intro to THE psalms seriesThe Answers In Genesis Books of the Bible Cards describes the book of Psalms as ''a book of prayers and hymns meant to draw our attention from ourselves and to our mighty God. It is a collection of praises to our God. The psalms emphasize man's position before a perfect, holy God. This sets God in His rightful place- as Ruler over the affairs of the world and all mankind. The psalms include singing praises, giving thanks, and crying out for help.'' This description of the book of Psalms is what we will find throughout this series. Various people wrote the book of psalms throughout the 150 chapters, but mainly we think of David, Asaph, Moses, and Solomon. In each week of this series, we will dig into a specific psalm (most of the time more than one) and discuss what the psalm talks about and what we can apply from it. This week, we will dive into the first psalm, Psalm 1, which is all about HOW WE CAN LIVE A BLESSED LIFE. breakdown of this chapterBefore we get into this chapter, I just wanted to mention that this chapter, for me personally and for this ministry, is SPECIAL. Verse two, which says ''but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night,'' is the verse that inspired the name and mission of this ministry. I won't get too in-depth with that, but you can read more about my story and how that name came about here! Anyways, throughout this chapter, we will see a comparison of two different people and their ways: the righteous and the wicked. VERSE 1. Verse 1 of this psalm says: ''Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.'' When I was preparing for this week's message, I read a devotional on Psalm 1 from the First5App. The writer pointed out how the psalmist (through God's revelation and wisdom) chose this word, blessed, to be the first Word to begin this VERY LONG BOOK. The writer explained how the psalmist could have chosen ANY OTHER WORD, such as honor or glory or praise or hope, etc; but he chose BLESSED. So the psalmist choosing the word blessed to be the first word shows us what kind of point he is trying to make. Blessed's synonyms are happy, content, and fulfilled. And this chapter is about to show us what the life of a BLESSED PERSON LOOKS LIKE, and just in this first verse, it shows us SO MUCH. There are three keywords in this first verse: walk, stand, and sit. These words make us reflect on the question: WHO ARE WE SURROUNDING OURSELVES WITH? We will break down and go through these three words really quickly and reflect on what this first verse is saying. The first part that goes with the first word walk, says: ''Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked.'' This stirs up the question: Who are the people walking this life alongside us? Who are the people that we are doing life with? Are they a godly or ungodly influence in our lives? The second part, which goes with the word stand, says: ''[Blessed is the one who does not] stand in the way that sinners take.'' This makes us reflect: Am I following God's way or the world's way? Or am I standing in between, knowing that I could only choose ONE? And finally, the third part, which goes with the word sit, says: ''[Blessed is the one who does not] sit in the company of mockers.'' So ask yourself: Who is sitting at your table? Maybe not literally, but who is in your circle of people sitting at your table, or in other words, who are the people you have a close relationship with? These are the people you share everyday life with, the people you get vulnerable with, share your struggles with, and ask to pray for you. This first verse, which gives us those three words (walk, stand, sit), shows us a key point of a blessed person's life: they are careful and aware of the people they surround themselves with and the path they are taking. VERSE 2. Verse 2 says that it is not those who step, walk, or sit with the wicked that are blessed, but those ''whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night.'' This verse shows us A CHARACTERISTIC OF A BLESSED PERSON- their delight is in the law of the Lord. They see God's Word as a delight and joy to study and read, not a burden or to-do list task. And they not only read the Word, but they also MEDITATE ON IT. They chew and digest the words till it becomes the meditation of their heart, and through spending time with the Lord day and night, they gain godly wisdom, knowledge, and encouragement that only comes from God. VERSE 3. Continuing to describe a blessed person, verse 3 says: ''That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither- whatever they do prospers.'' Here a blessed person is compared to A TREE. The streams of water nourish this tree, and no matter what the season, they continue to bear the fruit of God's blessing because of their steadfast spirit in serving the Lord. The tree's leaves do not wither- and whatever they do, PROSPERS! Like, don't we all want everything we do in this life to be prosperous and successful and God's favor and guidance to be upon us everything we do? This is what a blessed person looks like. Verse 3 also says that a blessed person is ''planted by the streams of water.'' To me, that means that a blessed person is ROOTED IN THE LIVING WATER, Jesus Christ. For a blessed person, Jesus is their source of it all, and because of that, they can stand firm and bear fruit NO MATTER WHAT THE SEASON OF LIFE. God is faithful to provide and show favor upon His children! VERSE 4. In contrast to verse 3, verse 4 now describes the WICKED, saying: ''Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.'' So unlike the tree that is rooted by streams of water, the wicked person is like a CHAFF (which is the protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains) that simply flies away with the wind. The wicked will go with the flow of the ways of the world. It's comfortable to live in sin, and ''follow the crowd'' and society, but if we want to live a blessed life, we have to be rooted in Christ stand for His Kingdom. Unlike the blessed person who bears fruit every season, the wicked will be knocked down by the winds and storms of life because Christ is not their foundation and source. VERSE 5. Now we get into verse 5, which shows us the future of the wicked, which says, ''Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.'' This is what Enduring Word Commentary says about this verse: ''Because the ungodly have no “weight,” they will be found lacking on the day of judgment. ''Nor sinners in the congregation (assembly) of the righteous:'' This is true in the future, because sinners will not share the same glorious future of the righteous. It is also true in the present, because sinners sense they do not belong in the congregation of the righteous if they insist on remaining sinners.'' VERSE 6. Finally, verse six summarizes what this chapter has been all about: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. This verse tells us: ''For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.'' So we see here that in the end, the Lord watches over the blessed/righteous person's way and the way of the wicked only leads to destruction. Which brings up the BIG QUESTION FOR US: Which way are we on? how to live a blessed life |
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