Sunday Psalter: Psalm 1
[The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked]
[1:1] 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;
[2] but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
[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.
[4] The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
[5] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
[6] for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
(Psalm 1 ESV)
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Blessed is this man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the seat of scoffers, nor stand in the way of sinners, but delights in the law of the LORD. This man’s delight is in the Torah, the first 5 books of the Old Testament. This man, the righteous man, meditates on this law day and night. What’s more, this passage is very reflective of God’s commissioning of Joshua in Joshua 1 when he stepped into the leadership shoes of Moses to lead Israel into the Promised Land. Joshua was called to be strong and courageous and to meditate on the law day and night — when he did this then he would be successful. The promise was conditional. It was conditioned upon Joshua’s obedience to Scripture. His love for the Word.
We, like Joshua, are called to meditate on the law, however, now that we have all of Scripture in front of us we are called to meditate on all of it. We are to meditate on all of Scripture. Soak up all of Scripture. Learn about Jesus from all of Scripture.
In light of all of Scripture, we come to learn about this righteous man who is like a tree planted by streams of water. His name is in fact Jesus. He is the only righteous one. Let us meditate on him. When we do this we become like him. We become like this man planted by streams of water. We become this blessed man, like Joshua, who will then prosper.
