Psalm 1: Planted

I love to write. Unfortunately, over the last couple of years I have written much less than I had wanted or even needed to and so, in this new year I have resolved to write more. The truth is, I’ve resolved that each of the last few years but not followed through, so this year I’ve tried to put some structure to my resolution and my hope is to write my way through the Psalms in the course of 2019, some thoughts about a new Psalm every couple of days. I’m sure that this will be beneficial for me, I pray that God might be generous enough to make it of some use to you as well.   

Psalm 1 is a familiar if not famous passage: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” The Psalmist is asking us to question the source of our information, the formation of our thoughts and whose influence we are allowing into our hearts. The verbs simply describe life. Walking, standing, sitting, they are simply the positions of life and so the question that is being raised is, “Who or what are we living from?” How do we make our decisions, what has informed our beliefs and our opinions, who have we given our ear and our hearts to? These questions are all important because it is impossible to be married to the culture and still pilgrims in the world, it is unreasonable for us to believe that we can be conformed to the pattern of the world and the image of the Son at the same time. The Psalmist begins by making a statement that asks a question, “Who are you listening to?” 

He then contrasts the first statement with his second, “But his (the blessed man, the one who walks, stands and sits not in the way of the culture) delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.” The word translated as “delight” means much more than enjoyment or happiness. It describes something that not only creates deep enjoyment, but also peace, satisfaction and contentment. The Word of God, as it reveals the character of God, settles our souls, it comforts our dissatisfaction, it eases the weariness of our minds. The thoughts of our culture send us chasing the next or the better thing, the Word of God settles us into resting in the fact that we have, like Mary of Bethany, been found by “the better part”. The meditation on God’s law is simply a determining to focus on it. It’s making the character of God, as found in the truth of His Word, the foundation or the baseline for how we believe about God, how we think of others and how we view ourselves. It’s hearing what the culture says, but living from what has been written, it’s not letting the current moment upset the eternal truth. 

The Psalmist describes this person, the one who turns his ear and heart from the current trend and chooses to find his way and his home in the ancient path, as a “tree planted by rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not whither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” This is the part that truly struck me recently. A tree planted by water does not need external provision. What I mean is this, that tree is not dependent upon the circumstance for its sustenance, it’s been planted by the source of its life. The Psalmist is trying to teach us that circumstances will change, life will rise and fall, as Jesus said, tomorrow will have worries of its own, but our sustenance, our hope, our future, our promise, or our identity do not have to be dependent upon our circumstances. We can be at peace while surrounded by strife. We can be sure while living in unsurety. We can be comforted while living in grief. We can be embraced even when we are living all alone. The question we return to, is who are we giving our ear and our hearts to? Do we allow what we expected to undermine what God promised? Do we allow what was spoken to lessen what’s been written? Do we quickly uproot and look for the next place of temporary provision or do we stand still, dig deep and trust that if we hide God’s Word in our heart, God Himself will never be hidden from us?

The Psalmist says that this person is like a tree that always bears fruit and is always prosperous. In other words, the person is productive, his life is not easy, but his days are content and just as he has found his satisfaction in God’s Word, God Himself is satisfied, even delighted with him. It describes someone that is stable, secure and established. He goes on to write that the ungodly, those who don’t know God, who don’t trust Christ, who have no delight in His Word, are not so, in fact, they are “like chaff which the wind drives away.” Paul used similar language in the book of Ephesians when he said that until we are mature in Christ, we have a tendency “to be tossed by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching”. I can’t speak for you, but I’m tired of being so easily moved. I’m weary of having every circumstance that doesn’t go as I had hoped, planned or expected leave me questioning myself, my decisions or God’s presence. I’m ready to be stable when life isn’t, to be settled when everything is up in the air and to be sure even when everything changes. I want to be one planted by the water rather than one who roams about looking for new places to drink. I’m ready to close my heart and my ears to the noise around me and find my contentment in the character of the One who has promised to come and write His Word inside of me. I wonder if you would join me in a new journey this year, a journey to not just read, preach, teach or understand God’s Word, but a journey to delight ourselves in it, to find our contentment in it, to flip the script and use Scripture to answer the questions of our hearts rather than using our hearts to ask questions of the Scripture? I want to be the man who stands outside of the influence of the culture and who sits down in the truth of God’s Word.