Psalm One

“The Pathway to Blessing”

The Psalter opens with two orphan psalms,¹ followed by the Davidic Psalms 3-41.² These first two psalms are a strategic introduction to the hymnbook of Israel. They announce boldly that we enter the worship of God through the double door of His Word (Ps. 1) and His Son (Ps. 2). In fact, several medieval manuscripts of the Psalter had the first psalm written in red ink, and without any number.³ That is because Psalm 1 was for centuries understood to be an introduction to the Psalter. Jerome, the fourth century scholar, described it as “the Preface of the Holy Spirit” to the Psalter.

Psalm One is a wisdom psalm as evidenced by: (1) the beatitude formula, “blessed is”; (2) the contrast of the righteous and ungodly; and (3) the theme of the importance of God’s Law.

In this psalm, the reader is immediately confronted with a profound truth. There are two paths that govern one’s life and destiny. The psalmist builds a compelling case to choose the path defined by devotion to God’s Word.

Outline

1. The Way of Blessing (1:1-3)

   1. Negatively Considered

   2. Positively Considered

      1. Nourished

      2. Fruitful

      3. Durable

2. The Way of the Wicked (1:4-5)

3. The Concluding Contrast (1:6)

Exposition

I. The Way of Blessing (1:1-3)

A.Negatively Considered

“How blessed⁴ is the one

Who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly,

nor stand in the path of sinners,

nor sit in the assembly⁵ of scoffers” (v. 1)

The psalm concerns the “blessed” person. To be blessed is to have a rich and full happiness⁶ that is born of God-given security and prosperity.

Notice that God begins the psalm not with the power of positive thinking, but with the dangerous influence of negative thinking and company. There is a lesson there for all of us. Sometimes we underestimate the value of abstaining from negative things. If we are to live under God’s blessing, then we must be intentionally negative about some things (2 Peter 1:4).

Notice also the three-square progression; that is, there are three different levels of three different categories. First, there is a progression of identification: walk, stand, and sit. This pictures a movement toward a more fixed posture; from casual association to complete identification.

There is the progression of the nouns: counsel, path, and assembly. Here we see movement from their words to their walk to their identity.

Finally, there is the progression of the person influencing: from ungodly (those not related to God in covenant, and guilty before Him) to sinners (those who live in intentional rebellion against His will) to scoffers (the arrogant, verbal enemies of God).

This progression illustrates the normal experience of sinful descent, the downward spiral of morality apart from the experience of God’s grace. Sinners tend to go from bad to worse.

Key: To walk in God’s blessing we must not believe like, behave like, or belong to the realm of wicked men.

B.Positively Considered

“But his delight is in the Law of the LORD,

And in His Law he meditates day and night.”

He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,

Which yields its fruit in its season,

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.” (vv. 2-3)

What defines the path of blessing? The answer is two things: delighting in and meditating on God’s Word. The Scripture has both the affection and the attention of one who is blessed.

To delight in God’s Law, or His Word, is to treasure it and find pleasure in receiving it. Notice he delights in God’s Word, which then brings him blessing, or happiness. Here our pleasure is in the source (God’s Word) and the flow of the stream of blessing. This is Christian hedonism in its glory – steady pleasure in the riches of Christ.

When David considered the effects of the Scripture on us (revival, wisdom and joy), he described God’s Word as, “more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:10)

Job said, “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).

The prophet Jeremiah reflected on his own experience of God’s Word, saying, “Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.” (Je. 15:16)

These testimonies of David, Job and Jeremiah should be our own testimonies. Each of us should celebrate the sweetness and precious effect of God’s Word. We should treasure His Word more than our necessary food.

The word “meditate” means “to recite quietly” or “to ponder while speaking to oneself.” Augustine translated it “chatter”. It pictures someone speaking the Word of God to himself, trying to persuade himself of something about it; perhaps to embrace a principle of it, or to make a specific application of it.

“Day and night” is a merism, a figure of speech wherein a pair of words or phrases that are extremes represent everything in between. The man who is blessed is the man who meditates on God’s Word at any, and all, times.

“O, how I love Thy law, it is my meditation all the day… How sweet are Thy words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (119:97,103)

What is the result of delighting in and meditating on God’s Word? The psalmist uses an extended simile to describe the life of such a one. He is like a tree. He then describes three things about this tree that parallel the life of one absorbed with God’s Word.

1. Nourished

The person whose affections and attention are pointed at God’s Word is like a tree planted by streams of water. When someone delights in and meditates on Scripture, he sets down deep roots into a reservoir of truth and grace that will never run dry – one that refreshes, revives, heals, cleanses, strengthens, and satisfies those who draw from it.

2. Fruitful

“If you delight in the Word of God and meditate on it day and night you will yield your fruit in season. You will be a fruitful person. O for more fruitful people! You know them. They are refreshing and nourishing to be around. You go away from them fed. You go away strengthened. You go away with your taste for spiritual things awakened. Their mouth is a fountain of life. Their words are healing and convicting and encouraging and deepening and enlightening. Being around them is like a meal. This is the effect of delighting in the Word of God and meditating on it day and night. You will yield fruit in season.” ⁷

3. Durable

“[Another] illustration of your blessing if you delight in the Word of God and meditate on it day and night is that your leaf does not wither. The point here is that the hot winds are blowing and the rain is not falling and all the other trees that are not planted by streams are withering and dying, but in spite of all the heat and drought, your leaf remains green, because delighting in the Word of God and meditating on it day and night is like being planted by a stream. The happiness of this person is durable. It is deep. It does not depend on which way the wind is blowing or whether the rain is falling. It gets its life from an absolutely changeless source: God in his Word.”⁸

So if you want to be nourished, fruitful, and durable, then delight in and meditate on the Word of God.

2. The Way of the Wicked (1:4-5)

“The wicked are not so! Instead,

they are like the chaff, which the wind drives away.

Therefore, the wicked cannot stand in judgment,

Nor can sinners stand in the assembly of the righteous.”

By contrast, the wicked are not fruitful and durable. They are like chaff, having no value and are discarded in judgment.

The image is taken from the threshing floor, which was a hard, flat surface on a hill for exposure to the wind. The wheat was first ground, then scooped up and tossed into the air with a winnowing tool. The heavy, precious grain would drop to the ground. The wind would blow the broken straw and husks, called chaff, away. The chaff would usually be gathered and burned (Matt. 3:12).

This simile speaks to the lack of value and the destiny of the wicked. They will be separated from the righteous, and they will perish (in eternal judgment).

2. The Concluding Contrast (1:6)

“For the Lord knows (and favors) the way of the righteous,

But the way of the wicked will perish.”

“To ‘know’ is more than to be informed (as in 139:1-6): it includes to care about, as in 31:7..., and to own or identify oneself with.”⁹ It involves watchful care and love.¹⁰ Hence, the NIV translates it, “watches over.” It speaks of a close relationship. God knows the way of the righteous because they are His. He communes with them in their walk, and He smiles on them and watches over them. But the way of the wicked will perish.

In this preface to the Psalter, the Holy Spirit says, “Treasure the words you are about to read. Delight in them and meditate upon them. They will nourish you and sustain you. They will make the fruit of your life sweet and durable. The Lord will then delight in your walk.”

A Challenge to Delight In

and Meditate On the Word of God

A man in Kansas City was severely injured in an explosion. Evangelist Robert L. Sumner tells about him in his book The Wonders of the Word of God. The victim’s face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands. He was a new Christian, and was very disappointed that he could no longer read the Bible.

Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion. One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. Like a flash he thought, “I can read the Bible using my tongue.” At the time Robert Sumner wrote his book, the man had read through the entire Bible four times, using only his tongue.¹¹

How precious is the Word of God to you?

A Concluding Illustration

[Margaret Nikol grew up in Bulgaria under one of the most repressive Communist regimes in history. As you'll hear from her testimony in just a few moments, her father was a pastor as was her brother. She grew up in a time in Bulgaria when Bibles were not accessible to believers.

As she was growing up in Bulgaria, Margaret was trained to be a professional violinist. Then when she was in her mid-thirties, she was exiled to the United States.

What follows is her testimony as spoken on Nancy DeMoss’s radio program.]

Margaret Nikol: When I came here, I had two most prized possessions. I had my violin and I had one page from God's Bible. Only one page. Probably you would ask me, "Why didn't I buy myself a Bible?" In our country, we did not have it. The Communists took power and they confiscated God's Word from churches. ... They went to houses and confiscated the Bibles available in our country.

How did I get my page? A lady from our church--she was reading her Bible one night and they came; (they were) talking at the door with her husband. Did they want to confiscate her Bible? She thought, No. Never my Bible. She sat on it. They looked for hours in her house everywhere, but not under her skirt. There was the Bible.

Then she came to church. Tearing it page by page, she shared with us her Bible with tears in her eyes. I was so happy I didn't get one from Numbers. I had a very good page--Genesis 16 and 17--the promise of God to give Abraham and Sarah a son. But I never was able in my country to turn to chapters 18 and 19 and 20.

It was close to Christmas when I came [to America]. The second Sunday when I went to the same very small church, next to me, were sitting an old couple. It turned out they were German immigrants after the First World War. So we were able to communicate in German. I told them, "I am ten days in America." I was so excited.

They said, "We would like to give you a Christmas present. What would you like? Let's go shop until we drop." I didn't. Do you know why? Because I was twelve when I got my page. For 25 years I had prayed, "Lord, I so want to have Your Word." When they asked me, I said, "If possible, I would like to have a Bible."

The next morning they came. Can you picture me? The woman with one page for her entire life. They took me to a Bible bookstore. Seeing all the shelves--black, green, brown, red Bibles! I stood there like stone in the middle of that bookstore and wept and cried. I got a Bible and hugged it to my chest. I wept and wept. My friends--it was joy at first, but then it became sorrow…

The first person I told was my brother. He was a pastor in Bulgaria, heading a 1500-member church and he preached from a couple of pages copied by his own hand. I said, "But Lord, what about them? They cannot all come here."…

The Lord gave me the greatest honor on earth. I was able with another couple--they were my team--to translate the New King James Bible into the Bulgarian language. I was in Bulgaria with 10,000 Bibles printed in the country--this very same Bible. The pastors of that country had their first conference in freedom. My brother was the last martyr. Twenty-two days later, Bulgaria became a free country because the Berlin Wall came down…

In 1993 when I went, they met for the first time – all the pastors. I would like you to picture this, my friends. In that hall, when I entered with the Bibles and with my own hands I could give them--each pastor got their first Bible--the joy and the tears and the gratefulness of their hearts and the prayers which went for you--for the American Christians who sent them the Bibles. On their behalf, I'd like to thank you.

I'd like to thank you as Christians, but on the same token, I'd like to challenge you. Anytime you take your Bible for granted, I pray that the Holy Spirit will remind you of this page. If not, it represents only Margaret Nikol. No. Millions of your brothers and sisters around the world are still on their knees praying for God to bring them His Word.

For me, the most sinful corners in every church I have been in and seen is "Lost and Found." The most lost items and never looked for are the Bibles. That's how much we appreciate them. I challenge you tonight to cherish your Bible. Thank God that in our country we can go to bookstores anywhere and in such abundance look at God's Word.

January 13, 2003 Radio broadcast,

Revive Our Hearts, with Nancy DeMoss.