1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
The first two psalms tell us what the song book is all about.
Question 1
This psalm is describing two very different people. Who are they? Make a list of the ways this psalm describes them.
Question 2
Which person do you want to be like?
The first person described is the blessed person. This person doesn’t go close to the ‘wicked’ but instead their ‘delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night’ v2. Is this how you behave?
It might seem like a pointless question because of course this doesn’t describe you or me. We might try to do good and try to read our Bibles, but at the end of the day, we fail at this time and time again. So what hope is there?? Well, we might not meet this standard but there is someone who does! Jesus!
In the very first song we see that we need a perfect man to be what Adam failed to be and what we cannot be. It’s good to sing about Jesus because he is our life and hope – no one or nothing else will do. And remember, when God saves us, we are to be more like Jesus. So it’s a good time to pause and ask God to help us love the things he loves and turn away from the things he hates.
Then we can thank God for sending Jesus to die in our place because without him, we’re the wicked people of v4-5. But the amazing thing is that Jesus was made to be sin for us and was condemned like a wicked man. And so, we get to be the ‘godly’ people of v6 who the LORD watches over!
Question 3
What practical things can you do to ‘delight in the law of the Lord’?
Question 4:
It is through Jesus that we are blessed and are found among the righteous. If you believe in him, then you are found righteous in the eyes of God. Are you believing in Jesus?
Pray: Thank God for Jesus, the one true righteous man, who died for us.
