
I have just turned 40 so even though it’s a biblical number, we are going to deviate from 40 to 52 and from days to weeks…that right, I want 2008 to be a day by day experience of delighting in the presence of God. It was on my 40th Birthday that God impressed this chapter on me and I carved out a prayer based on this chapter. I want to expand on that prayer as I challenge us all to a high calling for this new year!
I have a longing for this year for Southside to be a place of deep feeling, sound thinking and right actions. We are on the very cusp of the landswap materializing and a new community being born right around us. There are necessary changes coming and we need to be ready and what better place to get direction than Psalm 1. This chapter gives us godly counsel for us to prospers for all the right reasons.
Over the past years we have walked through many different 40 day challenges from the purpose driven life, to discovering our SHAPE, 40 days of community and last year we walked through 40 days of lent and celebration as we looked at the different feasts of Israel.
Over the past years we have walked through many different 40 day challenges from the purpose driven life, to discovering our SHAPE, 40 days of community and last year we walked through 40 days of lent and celebration as we looked at the different feasts of Israel.
Blessed is the man
The word blessed...
That word blessed can be somewhat overused and bland in the English language. The Hebrew term is much more descriptive, especially with its plural ending. A workable translation would be, "Oh, the happiness, many times over ..."There are two verbs in Hebrew meaning "to bless." One is b rak and the other, ' shar. Psalm 1 uses ' shar. What's the difference you ask? B rak is always used of God or by God; it is something God does or is; it is an act of grace, bestowment. On the other hand, ' shar is always used of and for man; the man who is said to be ' shar has done something to deserve the word being applied to him; it is a congratulating, a place of favour because of a decision made.
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
In this chapter, the reader is presented with some clear cut guidance and you are either moving in the direction of the wicked or the direction of the blessed. We have two directions, two lifestyles, two destinies. The Psalmist is standing at the doorway and calling us to choose life, choose being rooted, choose blessing. Often we think of wicked as being someone who is really evil, but here in this passage the wicked are those who choose to rule out God in their everyday living. One is God centered and the other is self centered.
The clearest example of this in the OT is Abraham and Lot (Gen 13:12-13) Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. (13) Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
Second, Samson thought he could handle a Philistine woman. Compromised values. The inherent risk and danger of dating a non believer
Who do you hold court with, whose words influence you to action. Who is it that you would call a close friend because as an old proverb says, ‘show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are.’ Now there are certainly people hopefully in your life that are acquaintances and those who you love to see come to the Lord. We are talking about a different person here. The environment which you choose affects you. Spend enough time in the company of a person that always cursing and you will find yourself more easily led to curse. Hang out with people who are always doubting their faith and you will too. It is the law of attraction.
or stand in the way of sinners
Do we realize that we are on the wrong path? What does it mean to stand in the way of sinners? Is it that realization that we live in such an affluent culture that a trip to a third world country is what it takes to wake us to the reality that we are all too easily led astray. It is the same path of temptation that our non Christians battle with and it is the want for more. How easily do we adopt our culture’s habits and outlooks?
or sit in the seat of mockers.
To sit in the seat of mockers…is translated dwelling place, to be at home. The shift here moves from the soul to action, from action to decision, from decision to habit and finally habit to stronghold
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
To delight is about the emotions and the thoughts. There is a longing, a yearning to really know the way. It is that motivation that David would also speak of when He said in Psalm 37:4 when we truly delight in Him, He will give us the desires of our heart.
Psalm 132:4,5 I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids,
5 till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob
That is the kind of passion that keeps you awake until You’ve met with God. Pray with me for that fire in our eyes and in our hearts.
Joshua 1:7,8
Do we realize that we are on the wrong path? What does it mean to stand in the way of sinners? Is it that realization that we live in such an affluent culture that a trip to a third world country is what it takes to wake us to the reality that we are all too easily led astray. It is the same path of temptation that our non Christians battle with and it is the want for more. How easily do we adopt our culture’s habits and outlooks?
or sit in the seat of mockers.
To sit in the seat of mockers…is translated dwelling place, to be at home. The shift here moves from the soul to action, from action to decision, from decision to habit and finally habit to stronghold
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
To delight is about the emotions and the thoughts. There is a longing, a yearning to really know the way. It is that motivation that David would also speak of when He said in Psalm 37:4 when we truly delight in Him, He will give us the desires of our heart.
Psalm 132:4,5 I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids,
5 till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob
That is the kind of passion that keeps you awake until You’ve met with God. Pray with me for that fire in our eyes and in our hearts.
Joshua 1:7,8
Delighting involves both our mind and heart. If we neglect the mind we can drift into a wrong understanding of God. If we neglect the heart, then we just have dead orthodoxy. We need to delight with our whole being, mind, emotions and will.
and on his law he meditates day and night
The idea of day and night has also been seen by many as literal morning and evening dwelling on God’s Word but other theologians have picked up on another meaning and that is the understanding of meditating on the LORD…YAHWEH, the personal covenanting God in light and darkness. The day represents when life is good, when we can see what God is doing. The night speaks to the pain, the lack of understanding, the discouragement, the lack of enlightenment.
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)
Mark 1:35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. If it is good for Jesus, it is good for me.
Delighting in the law… it is exciting, pleasing and powerful… it is transforming
Meditating on His Word - the early church fathers used a word called ‘ruminate’ and
For the Jewish people, it was the idea of a clean animal in Leviticus which was chew and rechew its own cud. For us it is that need for 'mental chewing' on the words of Scripture so that it really is absorbed into our being.
Never reduce Christianity to a matter of following rules, demands, resolution and your own willpower. Following Jesus is about who we love, what we delight in and what tastes good to us. John 3:19 states it best that when Jesus,’ the light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light.’ The righteous and the wicked are separated by what they delight in… the revelation of God or the way of the world. So, you say, well, Jack, I’m not feeling it. My answer is this…pray for new taste buds on the tongue of your heart and meditate on the staggering promises of God’ Word.
We don’t naturally do this…we often starve ourselves hungry and then we wonder what’s wrong…you have to pray for the hunger. The ability to delight in God’s wisdom is a supernatural thing and that is why we desperately need to pray for it.
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.
What is your root system like? We can’t see the roots of a beautiful tree. It is the hidden part of your life that makes you strong and beautiful.
Never reduce Christianity to a matter of following rules, demands, resolution and your own willpower. Following Jesus is about who we love, what we delight in and what tastes good to us. John 3:19 states it best that when Jesus,’ the light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light.’ The righteous and the wicked are separated by what they delight in… the revelation of God or the way of the world. So, you say, well, Jack, I’m not feeling it. My answer is this…pray for new taste buds on the tongue of your heart and meditate on the staggering promises of God’ Word.
We don’t naturally do this…we often starve ourselves hungry and then we wonder what’s wrong…you have to pray for the hunger. The ability to delight in God’s wisdom is a supernatural thing and that is why we desperately need to pray for it.
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.
What is your root system like? We can’t see the roots of a beautiful tree. It is the hidden part of your life that makes you strong and beautiful.
George Müller lived from 1805 to 1898 and is famous for establishing numerous orphanages and relying on God for help in remarkable ways. Listen to his testimony about how and why to meditate on Scripture.
While I was staying at Nailsworth, I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished.
What kind of fruit bearing tree do you know that has leaves that don’t wither…this is a very special kind of tree which takes us right back to the garden of Eden…. A place of perfection and real blessing.
The leaf does not wither… this person has joy because they have a vital relationship with God.
The Takeaway:
Three Things
1.There is a place where you can live where there is blessing
2. It comes with a cost, it won’t be easy. Growth in character and righteousness takes time.
3. The more you meditate on His Word, the more you delight in it and the more you delight in Him, the more you will meditate on Him
The goal of meditation is to know God better and to apply his word to our lives. This reaches well beyond just knowing facts about the Bible. It calls us to trust the God of the Bible.
While I was staying at Nailsworth, I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished.
What kind of fruit bearing tree do you know that has leaves that don’t wither…this is a very special kind of tree which takes us right back to the garden of Eden…. A place of perfection and real blessing.
The leaf does not wither… this person has joy because they have a vital relationship with God.
The Takeaway:
Three Things
1.There is a place where you can live where there is blessing
2. It comes with a cost, it won’t be easy. Growth in character and righteousness takes time.
3. The more you meditate on His Word, the more you delight in it and the more you delight in Him, the more you will meditate on Him
The goal of meditation is to know God better and to apply his word to our lives. This reaches well beyond just knowing facts about the Bible. It calls us to trust the God of the Bible.