PSALM 1 - Understanding Your Standing

Namibian trees such as these are fed by huge underground aquifers 

“The Psalms can and should be part of the constant practice of the presence of God. Regularly read from beginning to end, they lead us again and again to consider aspects of life and of God’s will that we might not otherwise choose to remember or confront—let alone to embody in our living. Memorized in chunks the Psalms can provide ready response to the pressing realities of our days. When I have wakened in a panic in the darkness of the early morning hours—submerged in fear, self-pity, or self-doubt—the Psalms have often provided the assurance that my anxieties are known by God, who enlightens my dark places. So, I encourage you to make the Psalms your constant companion. Keep a copy at hand, and keep their words in your mind and heart and on your lips as you meet the challenges of your days and nights.”

Gerald Wilson, The NIV Application Commentary, Psalms Vol. 1

Preliminary Observations

This Psalm divides all of humanity into two categories: the blessed man and the wicked man.   This is a familiar   division in the Scriptures:

·         children of God and children of the devil

·         saved and lost

·         light and darkness

·         sheep and goats

This division is as ancient as the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman in Genesis 3.  We must hold to these two distinctions in our preaching.  Our people must be very conscious as to what category they belong to.

The theme of this Psalm is the present and future blessedness, and the present and future misery of the wicked.  The structure is very simple: it divides into two parts:  1:1-3 is about the blessed man, and 1:4-6 is a description of the wicked man.

The word “blessed” carries the meaning of a deep-seated joy, delight, satisfaction, and contentment in God.  It  refers to  a “holy happiness.”

1 . THE BLESSED MAN  (1:1-3)

Negatively:  1:1  What a godly, happy man does not do and where he  does not go. 

a.  “he does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly” -  the blessed man  is not a follower  of the  teaching of the  wicked. The basis of our knowledge is very important. What we believe leads to what we do and what we become. Epistemology always gives birth to ethics.  When we begin in the wrong place we will end up in the wrong place.  When we listen to what people say about the origin of man we can plot their course. Those that believe   that our origin is from random evolution generally will have a low view of man, and a low view of life – especially the life of the unborn.  Those that believe that our origin is from God, and particularly those that understand the doctrine of the image of God in man, generally will have a high view of man and of life. Your starting point determines the outcome. The place where the believer begins is with the revelation and knowledge of God’s Word. He walks not in the counsel of the wicked.  Sadly, many that call themselves Christians, who claim to have Christian hearts, have non- Christian minds because they walk in the counsel of the wicked. There is a 30 centimeter gap between the head and the heart. They are not connected. Their thoughts are off the world. They are not God’s thoughts.

b.  “he does not stand in the way of sinners” -  the blessed  man  does not desire to hang around  with  the wicked, the sinners, the scoffers. This does not mean that he spends no time in their company - in that case he would have to leave the world (1 Cor. 5:10)  It also does not mean that the blessed or righteous man refuses to reach out to sinners with the gospel. No!  It is just that the company of the ungodly is not attractive to him. It will therefore not be his first choice. He finds no fundamental agreement with them.

c. “he does not sit in the seat of scoffers” - A scoffer is one who mocks and despises someone or something. In this case we see scoffers despising God’s Word, God’s cause, and God’s people. A righteous man cannot sit around their fire. He cannot do both, bless God and curse God. Peter tried that and wept bitterly.  James wisdom asks perceptively, “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?“  (Jas. 3:11)

Please note that there is a downward progression in verse 1:  walk, stand, sit.  You cannot help walking through an ungodly world. You cannot avoid the wicked man, the sinner and the scoffer. But when  at once you  stand still and sit and camp among  ungodly people,  and when you begin to  take your direction from there,  then you  will be tempted  to lose your spiritual direction,  and therefore you will lose the  experience  of blessedness. This however, we are assured, is not where the blessed man finds himself.  

Positively (1:2)

a.  “his delight is in the law of the Lord” -  Again, please note that apart from  standing aloof  of  the  company of the ungodly, he also does  not first seek  the company of godly people, as good as that may be. His first companion is the Word of God! That is what he delights in supremely. To delight in the Word of God is to delight in the God of the Word. Delighting in the Word of God is essential.  What is it essential for?  For our blessedness – our happiness – our true joy – our  heart’s anchor.  When we delight in the law of God we are finding ourselves in the company of God. That is what our salvation is ultimately all about. It is essential for our happiness, for our fruitfulness, for our perseverance, and for our prosperity (all found in 1:3).   The danger of camping in the company of the godly, without being a healthy feeder on the law of God, is that you can easily begin to live off the spirituality of others, and the danger is that when they crash, you crash. The blessed man is the person who has learned to develop a robust relationship with God through His Word.

b.  “on his  law he meditates  day and night ” -  His life is clearly directed  by one Word ! All the issues of life are settled for him by this one Word. He makes it his aim to be a man of one word. When you prick him, His blood is bibline. This was said of John Bunyan. His responses to  life’s challenges, the facing of the wicked, the sinner and the scoffer along  life’s highway, littered with so many challenges, is  one of returning ( even after failure)  to the Word of God, again and again.   

c. “This man is like a tree planted by streams of water…”. He is planted in an environment that will produce fruit. This is true biblical prosperity. (cf. Lk 18:29) Those who walk with Jesus, though they have forsaken all things in order to follow Him , will ultimately lack no good thing in this life, and  in the age to come eternal life.

2. THE WICKED MAN (1:4-5)

With regard to this person we observe the following…

1.  He is spiritually bankrupt:  The wicked  man‘s greatest  deficiency  is not only  in the moral sense   as he walks in the counsel of the wicked; stands in the way of sinners; sits in the seat of scoffers. His greatest deficiency is his absence of delight in the law of the Lord - the Word of God.

2. He has no weight to hold him down when the storms of life assault his foundations:  “He is like chaff that the wind drives away “ (1:4). The New Testament analogy may be found in Matthew 7:24-27.   His foundations are woefully insufficient to withstand the ultimate tests of life. He finds himself unable to stand, because his insufficient foundations cannot uphold him. A man or woman may be naturally strong, but something happens - a crisis moment, or perhaps the day when their bodies become frail, when they are  reduced to nothing, finding  themselves woefully unprepared  for  the ultimate questions  of life.  This leads us to the next thought in 1:5 .

3.  The downfall of the wicked man: “the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous“ (1:5).  Two things  are worth considering here:  A  wicked man (better  described as a  godless man) strong and capable in this life  as he was, suddenly finds  that he  has no advocate  before the  great white  judgement throne of Jesus.  He suddenly will find that he has no basis for entrance into heaven. He has no place in the congregation of the righteous, for the righteous on earth  ALONE  will be the congregation of the righteous  in heaven. The  blood of Christ  - the  sign and seal of the eternal covenant, received by grace through faith in Christ  alone   will be our only access  into heaven.

3. THE BOTTOMLINE - 1:6

The Lord knows the destinies of both – the righteous, blessed man and the wicked man.

However, experientially, and from our perspective the basis of knowing  deciding where  we stand begins  with  what we make of the law of God – and therefore the God of the law- Christ being the end of the law.

If you love the world and worldly wisdom, that will lead you to into an everlasting perishing. You will not stand in the judgement; you will not be found in the congregation of the righteous.

But if you love the law of God, and the God of the law – the end of which is the Lord Jesus, you will stand in the judgement. You will not be accused, and you will stand in the  congregation of  the righteous .

Who is shaping your  thinking?

 Your eternal destiny depends upon an accurate , honest answer  to this question !