Most people think of the term "blessed" as something external, a condition conferred on one by another. We think of Isaac blessing Jacob instead of Esau or God blessing Abraham.
Psalm 1 offers a different understanding. The Hebrew term (esher) often translated "blessed" in Psalm 1:1 implies an inner emotion. It means "full contentment" or "overflowing joy." That is why some modern translations of the Bible use the word "happy" as the first word of Psalm 1:1 instead of the word "blessed." The Living Bible uses the phrase "O the joy."
To be "blessed" is to have an inner sense of happiness, according to the psalmist. It is being able to go to bed at night with peace and joy. No matter what others say about you, you are content in the Lord.
Attaining this sense of inner satisfaction is not easy. It involves nothing less than one’s priorities of life. Those priorities, in turn, determine what one does and what one avoids.
The psalmist is clear. There are some things a person must avoid to achieve inner peace. What happens with those things impacts the direction of one’s life, the commitments one makes and the attitudes one conveys.
The psalmist outlines a pattern of behavior that every parent recognizes. Experience teaches that people are likely to reflect the directions, commitments and attitudes of those with whom they associate. If one’s friends value achievement, then achievement is likely to be valued and one’s actions will be in that direction. If mischief is the accepted value, then mischief is likely to characterize the lives of the group.
The psalmist indicates one never outgrows that pattern and warns against "walking in the counsel of the ungodly." He says a person whose directions are like those of the ungodly will inevitably be drawn into commitments that reflect "the way of the sinners," those who have no care for God in their lives.
The end result of this downward spiral is total corruption. One ends up "sitting in the seat of the scoffer" with attitudes that mock God and His call for righteousness. These scoffers are the worst people in the world to look to for guidance, for they understand only the temporary and temporal.
The individual who finds inner peace and joy is the individual who says no to such things and embraces the eternal values of God instead.
The truly happy person is one whose "delight is in the law of the Lord." For this individual, the Word of God is to be treasured. It is to be obeyed. It is to be studied and learned. There is no thought of trying to throw off its teachings or ignore its guidance.
The results are phenomenal. The one whose focus of life reflects the eternal values of God is "like a tree planted by streams of water." He or she is a stable person whose roots are deep in the Lord. He or she understands that the defining characteristic of life is the relationship one has with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
The life of such a person is productive. He or she "yields its fruit in season." His or her life reflects love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22). The New Testament calls these the fruit of the Spirit.
There is a dependability or constancy about such a person. The psalmist says the tree’s "leaf does not wither." Winds of change may blow. Howls of adversity may strike. Through it all, the one whose "delight is in the law of the Lord" is stable and strong, not giving in to forces that would drive him or her this way and that.
"Not so the wicked," those who have chosen the temporary and the temporal. Such people will not stand in the judgment. They will be separated from the righteous.
Interestingly the psalmist assumes there is accountability for one’s decisions. That assumption is not argued. It is simply accepted. God will judge and when He does, the wicked will be good for nothing but to be gathered up and burned as the chaff, or grain husks, was burned to keep it from contaminating the good grain.
The psalmist does not say, "God is going to get them." Rather, he says, "the way of the wicked will perish." God lets them walk in ways they have chosen, and those ways inevitably lead to destruction. It is the same theme the apostle Paul treats in Romans 1, in which he repeatedly describes the wrath of God as "God giving them up to their own ways."
To be sure, God’s ultimate wrath is more than "giving them up to their own ways," but it certainly includes God allowing people who walk in the counsel of the wicked and stand in the way of sinners and sit in the seat of mockers to complete the cycle of destruction they have chosen.
The righteous have an entirely different outcome. The psalmist says, "the Lord watches over the way of the righteous." The word translated "watches over" implies a tender, loving care. God watches over the one whose "delight is in the law of the Lord" with tender, loving care. No wonder such a person is stable, productive and strong.
Two choices the writer of Psalm 1 holds before his readers. One is the way of the wicked; the other the way of the righteous. The way of the wicked leads to destruction. The way of the righteous ends in peace, joy and happiness.
Only one of the two paths leads to the inner contentment the psalmist calls "blessed." Will you choose that way for your life?
Share with others: