There is a choice for all of mankind – who are you going to give yourself to? A choice between blessings and curses, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self and darkness. Psalm 1, echoed in the Beatitudes, walks through who God blesses.
It begins with a negative – what we are not to do. It paints a picture of a man sliding into temptation, from walking along, to stopping to listen, to sitting and engaging in wickedness directly. Paul uses these same terms in Ephesians to paint the opposite, the deepness of the relationship with Christ that we are offered.
The first positive attribute of this blessed man is “delight in the law of the Lord.” The instructions of God are not simply rules and regulations but God’s outstretched hand to His people, to be grasped in joy. How much moreso for us now, with the Law fulfilled in the person and work of Christ?
The blessed man is compared to a fruit tree, firmly planted (and planted by Someone else, not by itself) by an irrigation stream, specifically and strategically placed in order to bear much fruit.
In contrast, the wicked are like the leftover husks of wheat, blowing away as the farmers separate the grain from the garbage. It is a picture of God’s judgement that we see throughout the scripture.
This fruit vs. chaff dichotomy is one of several in this brief Psalm as the psalmist walks us towards the ultimate end of both the righteous and the wicked. The one knowing and known by God – the other, perishing. The psalm is a call to right living, right thinking, right speaking as we seek that relationship with God.
The term “meditate” here means to mutter or even growl. It’s like the grunt of effort as you pull up brambles, it’s like the gargling as we fill our mouths with the word of God. It’s like the savoring of the flavors of good wine or good coffee, engaging in the depth and nuance of the word. As Spurgeon says, “Not by hasty reading, but by deep meditation, we profit by the Word of God.”
The task set in front of us is not easy – the mockers, sinners and wicked are all around us – and even within us, in the form of the Old Man. All our natural inclinations are towards what is easy and selfish. It takes time and difficult effort to train ourselves away from this. The Psalmist here is begging us to engage in that training, drinking deep of the training manual we have been given.
Jesus tells us about the importance of being known by God: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Ultimately this is the most important thing there is – and through Christ’s fulfillment of the law we are given His righteousness, bringing us the blessings promised here.
But we still seek to live out what we have been given, seeking to delight and meditate on the words of God and the Word incarnate. We seek to be, in the words of Isaiah, “oaks of righteousness,” drinking deep from the well of truth and love that we have set before us.
– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, May 30, 2021