Psalm One: The godly man walks.
One Way. There’s Only One Way to God. But in the first Psalm, we see there are two classes of mankind. And only one finds his way to the Lord.
This starts a new series on our walk through the prophetic scriptures. This series will look at the book of Psalms and explore many of the prophecies foretold in this collection of short observations of praise. (The Isaiah series)
Psalms is essentially a songbook. It’s one many people have used to create and sing songs of worship. It also has many very notable prophecies. Sometimes they are hidden and other times they jump out at the reader. Sometimes one knows exactly what and who the writer is referring to. Other times it’s vague and only after close examination of other scriptures can one come to understand what or who the writer was pointing to.
Also, and this is very important to our understanding of scripture, many times the writer didn’t even know what or who the words he wrote referred to. God inspired the writer and gave him direction in the crafting of the message. God’s Spirit helps us with the correct understanding of those cases.
The whole bible is prophetic. From the opening chapter, the story points to the end. Along the way, every book, chapter, and verse leads the reader from the beginning to that eventual end. We read about mundane life issues such as work, food, and shelter. We also read of murder, intrigue, great deception, and war. Through it all, it points in one direction. From the start, it points to the end. God promises to clean up the mess humanity has made.
https://thewritelife.tech/2018/08/20/psalm-thirteen-how-long-lord-until-my-trials-are-over/
Let’s look at the first Psalm:
Psalm One,
verses one to six.
- Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
- But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditates day and night.
- And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
- The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
- Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
- For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Psalm One is a summary of all the Psalms. It also is a summary of life and humanity’s history.
A brief summary of Psalm One might say this.
“The good guys win in the end, the bad guys get what’s coming to them.”
That’s a simple summary and doesn’t capture all the truths we experience in our lives. Often the bad guy does get the girl, the money, and the fame. Life appears to shine favorably on the guy or girl who doesn’t play by the rules, takes advantage of others, and gets what he can at the expense of others.
It happens all the time. We’ve seen, heard, and read about those stories numerous times.
But God!
But God makes it right in the end.
In Psalm One we see an obvious contrast. The godly versus the ungodly. Those terms represent individuals and also groups of individuals. It does not refer to a particular church, culture, race, religion, or nation.
Follow the One True God
It refers to those who follow the One True God and those who don’t. The godly follow Him. The ungodly do not.
What sets the godly person apart from the ungodly?
The godly person does not do the following:
- Take counsel or guidance from ungodly people
- Who you listen to will shape your life.
- Stand with or have regular and consistent contact with the ungodly.
- Look at your friends and companions. You are them and they are you.
- Sometimes we need to break away from the bad influences in our lives.
- Sit in a seat of judgment with ungodly people
- Lot, the nephew of Abraham is well known to have lived in Sodom. It’s not so well known that he sat in a position of authority there. He should have left his position and his comfortable lifestyle and moved away.
The godly person will do the following:
- He will delight in the Word of God.
- Instead of taking counsel from ungodly people he will enjoy getting instruction from truly wise counsel.
- She will meditate on God’s Word day and night.
- This infers a habit of regular reading not a rule of twice a day that must be obeyed.
Prophecies of Psalm One:
- The godly person will be firmly planted. The storms of life won’t move him. She will be well nourished spiritually.
Psalm One: Firmly planted, unmoved by storms of life - There will be fruit. A strong, well-nourished tree, produces good fruit. The fruit of a good life blesses those around it.
- His leaf will not wither. If we stay nourished and watered in the Word of God, we will not dry up.
- Whatever we do will prosper. A clever prosperity preacher can use this verse to get rich. What it means is that God will bless the efforts of godly people. The godly, after taking counsel from a wise God will learn to make good choices. God never promises buckets of cash. That’s a deception from deceivers.
- The ungodly will blow away in the wind. They may prosper for a while but their end isn’t good. The Lord refers to their eventual end. As I mentioned earlier, many appear to escape this promise of judgment. They don’t; they meet their Maker on the other side. Wouldn’t want to be them.
- Judgment day will arrive for the ungodly. There is no escaping it. Best to switch teams before it’s too late.
Two important takeaways:
The godly aren’t any better than the so-called ungodly. They just make a better choice in who they follow. (As seen here.)
The ungodly have many choices in who to follow or listen to. All those choices turn out to be wrong.
Choose wisely.
Let me know what you think.