Psalm 1 (New International Version)
Have you ever noticed the promises in Psalms 1?
Last year I made a choice to start hiding God’s word in my heart through memorization of large passages of scripture. My first large passage of memorization was the book of James. Before I start on another book (I’m leaning toward 1 Peter or 1 Timothy) I wanted to add Psalms 1 to my memorization and medidiation scriptures (for obvious reasons).
In memorizing and processing this passage, I was amazed at the promises God makes us in just these few verses.
v1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
The first word… “Blessed”… I was a bit surprised in looking up this word and discovering that it meant “Happy”. The hebrew word is :
H835
אשׁר
‘esher; eh’-sher
From H833; happiness; only in masculine plural construction as interjection, how happy!: – blessed, happy.
There are many action words in this one verse. walk … stand … sit … Looking them up I saw that they mean:
- Walk – behave; be conversant in, travel, wander, follow, go along with, etc.
- Stand – abide; continue in; endure
- Sit – dwell; settle; continue; inhabit
The objects of the action words are also interesting to look up in the original Hebrew:
- Counsel – advice; plan
- Way – path; road; course of life
- Seat – site; an abode; an assembly; a dwelling place
So verse 1 could be rewritten to say, “Happy is the man who is not conversant in the plans of the wicked or continues in the course of life of the sinner or settles in the abode of the mockers.”
v2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
delight:
חפץ
chêphets; khay’-fets
From H2654; pleasure; hence (abstractly) desire; concretely a valuable thing; hence (by extension) a matter (as something in mind): – acceptable, delight (-some), desire, things desired, matter, pleasant (-ure), purpose, willingly.
The word of God becomes our pleasure… our desire… a valuable thing. Because of its value to us, we desire to meditate on it day and night.
How true is that with other things? How many people do we know who meditate on getting power? money? things? fame? How many people meditate on the negative? the “what if’s”? the things beyond their control? How many hours are wasted learning stats and facts about every sports figure under the stars? What good does that do? What hope does any of this bring?
I believe God wired us this way – to meditate on something. Our brain processes so fast, that it has to be kept busy. I used to be a programmer and the old addage of “garbage in = garbage out” is so true in our own lives. According to Psalms 1:1-2 happiness does not come from CNN, ESPN, FoxNews or Martha Stewart. Our delight comes from the Word of God.
v3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
OK. Did you see the promises? You just read them. Read v3 again.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water…
I could write a separate blog on this part… but lets just say the tree is the man who is continually being fed.
… which yields its fruit in season…
Promise 1: Seasons come regularly. Every year there is a Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Each season has its purpose. There are seasons of planting, watering, harvesting and replinishing. I believe God is saying here that we will have our seasons and they will come regularly. Our tree (us) will be well fed and (spiritually) healthy and will produce its fruit (whatever God has called you to) each and every season. With each season, comes more fruit and more fruit produces more trees (Spiritually reproducing). With each season, a tree becomes more and more firmly planted into the ground.
… and whose leaf does not wither.
Promise 2: I believe this is a promise that we will not miss a season of yeilding fruit. He Hebrew word for this is “nabel” and it means to sink or drop down; languish; fade – crumble away.
Whatever he does prospers.
Promise 3: “does” – an action word. This is my responsibility to “do” something. The word “prospers” means exactly what is says. It means to advance, to make successful, succeed, thrive, be victorious. God will make us victorious in our “doing”.
Take Aways:
- For me, this passage is a great encouragement for the continued “doing” of memorizing Scripture and meditating on God’s word. I believe the continual processing of the “good stuff” (the God stuff) continues to transform me until Christ’s return.
- Secondly, it is an encouragement to go and “do” knowing that I will prosper and be victorious in bearing my fruit in its season.
- Thirdly, I will watch with open eyes to see what season the Lord has me in, knowing that each season will be followed by a different season with a different purpose.
Running After Papa…