Psalm 1: The Blessed Man and The Law of God

Psalm 1

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;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law, he meditates day and night.
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.
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
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.

1 - Setting up How to See and Pray the Psalm (Background)

This Psalm is an interesting one in that it is a wisdom Psalm. It sets out to tell us something about how the world is rather than being a straightforward prayer. It isn’t designed primarily around praise or petition (wherein we ask God to do particular things). It is here to teach us about the world and how to live in it. All the Psalms do this implicitly while doing other things, but Psalm 1 does it explicitly. It is fascinating, too, that this is the Psalm chosen to open this whole book of songs. It sets out a paradigm for this collection of songs, namely, to delight in and meditate on the Law of God. The Psalms are how God’s people set their minds on God’s words - applied in myriad ways. When we come to other Psalms, we find ourselves learning how to speak in the presence of God, but Psalm 1 establishes the world in which that sort of prayer or song takes place.
Which is an important point in and of itself. This isn’t describing some idealized world or Christianized version of the world we should seek to live in; rather, it describes the world everybody lives in - whether they believe it or not. When the Psalmist opens by declaring a blessing on a man who does certain things and doesn’t do other things, he isn’t wishing for that blessing but simply stating a fact about the world that God has made. This is the blessed man. This is what a blessed man does and doesn’t do. We tend to live in a world where we pretend to be little gods, deciding what sort of world we live in for ourselves and describing the blessings we want and don’t want. But the wisdom of the bible is to describe the world as it actually exists - and you can either conform to that wisdom or rebel against it - but we don’t get to change how the world actually *is.*

2 - Observations

Notice the progression in the first section of this psalm: The blessed man doesn’t walk, stand, or sit with the ungodly. The Psalm begins by establishing an antithesis in the behavior of the one who is blessed and the life of those who disregard or scoff at the Law of God. This flies in the face of how we moderns tend to view the world. We do not add Christianity as a supplement to how we live - say we generally accept how a secular culture sees the world, simply tacking on a bit about grace and sexuality and maybe kindness. The Law of God speaks to all of life and is a claim to all aspects of our life in the world. Here is a loyalty to God and his word that sets us apart from what is accepted as usual ways of living by the world. What is the *way* of your living? It is speaking in a very general way about every single part of our lives - not merely some religious aspect of life, but every part of it. Marriage, children, work, worship, other relationships, politics, leadership - there isn’t any part of life outside the scope of what Psalm 1 is about.
It’s also crucial to see that it only offers us two options. There is the wicked and the godly. There is no neutral way of being in the world. We don’t like this. In every area of life, there is a way that accords with godliness, and there is a way that is wicked or ungodly. There is a way that will lead to life and flourishing and fruitfulness (in its season), and there is a way that leads to perishing and being blown away like chaff.

One more observation before we look at the critical distinction in the Psalm - the way the Psalmist uses the language of knowing and judgment in verses 5 & 6. God knows the course of the righteous. This isn’t merely a kind of cognitive awareness - this is covenantal language. The righteous ones belong to God. He keeps them. He protects them. He loves them. The alternative to this knowing is to perish, to face destruction. The contrast is between those who will be unable to stand before God the judge and those who not only can stand before God the judge but are also known by Him - they are his.

So what marks these two very different sorts of lives: The unblessed man, or the wicked man, is the one who lives according to the counsel or the wisdom of the ungodly. He is the one who lives in the way of those who have rejected God’s law, who do not do what God says, who do not believe what God says, and who do not recognize God’s authority. The blessed man is the one who meditates on the law of God and delights in the law of God. One learns how to understand life and wisdom and marriage and sex and politics and money and friendships from those who disregard what God has said to us in his law, and the other learns these things from God himself through His law.

One will know only fruitless destruction and judgment. The other will know life and fruitfulness and will be known by God.

3 - Applications, or How to Live in the Light of this Psalm

The most obvious thing this Psalm leads us to do is to meditate on God’s words. To learn to love and trust and obey God’s words. But we must do so as those seeking to see everything in our lives and the world through the lens of God’s law. There is no arena where what God teaches us there is not relevant. It offers us wisdom in all of life, our business dealings, civic issues, social issues, and our worship among God’s people. Do not let any part of your life be siloed from the instruction of God. You should seek the Lord’s counsel - from his word in every difficulty, relationship, and business deal. Parents’ do not let any part of your children’s lives be siloed from the instruction of God - their education should be saturated with God’s law, and your home should be rooted in God’s book. May your life be planted by this stream of water and bear the fruit that such a life is promised to return.

Next week, we’ll consider Psalm 2. But for the remainder of this week, I want to encourage you to read this Psalm, pray this Psalm, and memorize this Psalm.