Psalm One…
February 15, 2022 – You are a church musician, and as so you need to know that the Book of Psalms was, and still is a hymnbook! Just like we use our hymn book (or projection screen) in worship, so the Hebrews sang from the Psalms. This past Sunday as Psalm 1 was read, I realized that it was perhaps time that we re-visited Psalms and read them as musicians and read into the message they bring to us individually. They are instructions to us of how we should live our lives, the condition of mankind, telling us about God and the things of God… all just for us to read and to learn. But they are also lyrics to the songs which are intended to stir up our hearts and help us ‘feel’ and have affection… they give us a way to engage our emotions in worship as we praise our living God.
The composer of most of these songs by default is King David himself, unless it is otherwise credited. The first Psalm is the beginning of the whole book of 150 texts. They are divided into five sections, but the first Psalm is the beginning to ALL the songs, so it’s a very important text. It’s like O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing in the Methodist Hymnal or Holy, Holy, Holy in the Baptist! So, would you please turn in your hymnbook to hymn number one? It’s interesting how these very important words begin…
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; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
The very first ‘song’ starts a bit strangely… wouldn’t it be easier to just say “Don’t be wicked, don’t sin and don’t scoff” None of us decide to walk in the way of the wicked because we have to. We don’t stand with the sinners or sit with the scoffers because someone’s twisting our arm. We do it because we like it and we want to do it! It’s a choice we make. We want to partake because it looks good to us, it’s inviting and fun to do those things because everyone else is doing them and they seem to feel good doing it! David is contrasting for us the two different choices here, we make a decision to do those bad things because we want to, but the righteous God-loving person gains delight through meditation on the law of the Lord.
We have a choice to enjoy the pleasures of the world or the pleasures of God. When we delight in the Lord, it is easier to avoid enjoying the pleasures of the world.
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.
How about this picture of a tree planted by a river? Well, it’s a great picture of our Christian lives. All of us were planted in our unique location and time by our God of grace, with our roots reaching the water of life. With this water we keep our leaves green and bear fruit even when other trees don’t. It’s important to notice that this isn’t a mechanical thing or formula or schedule – it happens by meditation, by our spirit focused on the things of God. The work of our roots brings us delight – delight in spiritual pleasures from God and delight in all kinds of new attitudes and actions.
The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
This song shows us the delights that can come from our meditation of God. But it also shows us what those who don’t meditate on God have to look forward to. Without nourishment from the roots, they dry up and blow away. In that state they are worthy of nothing good – chaff is worthless and has no value whatsoever.
There is a battle going on for our hearts, minds and lives. Psalm 1 tells us that a big portion of that battle can be won by delighting in the Lord – and that is done by meditation on God’s words and law! A simple, yet powerful beginning to our song book!