our points of failure as we're reading the Psalms, we can remember that the one that is ultimately being pointed to here, the Lord Jesus Christ, he has done this for us. We can live in freedom, desiring to do this, knowing that we already have that victory. We are like a tree that bears fruit and doesn't wither because the Lord Jesus Christ has come to us and he has rescued us and he has given us this amazing gift of salvation and faith.

 We look at the Psalms and we understand that Jesus unlocks them, that when we need to understand how we can live this way, we look to Him. We can have the hope that we find in the Psalms because Jesus has rescued us. And so may we be that righteous person today. May we look to Jesus and desire to delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it that our lives might yield holiness to God's glory.