Blessed

10-29-23

Hoonah-Hadley

Psalm 1

Call to Worship Psalm 1

Daily Verse Psalm 1:1-3

One Sunday afternoon during bible study at the county prison, the preacher asked one of the inmates to read Psalm 1:1-3. Either he was hard of hearing or his criminal nature had him read the whole chapter, all 6 verses, but that day, in the hearing of this reading by a criminal, the preacher was enlightened and blessed in the presence of, and revelation of the entirety of God’s word in 6 verses. As the preacher had given himself to the memory of the first 3 verses, he was awakened to the other half of God’s economy and a summary of the bible in 6 verses. We can say a little or we can say a lot and we can see dimly or we can see clearly but God reveals a thing to us in His time, in His way, which is to often, simple, brief and obvious. We could easily come to the conclusion that these 6 verses are a summation of the entirety of scriptures. If we ever needed a reminder, if we ever needed to write something on the tablet of our hearts, memorize something, we would do well to make it these 3, um, 6 verses in Psalm 1. Herein these 6 verses are music to our ears (1-3) while simultaneously the harshest penalty handed down to the unrepentant, disobedient sons of perdition. (4-6) Perdition: The loss of the soul, eternal damnation…hell…utter ruin. Psalm 1 is the entry way into the sanctuary of the Psalms. A psalm is a sacred song or hymn. There are 150 psalms, psalms of praise and lament, thanksgiving and trust, wisdom and honor. When we are lost for words or simply don’t know how to pray, we can come to the psalter and find comfort there. Pray, sing, yes, but most of all, meditate and be blessed.

-2-

Psalm 1 is the epitome of the saying, “there are two sides to a coin.” This a theme that runs throughout scripture, we talk about it often, light and darkness, night and day, heaven and hell, land and sea, blessings and curses, right and wrong, good and evil… Essentially what we have before us are two types, one that is blessed, and one that is not. We shouldn’t have to ask the question but we will, who among you would rather be blessed than the alternative? It’s really very simple, in God’s economy Psalm 1 is the way things work and if you don’t understand how things work there’s a fair chance you’ll be left without. When the young man made a weak defense in representing himself, the judge said, “ignorance is no excuse, pay the fine.” We can argue, make excuses, play the blame game but at the end of the day, God is right 100% of the time, He tells us here what coming to Him looks like and what denying Him looks like. There is a nature to things, it’s all about us, time, space, distance, weight, seed time and harvest, night and day, etc. We could say, a design, a purpose.

For example, while driving, if you don’t look ahead and see the traffic light changing colors, you may be one of those folks that is hard on the brakes and if you are hard on the brakes, you’ll replace them more often, thus more down time at the mechanics, more money down the tube. If you turn the steering wheel while your car is sitting still, or turn very sharply, you’ll find you have to replace your tires more often than the guy that understands the nature of the thing. God’s way leads to blessings, the alternative leads to brokenness, perishing. There is a nature to a golf swing, a foul shot and the swing of the bat, anything outside the design, purpose and nature of a thing will likely leave us wanting, broken or the worst-case scenario, perishing. The psalmist sets before us, blessings and curses, life and death, choose life.

-3-

“Blessed is the man…” In a recent conversation with Brother Christopher from Arizona he confessed that God told him to slow down in the reading of his word. We may have traveled too far, too fast, too soon. Our study should start like this, “Blessed…” Matthew 5:1-12 will do here. Scholar’s title these “The Beatitudes”. Jesus gives us 11 examples of “Blessed”. Bless is to invoke divine favor on…well-being or prosperity… Any takers? Blessed: Bringing happiness…fortunate. Rev. 1:3 “Blessed is the one who reads…who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it.” We can easily get lost in this institution of “blessings”. God affords it such ample space in scriptures we could search a life time and not exhaust it. In its simplicity, God shows us what well-being, favor and prosperity looks like and how to go about it. Who is blessed? The one “Who walks not in the counsel of the wicked…” God is constantly teaching us what to do and what not to do. What to say, how to think, walk, stand and sit.

Watchman Nee does it justice in his best selling “Sit, Walk, Stand”, a fine study on Ephesians, slightly over 100 pages, one that will fit nicely in your pocket and well worth the price of admission. What God is saying here, “do not” go along with, in the same direction as the wicked (ungodly). “Nor stands in the way of sinners.” There are 3 “nots” here and we can see the progression and nature of how it works. When we walk with the wicked, we will likely find ourselves standing, considering, contemplating, conferring with sinners. We are called to stand in the presence of sinners, but not in the “way” of sinners. “Or sit in the seat of mockers”. When we walk with the them and consider their ways (stand), we to often end up joining them, sitting down with them. The devil is deceitful, he’s a liar. He’s done it to us individually and corporately. He’s done it with whole races of people.

-4-

And he’s done it with entire denominations within the body of Christ. It’s called “compromise”, it’s a lie, don’t buy it, you’ll find no blessing there. Vs. 2 “But, his delight is in the law of the Lord.” The one who is blessed does not do certain things, “but” they do other things and the things they do begin with “delight”. Delight: Great pleasure or gratification, joy. When you delight in something, you do it and do it often. You make it a priority, a habit, something you intentionally, deliberately do because it feeds your heart, mind and soul. (spirit) The reference to “law” is not a specific Old Testament command, but the whole counsel of God, His word, the entirety of scriptures.

Replace your natural bend for addiction with God’s word, fall in love with Jesus and your delight will have you hungering and thirsting for him at breakfast, bed side prayer and all points in between. “And on His law they meditate day and night.” See Joshua 1:8, scripture confirms scripture. The key here is “meditate”. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Whatever you put in will come out, if you don’t believe it, I’ll sing Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” for you or Joyce Kilmer’s poem on trees. We cannot put a price tag on “meditating” on God’s word, it is massive, all encompassing in the diet, health and well being of God’s elect. “They shall be like a tree planted by streams of waters…” We are talking here of the cedars of Lebanon, the oaks of righteousness, firmly rooted and watered, the narrow gate, a house built on the Rock. “Whatever they do shall prosper.” The equation might look something like this: Delight + Meditation = Prosperity.

Our God is a God of abundance, prosperity. “Not so the wicked…For the Lord knows the way of the righteous. But the way of the ungodly shall perish.” There are two sides to a coin, dos and don’ts. Delight and meditate, choose life and be “Blessed.”

Amen!