...psalm 1...the Law of the Lord...

There are many ways of singing and praying the Psalms. Having lived in a Benedictine community for five years of my life, participating every week in daily worship and multiple times in prayer and singing of the Psalms, I came to love the Psalms, especially to sing them in traditional chant each week with the Monks. I have heard of some religious communities who say or sing the entire Psalter of 150 Psalms every day. I know of Christians who read the psalms a day, getting through them all in a month or so. Billy Graham said that he read five psalms every day because they taught him how to get along with God, and a chapter of Proverbs every day because it taught him how to get along with other people. All the Psalms and Proverbs right through, every month: a great discipline; a great blessing.

So I encourage you to begin to read the Psalms every day. But not just to read them, but to think deeply about them, to meditate on them, in other words. Today, then, let’s consider the opening Psalm, Psalm 1:

1 Happy are those     who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread     or sit in the seat of scoffers,

2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord,     and on his law they meditate day and night.

3 They are like trees     planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season,     and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.

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 watches over the way of the righteous,     but the way of the wicked will perish.

I particularly love the words of encouragement to stay away from the advice and paths of wicked, sinful people. Oh that I could all do this every day of my life. And then this opening Psalm advises us to live each day delighting in the law of the Lord, and to meditate — or think deeply about — the law of the Lord day and night.

By “the law of the Lord” I think of God's complete divine instructions in the Scriptures, the revelation of God, and His holy will for us. The Law of the Lord includes the Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy) but extends to all His teachings, statutes, testimonies, and precepts that guide our live and reveal His character to us all. The Law of the Lord bring us true wisdom, and leads us to the blessings of God and to His joy in the way we are living our lives.  The Law of the Lord is so much more than mere obedience to laws and commandments of God that are often restrictive rules. The Law of the Lord is God's revealed way of you and me living life, as defined and found in Scriptures. It is God’s revealed way of living life that all believers meditate on, obey, and find joy in, reflecting the very nature of Almighty God. 

And then consider what becomes of us when we “delight” in the Law of the Lord: We become like trees planted by streams of water, which yield fruit each season, and our leaves do not wither. In all that we do, we prosper.

In other words, the more we “delight” in the Law of the Lord, the more we drink up the the holy blessings of god that help us grow and live as we are intended by God to live life. This is such a beautiful and life-transforming thought, is it not?

Live life this way, “delighting in” the Law of the Lord, and the Lord will watch over you!

So for the next 150 days, let us read a Psalm every day and meditate on it, let us think deeply about. Let us not just read it, but let us be changed by God’s Word in it. Let us “delight in the Law of the Lord!”

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.