TWo Ways
Psalm 1
Main Idea: Blessing is found in Christ by walking in his way, delighting in his truth, and experiencing his life.
I. The Way of Blessedness (1:1-2)
As the introduction to the entirety of the Psalter, Ps. 1 is a “wisdom” song, inviting us into a life that is truly “blessed” or “flourishing” before God. The blessed person (1:1):
Walks not in the counsel of the wicked
Nor stands in the way of sinners
Nor sits in the seat of scoffers
“A seat is a place to deliberate, to make judgments, to render decisions… They sit in the company of know-it-alls. A place of cynicism, gossip, and superficial witticisms. They hold nothing in authority but their own cleverness. No judge sits over them; no counsel informs them. They are intoxicated with verbal wine and drunkenly survey the world, blearily reading into it their own confusion and malaise.”
~ Eugene Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire
Instead, the blessed person delights in the law (‘torah’) of the Lord, and meditates upon it day and night. God’s Word is their “daily bread” and their guiding light at all times and in all circumstances (Ps. 119:11).
II. The Way of Rootedness (1:3-4)
The Psalmist gives two pictures of these contrasting ways of living:
1. A Deeply Rooted Tree (1:3)
Through delight and meditation on God’s Word, the blessed person has access to a deep reservoir of gospel nutrients. This leads to a life of stability, fruitfulness, endurance, and prosperity, even through seasons of “heat” or “drought.”
Jeremiah 17:5–8:
Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
“Blessed is the man who has such a promise as this. But we must not always estimate the fulfillment of a promise by our own eye-sight… For though we know our interest in the promise, yet are we so tried and troubled, that sight sees the very reverse of what that promise foretells. But to the eye of faith this word is sure, and by it we perceive that our works are prospered, even when everything seems to go against us. It is not outward prosperity which the Christian most desires and values; it is soul prosperity which he longs for... Our worst things are often our best things. As there is a curse wrapped up in the wicked man’s mercies, so there is a blessing concealed in the righteous man’s crosses, losses, and sorrows.”
~ Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David
2. Chaff
As the grain harvest was collected it would be brought to a “threshing floor,” where the grain would be separated from the chaff; the chaff (dried husks) would either be blown away by the wind or burned up. No matter what it may look like (cf. Ps. 37:35-36, 73:3), the unrighteous have no substance or root; they are “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:14).
III. The Way of Righteousness (1:5-6)
Because the wicked are life ‘chaff’ they will not withstand the judgment of God, nor join the congregation of the righteous. Their “way” will perish (cf. Prov. 14:12). However, the Lord “knows” (intimately) the “way” of the righteous, and he will lead us to life and life abundant (Jn. 10:10).
John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
“[Christ] himself is the only gate by which we can find admission, and the way to enter in through Jesus Christ is not by working, but by believing. Then, as to the strife we are urged to carry on, it is an earnest endeavor to steer clear of all the rocks, and shoals, and quicksands of popular fallacies and deceitful traditions, and to sail in the deep waters, with his covenant for our chart, and his Word for our compass, in simple obedience to his statutes, trusting him as our pilot, whose voice we always hear, though his face we cannot see.”
~ Charles Spurgeon, “The Strait Gate”
