"Blessed is the man..." Psalm 1:1-6

Key Verse 1:2-3: '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, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.'

As we live in this postmodern time, the principle of life seems to be gone. So it is really hard to choose how we should live. I had a chance on YouTube, which describes why the Chinese economy became worse. The economic policy of the current president, Xi Jinping, is different from the previous president, Deng Xiaoping, who initiated the Reform and Opening-up program that introduced elements of market capitalism to the Chinese economy. Deng Xiaoping established economic policies to deliver China from extreme poverty and currently became the second-largest economy in the world. However, President Xi, who thinks that China is the center of the world, carries out all policies based on his China-centered and communist mind. Many economists examine that current China's economy is collapsing. Why I mention this story is that the way we choose is crucial for life or perishing, for a blessed country or collapsing, not only for individuals, families, and communities but also for a nation. I believe everyone desperately wants a blessed life. However, many of them misunderstand what the true blessed life is, and moreover, they don’t know how to live a blessed life.

Psalm 1 especially contains the main theme for the whole 150 psalms. It basically introduces two contrasting ways of life: the picture of the godly or the ungodly and shows the outcome and fruit according to these lives. It teaches us the principle of the blessed life. Saint Augustine even mentions that the book of Psalms is the mirror of the soul that helps us see and examine our inner soul, whether we go the right way or not. Let’s study it one by one so that it may give us a clear direction for our life in 2024!

Part one - The blessed man (1-3):

Look at verse one! 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. What do you think the blessed one is? People think the blessed one is those who successfully manage their own business. Some people may think that their positions are dramatically promoted, and they finally receive a high position with all authority and respect. It is our common sense of the blessed. However, the psalmist tells a different view. Verse one of verse 1 is very strange from the view of common people. The Blessed in Hebrew word here means 'to go straight without straying.' Let’s study each sentence one by one to understand it deeply!

The man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked:

As we live in this world, everyone desperately needs advice and counsel whenever we encounter decisions or projects. It is essential for our life. We look for the source of our counsels through near friends, family members, examples of renowned people, or even technology such as ChatGPT or Google search. It is greatly helpful for us to have advice in a reasonable and balanced way through that information. Our standard stick will be how relevant it is for us. But the Psalmist’s standard stick is different. The King James Version of Verse 1a is 'Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.' The standard stick of the blessed is whether it is godly or not. If you study the books of 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, or 2 Chronicles, there are many kings of Israel and Judah. There are only two opposing descriptions of them even though their lives were written in detail: right in the sight of the Lord or evil in the sight of the Lord. No one is perfect. Everyone can make mistakes and fall into sins. However, each of us has our own inner value system and somehow a standard stick. The wicked in this verse indicates those who basically chose an ungodly way.

Many people do not concern or care about godly or ungodly. We probably concern whether it is successful or not more than godly or ungodly when we encounter some critical decision or life. But we probably care whether God may sit at our side or not. The other explanation is what we do to please God or not. So, if we walk in the counsel of the ungodly, our life will progressively go to the ungodly way, which is against God.

 In history, where there were good kings, there were godly prophets, godly wives, or godly helpers. There were four kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah while the prophet Isaiah was alive; Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah had listened to the prophet Isaiah’s counsels except Ahaz. Judah was successful while they had reigned because God's protection and blessing were with them. However, King Ahab had a wife who was Jezebel, an idol worshiper, helping Ahab to abandon Yahweh and establish the religion of Baal in Israel. He pursued to remove God’s priests and God’s temples in Israel and established the temple of Baal in Israel. At that time, a great famine occurred due to King Ahab’s sin of idol worship. Even though Ahab repented of his sin, God told him that he would bring disaster upon his house in his son’s days because of his sins. It is crucial whose counsel we listen to and walk with their counsel. If we walk with the counsel of the ungodly, we go to an ungodly life. Look at this ungodly world that bombards all kinds of ungodly trash upon us daily! Without meditating on the Bible or a daily devotion book daily, it is really hard for us to keep our godly life.

Nor stands in the way of sinners:

If we walk in the counsel of the ungodly, the next step of our life progressively stands in the way of sinners. If we listen to the counsel of an ungodly way, our soul spiritually becomes timid and worldly. Sinner means those who cannot focus on the aim and have strayed from the right way. They easily stray from the aim. The meaning of sin is to stray from the target. Sin makes us astray from our goal, our purpose of life, the will of God for each of us. If we walk in the counsel of the ungodly, our soul becomes timid. Our spiritual desires become dead, and we lose God as well as the purpose of life. We stray from our lives and waste our precious time on aimless things. Moreover, we don’t care about sin and stand in the way of sinners.

Nor sits in the seat of scoffers:

Mockers mean those who ridicule or mock godly people and despise God. Those people unconsciously support the devil's kingdom. Romans 1:21-24 vividly describes it.

 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

When they don’t honor God nor give thanks to God, but become proud, their eyes become blind, they think they are smart and reject God and sit sinners and scoffers.

If they become scoffers, what does God do?  From verse 24-32 of Romans chapter one,  the most miserable sentence, “God gave them up” “God gave them up” is repeated. 

If God gave them up, how much disgust do they become?

Romans 1: 29-31 describes it. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

We don’t know how wicked we become if God’s grace is gone and sin control over us.

Psalm 1:2 describes the true blessed life with positive way. Let’s read it all together!

2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

 Delight in Hebrew is חָפֵץ (khaw-fates'),meaning, ‘to concentrate on in his heart with full of joy’.  These kinds of persons seek God’s word earnestly like the thirsty deer pants for the cool stream of water. The focus of Their life is toward the meditation of God’s word and to look for true deep meaning and if they know true meaning, following of God’s will is also joyous.

They know how very sweet God’s word is through their meditation of it. David who wrote many psalms confessed the word of God is much more precious than fine gold and  sweeter than honey in Psalm 19:10.

“More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”

He also shared how much he delighted it in Psalm 119:131,148 and 166 “I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments.”

 148” My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.”

167” My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly.”

When we saw the movie of ‘Amadeaus’, Mozart’s thoughts and mind were filled with only the composing of music. All sounds were translated as beautiful music through him. He looked like a crazy man. He truly delighted in Music. Likewise when we do something we delight, we are not tired. 

When we delight in the law of the LORD, we meditate on His law without tiredness day and night.

Part two -the outcome of delighting the law of the LORD.

How is the one’s life who delight the law of the LORD? Let’s read verse 3.

 “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.”

Water is essential for a tree to live and grow. Especially, in the area of Palestine, the land is so dry that it is hard to keep water. So water closely symbolized life and blessing in that area. The Psalmist explains the blessed metaphorically through a tree planted by steams of water. Like water is the essence of the tree, the word of the LORD is essential for our lives because the source of blessing is God. The great blessing is that we find God who is the source of all and the foundation of all.

We can find it as the proof through a nation’s history as well as one’s life. After they entered into Cannan, the promised Land, Israel abandoned God and His word based on inferior complex with rich Cannan people. Even though they conquered that nation by God’s mighty power and grace, they forgot what God had done. what happened after that? They began served the Baals. Judge 2:11 describes it. 11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.

The time of degusting judge came to them for 410 years. They were suffered under the gentile’s reign with full of agony and pain during that time. 

When the word of God was rare, even the priest Eli didn’t seriously educate his sons with word of God nor could distinguish the words of God.  His two sons did disgusting action to the offering of God so that not only they were killed in the war as the result of God’s punishment but also Israel were lost their war against Philistines due to Eli’s lack of fearing God. They also lost the ark of the Lord in the hand of Philistines.

"In our practical history, England was so prosperous, and the empire on which the sun never sets, while the zeal for spreading the gospel was alive. When the Puritans came to this New England, their dream was to be a city on a hill, which means an example for all people by God’s reign and for God’s glory. So the constitution of the U.S.A was established based on the Scripture. All colleges, including Harvard, Princeton, and others, were established to raise up pastors or servants of God. God richly blessed this nation. However, now most of the famous colleges have become secular schools, and the some of constitution has changed in a way that goes against the Scripture. Where there is the prosperity of the word of God, I believe, there is God’s presence and blessing.

In this moment, we need to examine ourselves! Where is your heart? Are you alive with a delighting heart toward the word of God? Do you concentrate on the word of God, or do you focus on worldly pleasure or worldly ambition? That is why I earnestly pray that God may revive our soul, church, community, and CMI through the coming international conference! May God give each of the messengers powerful, gracious, and living words of God so that the words of God may mightily penetrate each attendee by the power of the Holy Spirit, and all attendees may connect to God and devote themselves to Christ, as Pauline saw it in her dream!

David tells us what the law of the Lord is and the benefits for us in Psalm 19:7-11.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple;

8 the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

9 the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them, there is great reward.

It is perfect, reviving our soul; it is the truth and God’s wisdom, making us wise. It is right, giving the joy of heaven in our hearts. It is pure, enlightening our eyes to see God and to know God’s will and purpose.

The most privileged part of meditating on the word of the LORD is that we may know who Jesus is. John 1:1,14 teaches us that the word is Jesus. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Part three - The wicked man:

On the other hand, how does the psalmist describe the wicked? (4, 5)

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;

Their lives are like houses with no foundation. Outwardly they may seem good temporarily, but they will be empty after the air is gone at the time of trial. When the wind of life, like temptation or suffering, blows through them, they are blown away like chaff. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

What is the Psalmist’s final conclusion from Psalm 1 with verse 6

“For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

The LORD takes care of those who seek Him and want to follow His will. If our LORD, God watches over us, who shall harm us? Nobody can harm us. He is our rock, shelter, and strength. He will lead those who trust in Him and fear Him. However, how about the wicked? They will perish. Even though they look good, in the end, they will perish. They will ultimately go into eternal darkness.

We live in an unstable and changeable world. People loudly say that there is no truth. It is hard for us to live a godly life in the postmodern society. We shouldn’t forget that God is a sovereign ruler. He is with His people, cares for them, protects them, and blesses them. Who is the blessed? Who is the wise? Matthew 7:24 mentions who the wise are. “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” May we build the house of our lives on the rock of truth! May our delight be in the law of the LORD so that we may experience eternal prosperity and soar on our wings like eagles without growing weary or faint! Let’s read key verse 2-3.