Submitted by Grace K. from Gracepoint Berkeley Church
Reflect on the two lives depicted in this, the very first Psalm, and reflect on the practices of the blessed man.
Blessed man is described according to what he DOES NOT DO and what he DOES DO. He does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. He delights in the law of the Lord, and he meditates on it day and night. What I realized is that these things that a blessed man does and does not do are disciplines that I need to be intentional about doing because they are not natural to man. What appeals to sinful human nature is that of comfort, ego, selfishness, and I naturally want to hear their counsel. Delighting and meditating on God’s word day and night is not that which is natural or desirable to me. I with my sinful nature want to think about myself and how to preserve my life for my personal gain, and I want to be idle in my mind.
What would motivate me to from not indulging in my natural self? It is when I remember the consequences and the end/net result of following my sinful nature. The wicked will be judged and will not stand; such a person is like chaff that the wind blows away. Ultimately, the wicked and his way will perish. I see so many miserable people out there because they simply yielded to their sinful nature and thus the ways of the wicked.
Blessing and blessed life comes through restraint, self-control, and discipline of going to God’s word. Meditating on it “day and night” is definitely something that I am not used to doing and is not natural to me, but I am motivated by the picture of an anchored and fruit-bearing person. The more I live life, the more I realize how vulnerable and frail my body and life really is and how I desperately need to be deeply rooted on solid ground. In concrete application, I want to pick a key verse from each day’s devotion text and memorize it and meditate on it throughout the day. I also want to read more of God’s word and make time for these times on a daily basis. I have had the experience of God’s word feeding my soul in deeper ways as I intentionally meditated on His word and memorized it. I want to return to having those experiences again.
Finally, I see a note of God’s grace on sinners who are headed toward the way of being perished and facing God’s judgment, as He shows us through his word how to escape this path and be on the road to a blessed life. God could have left us alone, but he intervened and gave us his word to be freed from ourselves, and I am very thankful for his mercy.