Psalms Devotional Series: Psalm 1:1–6

Wisdom from joy and water

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

1 Blessed is the man 
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, 
nor stands in the way of sinners, 
nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 

²  but his delight is in the law of the Lord, 
and on his law he meditates day and night. 

³  He is like a tree 
planted by streams of water 
that yields its fruit in its season, 
and its leaf does not wither. 
In all that he does, he prospers. 

⁴  The wicked are not so, 
but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 

⁵  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, 
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 

⁶  for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, 
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 1:1–6 (ESV)

Wisdom:

Like other parts of Wisdom Literature in the Bible, blessing and happiness are taught.

The psalmist here adds a step on the roadmap to happiness illuminated only by the pursuit of God. Wisdom seeks to reveal to us the connection between righteousness and blessing.

The ways of the righteous are known by God (v. 6) because they are the ways of God. God is the core of blessing. To understand true joy or happiness, we must first understand that God is intimate and irreplaceably connected to them.

Without God, all things become wicked pursuits which ultimately will perish and evaporate.

Embrace the image:

The one who delights in the law (or the ways) of God, is like a tree planted by streams of water. That means God is the one who pours out the water into our lives (Jeremiah 2:13; John 4:10). Water the sustainer of life. Water brings harvest. Water brings celebration. Water brings life. Water brings joy (cf. Psalm 92:12–14).

Blessing comes not from the specific actions we take, but the reality of our placement, proximity, position of our life to the one who pours out life and blessing. When we are planted, connected, and within the one who pours, we find blessing full and radiant.

When we depart the stream of life for the desert in the company of wicked, sinners and scoffers we are quick to find his joy gone and distant.

Lord,
Teach me your ways. Show me delight and joy of your presence. Plant me in your goodness. Know my ways. Guide me deeper into you.