Psalm 1: Are You Alive or Dead?

The Psalms were written between Moses (c. 1440/1280 BC) and the Babylonian Exile (586 BC) by various human authors, including kings David and Asaph. The Psalms are the songs God inspired for the expression of praise, worship, and confession of His people to Himself. This divine psalter, or hymnal, has 150 songs God wrote through verbal-plenary inspiration. The Psalms are rarely used and under-appreciated but are the best expressions of praise we have available because they are God’s very word.

God’s psalter can be divided into 5 categories:

• Gospel Psalms—Psalms 1:1-41:13
• Psalms of Deliverance—Psalms 42:1-72:20
• Holiness Psalms—Psalms 73:1-89:52
• Sovereignty Psalms—90:1-106:48
• Psalms About Scripture—Psalm 107:1-150:6

These 5 categories, or books, parallel the Torah, or Pentateuch, in order.

Concerning God’s Psalms: It continues to amaze me that people are so quick to quarrel about church music. Some desire a certain set of hymns and others desire more contemporary music, but never do people seem to want to sing from the psalter God Himself breathed for the purpose of His own praise. God provided 150 songs to be used, but, as with most of life, we often neglect what God has breathed because of our own preferences and in favor of the words we have written for ourselves. The neglect of God’s Psalms evidences the self-centered worship of the local church in our day.

Book 1: The Gospel Psalms

The Gospel psalms encourage the people of God to sing about the application and outpouring of the Gospel message in the lives of God’s people and assume that those singing them are already God’s people. So, the gospel psalms reflect post-conversion Christian life and fruit.

Psalm 1

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

Which yields its fruit in its season

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so,

But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

But the way of the wicked will perish.

The way of life (v. 1-3)

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

This opening psalm begins with a blessing. The psalmist’s blessing is the introductory blessing to God’s divine psalter. Like Jesus began His sermon on the mount, this psalm begins with blessing rather than curse. That realization alone should cause us to think about the way we address others. After all, if the Holy Spirit truly moves us to speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs in the context of the gathering (Cf. Ephesians 5:19), then we know that the psalms are not only meant for our praise to God but for our speaking to one another. We are a people of blessing, not curse. This truth applies to our political, economic, familial, generational, and ecclesiastical dealings. Instead of complaining, condemning, or scoffing, we bless. This even means much concerning how we interact with others and share on social media. Our interactions with others and representations of others come from a place of blessing rather than curse or scoffing. If our speech, on and off social media, is more scoff than blessing, then we seriously need to think about our own spiritual health.

The psalmist blesses the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. The counsel of the wicked is contrasted against the law of the Lord; It is any counsel contrary to the counsel of God given in His word (Cf. v. 2). The psalmist must have been reformed, because he or she exalts the doctrine of Sola Scriptura; Scripture alone is our authority concerning all matters of life and ministry and is the only word given that is sufficient to lead us into salvation. The way of life is the way of God’s counsel and no other. Blessed is the man who does not stand in the path of sinners, who not only rejects the counsel of the wicked but also does not stand on their path—rejecting their counsel and refusing to live the way they live. Blessed is the man who does not sit in the seat of scoffers, who blesses rather than curses.

This being an election year, seeing the things we see in the world today, and having the strong opinions we have, there is ready application. I hear scoffing and cursing from every type of person. I expect it in the world today. I worry about those who profess to be Christians, on the way of life, and still I most prominently hear and see scoffing and curses pouring from their mouths and at the tips of their fingers. Blessed is the man who blesses instead of scoffs.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

Instead of walking in the counsel of the wicked, the one on the way of life delights in the law of the Lord. The Psalmist does not claim that delighting in the law of the Lord somehow earns a person salvation. He is saying that those who delight in the law of the Lord are blessed, happy or satisfied. There is a prerequisite for delighting in someone’s words or rules, love. If we do not first love God, we can glean from His word but not delight in it. There are many people who read their Bibles and sit under the best teaching they can find but do not delight in God’s law. I was talking with a very intelligent man not too long ago. He knows the Bible well and staunchly defends sound doctrine, but he does not delight in the law of the Lord or in the company of fellow believers. Instead, he used the law of the Lord to scoff at the Lord’s bride, His church. We can memorize as many Bible verses as we want, sit through sermon-after-sermon, and have doctrinal knowledge that rivals the apostle Paul. The blessed man or woman delights in the law of the Lord. There is a difference. The wicked person feels obligated if he or she reads or hears the law of the Lord at all. The blessed person gets to happily receive the law of the Lord, reading and hearing it not only with his mind but with his heart.

The blessed person also gets to meditate on God’s law day and night. He or she desires to because the law of the Lord is his delight. What do you think about or reflect on? Where do your thoughts take you during the day and at night? Do you actively think about what God has said, or do your idle thoughts take you into strange territory? Do you worry about work, family, school, or errands? Does your mind dwell on images that make your body feel good? Or, do you meditate on what God has said? If we love the law of our Lord, that is what we think about, even when we lie down at night. In this way, Christian meditation is different than eastern meditation. In eastern meditation, the person tries to empty the mind—which makes a person dumb. In Christian meditation, a form of prayer and study and a spiritual discipline we don’t often think about in our quickened age, we reflect upon the word of the Lord; We slow down in the quiet and fill our minds with things that God has said.

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

Which yields its fruit in its season

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.

The blessed person who delights and dwells on the law of the Lord is on a firm foundation; His or her roots are deeply and firmly planted. He lives a productive life and does not wither away. God blesses the work of his or her hands so that he prospers in whatever he does. Prosperity, here, does not necessarily mean health and wealth. There is a false gospel out there espousing such rumors. We do not prosper by sowing a financial seed or repeating our prayers over and over again as if God does not hear us the first time. Farmers who delight in the law of the Lord will prosper in their labor. Ranchers who delight in the law of the Lord will prosper in their labor. Accountants, teachers, bakers, soldiers, bankers, students, politicians, and even pastors who delight in the law of the Lord will prosper in their labor. Their labor will not keep them from delighting in the law of the Lord because it is not an idol. Their labor will be praise to God and will bear fruit to the glory of God. God set the example by working six days and resting on the seventh (Cf. Genesis 1-2). There are many people who try to win success for themselves by dedicating themselves to their jobs, training, or school in this world instead of delighting in the law of the Lord. There is a reason so many people today succeed in the world and still fail in life or don’t find satisfaction in their labors. They do not delight in the one thing that brings true, everlasting prosperity, the law of the Lord. Blessed is the one who loves God’s words more than his or her own success or material gain in this world.

The way of death (v. 4-6)

The wicked are not so,

But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

The wicked, those in the way of death who do not delight in the law of the Lord, do not bear godly fruit or prosper in whatever they do. Though they might gain wealth or status or power, they are not satisfied. Their fruits are void of meaning, empty, like chaff driven away by the wind. There are many who idolize their labor and get exactly what they want in life only to discover that it means nothing. They did not delight in the law of the Lord either on their own or in the assembly of believers. They idolatrized their labor, education, hobbies, goals, religiosity, and dreams. Even many pastors do this by idolizing their ministries. All of their gain is void of the one thing that illuminates everything else—the law of the Lord. There are many people teaching the law of the Lord professionally who do not delight in it. They are like chaff.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Therefore, because the wicked delight in the things of this world and her ways rather than the law of the Lord, they will be condemned. God will judge all people, and the wicked will not be able to stand as righteous. The wicked, sinners, will not stand in the assembly of the righteous. Those who delight in the ways of the world instead of the law of the Lord will not stand with the assembly of the righteous in the judgment. It is unlikely that they can stand with any local assembly of the righteous in our time. Instead, they delight in the prosperity of the world—which is like chaff. Here, the psalmist connects a delight in the law of the Lord with a delight in the family of the Lord. One who delights in the law of the Lord also delights in the assembly of the righteous. According to God’s inspired Psalm, those who delight in His word delight in going to church. Those who do not really delight in His word do not stand in the assembly of the righteous. If anyone thinks he or she has an amazing relationship with God but isn’t part of the assembly of the righteous, that person needs to consider whether or not he or she is actually in Christ (Cf. 1 John 2:19).

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

But the way of the wicked will perish.

I thought the Lord had all knowledge? How can He know the way of the righteous but not the way of the wicked? The knowledge referred to by the psalmist does not refer to a mere factual knowledge but, instead, a relational knowledge. It is the same type of knowledge with which God foreknows His elect (Cf. Romans 8:29). God knows, from eternity, the way of the righteous. From eternity, He intimately prepares the way in which those who are blessed will walk (Cf. Ephesians 2:10). That way will never end. Those who are blessed by God and who delight in His law will prosper, according to a biblical definition of prosperity, in whatever they do forever. God does not know the way of the wicked relationally. There will come a day when the way of the wicked no longer exists, and those who delighted in the prosperity of the world or of self rather than the law and assembly of the Lord will be forever condemned.

The first psalm is anonymous and juxtaposes the lives of the righteous person and the unrighteous person. Those who delight in God’s Law are like trees firmly planted by streams of water and are blessed. The wicked, though, are like chaff in the wind and are cursed.

The first psalm does not declare that one can keep God’s Law in order to be righteous. Rather, those who are planted as good trees will produce good fruit. In the same way, the wicked do not become wicked because they reject God’s Law. Rather, those who are planted as chaff will be tossed by the wind like chaff. The righteous person’s love for God’s Law and the unrighteous person’s rejection of God’s Law are symptoms of his or her identity. We love God’s Law because we have God’s righteousness. We don’t have God’s righteousness because we keep His Law. We sin because we are sinners. We are not sinners because we sin.

The psalmist sings of God’s knowledge. He knows our paths before we walk them. He sustains His trees and brings the way of the chaff to destruction; Either He makes the chaff into wheat or brings them to their bitter end, destroying the path of wickedness. It is no accident that the first Gospel Psalm crescendos with God’s foreknowledge, predestination, and predetermination. God’s sovereignty, Christ’s Lordship, is the most basic component of His eternal Gospel. If we deny His sovereignty, we deny the whole Gospel.

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it… Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall (Matthew 7:13-14, 24-27).

According to Jesus, few ever find the way of life. They are consumed with their ambition for worldly prosperity in one of its many forms (even religion) and are on the highway to Hell. Our only hope is that we would be converted and delight in the law of the Lord and stand with the assembly of the righteous.