For the 3rd Sunday in Advent (Psalm 1)
Why are the psalms so hard?
The psalms can be difficult to read. They aren’t like a typical book or letter. The focus and flow of many of the psalms sometimes seems to flit around making it hard to fit one verse with the next.
Of course, this is probably due to the fact that the psalms are very poetic. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never have been a big fan of poetry. While I love and cherish the beautiful and poetic words of certain psalms like the 23rd Psalm, even so, poetry usually just frustrates me. I’d much rather an author just come out and say what they want to say rather than beating around the bush with poetic phrases. Not only this, but the psalms don’t even rhyme (seems to me that good poetry should always rhyme).
So, like many people, for a long time I avoided the psalms. I had my favorites—such as Psalm 27 and Psalm 23—but most of the time, if I read a psalm aloud to people, I’d usually only do it in bits and pieces. I’d often leave certain verses out because the psalms can sometimes say the strangest and even confusing things.
But then I had a wise pastor tell me the secret to reading the psalms and being blessed by them. He told me to read them not as poetry but as prayers. And that clicked in my brain. Like a light bulb. Suddenly, the structure of the psalms made so much more sense. Indeed, the psalms really are a lot like our prayers.
The psalms are best understood as prayers.
You know how I said the psalms sometimes “flit around from verse to verse and it can be hard to make one verse fit with the next,” well, isn’t that how our prayers are a lot of the time? We lie awake at night wrestling with something on our minds, drifting in and out of sleep, our thoughts jumping through a long litany of worries and fears, and concerns about all the things we have to do in the morning, and, then, suddenly–in the midst of all that inner turmoil–we find ourselves calling out to God for help. Amidst all the worry and angst and wrestling with ourselves, we invite God into the conversation. We lay there and in our minds our tourtured thoughts flit back and forth and ultimately, to the Lord. Maybe someone you love has cancer and is needing treatment, and from one thought to the next, you go from saying a silent kyrie elision to thoughts about chemo and insurance. Or maybe you’re in the car driving to work and you’re talking to yourself, rehearsing a difficult conversation you need to have with a coworker–imagining possible responses, anticipating certain questions–and right there, in the midst of all your concerns and worries, you start up a discussion with God about the matter. But before you know it, your thoughts jumb again, back to the worries and practicing the things you want to say to that coworker–and then back to prayers to the Lord.
I’m sure if you tried to write it all down, it wouldn’t flow together nice and neat, but I bet it would still be beautiful. I’m sure there’d be many lovely lines and stanzas to sing. Just like the psalms.
So what kind of prayer is Psalm 1?
Today, we spend some time in the very first psalm, which actually does flow seamlessly from beginning to end, as it describes for us the “blessed life.” “Blessed is the man…” so Psalm 1 begins. What does a blessed man look like?
Well the answer to this question is found all throughout the bible. But the Holy Scriptures never describe “blessings” as we typically think of them. For starters, consider Jesus’ beatitudes recorded in Matthew 5: being “poor in spirit, meek, mourning, hungry and thirsty, and persecuted” hardly seems like anything we’d ever wish upon ourselves in a material world where happiness and blessing is more often gauged by how much stuff you have and how long you get to keep it. We don’t want to be “poor in spirit” we want to be rich in stuff. Mankind is always concocting all kinds of new ways to try to squeeze as much pleasure and fulfillment out life and have the blessed life now. We don’t want to be “hungry or thirsty.” That sounds crazy.
But notice how Psalm 1 doesn’t point to material things or money or even earthly relationships as the source of blessing. Instead, we are told that true blessing has more to do with walking. We are told that there is a way to walk through life that is blessed and there is a way to walk that is meaningless, like chaff blowing in the wind.
“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.” (Psalms 1:1-2)
“For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” (Psalms 1:6)
So, there is a way to walk that leads to righteousness and a way that leads to wickedness? Sounds like the psalm is starting to define what the blessed life looks like…
“Being blessed” is knowing the difference between wickedness and righteousness.
Of course, in the grand scheme of things, we know that all human beings are “wicked” in the technical sense because of sin. So obviously, this psalm isn’t about identifying who’s a Mother Theresa and who’s a Hitler. Instead the bible says of all of us, “if we say we have no sin, we only deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). And “there is none who are good, no, not one” (Psalm 53:3). Indeed, if we were to group human beings into two categories—The Righteous and The Wicked—you’d have Jesus all by Himself in The Righteous Camp and every other person who’s ever lived in The Wicked Camp.
But what the psalm is doing is teaching us that even sinful people can walk in a way that pursues righteousness rather than wickedness, and that those who are truly wicked are those who are on a different path altogether. The wicked are not reading the map, which is God’s Word. Instead, they’ve tossed the map aside, and gone out on their own. The wicked are people who want to be autonomous, who create their own moral compass. They are those who do what is right in their own eyes.
It surprises me how many self-professing Christians today will talk like this. If you challenge them with God’s Word about some decision or choice they are making, they’re quick to respond: “Well, this is what’s best for me right now… this is what I need… this is what works.” And they’ll accuse you of being judgmental when all your doing is trying to show them God’s way.
It’s like what Job said in Job 21:13 — “The wicked are those who say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.’” The wicked are those who choose their own path, who determine what is right and what is wrong by means of their own judgment, and refuse to be guided by the wisdom of God. They’ve drawn their own map for life. Psalm 1 says no blessing can come from this—at least, no eternal blessings.
On the other hand, the sinner who pursues righteousness is righteous only because he knows the Lord, and trusts that Jesus is the only help that can truly make a difference in our constant struggle with our sinful flesh. Yes, as sinners, our lives are fraught with struggle between the Spirit and the flesh.
We may start out with good intentions and righteous words, but before we know it, we’re falling asleep spiritually or we get distracted by some random sinful thought that leads to impulsive sinful actions. Even when we pray–as we’ve already discussed–we have such a hard time focusing and sometimes the right words don’t come. In life, we try to be a good person, a faithful Christian, a loving friend, father, son, brother, etc., but our good intentions don’t always translate into the life or relationship we want. Life and its busyness always seem to get in the way of our righteous pursuits. We have choices to make and we don’t always have the wisdom we need to make them. The best of times gets punctuated and frustrated by all kinds of mistakes, griefs, or hurt feelings.
But praise God that our blessings aren’t gauged by how well we handle all this. Sure, we mess it up constantly. Yet, our righteousness is not based in how well we perform, it’s based on our coming back in repentance to the One to whom we pray and the One for whom we live–He who is our life, our strength and our song. He alone is truly righteous and gives us His righteousness. In our battle against our sinful flesh, sometimes all we can manage to spit out is “Lord have mercy!” And He always does.
Seeing the distinction between wickedness and righteousness in the life of David…
It makes me think of King David. He’s the author of many of the psalms, but David hardly lived a righteous life. If you were grading him by his actions and decisions, he’d fail the “righteousness test.” He committed adultery and then had his lover’s husband killed to cover it up (2 Samuel 11 & 12). David didn’t just stray from the path; He veered violently off the path. Went His own way for a while. But when confronted with his sin, David repented. He turned to the Righteous One. He knew that God’s way was the only way back to life.
“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.
“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… (Psalm 1:1-3)
If only our lives were just like the man described in this psalm. If only we always walked the straight and narrow. If only we always sat in the congregation of the righteous and always avoided the wicked. If only we could always put down our roots in the refreshing stream and never face the scorching winds of trouble in life. If only we never had to deal with the withered leaves that come from all the mistakes we make in life. That’d be pretty sweet.
But our hope and our peace and our joy are found in knowing one who truly is righteous, Jesus Christ. We discover that despite all the ways that life can feel so topsy turvy, He’s the rock on which we stand. He is the reason we know things will be okay, even when we’re at a loss to put it all into words.
Jesus is better than David.
Much better!
Indeed, if there ever was a man whom the phrase “blessed is the man” describes, it is Jesus. He’s the one who walked the right way, even when His path led to a cross. Ironically, He’s the one who left the righteousness of heaven to join the congregation of sinners and mockers like us–and not just to join us but to save us, to lead us to something better.
Living water. Refreshing streams. Forgiving our sins and taking all of heaven’s wrath upon Himself so that you and I can walk through life with the assurance of God’s love that never fails. These are the blessings Jesus gives.
So, yes, indeed, we must be careful that we never think of blessings only in terms of possessions and the flesh, easy times or no problems. To be truly blessed is to learn that our true prosperity and blessing come from the hope and peace that is our is in Christ.
We need to look for blessing in the right place.
It’s a simple fact, if we try to find our delight in mere things, money, hobbies, or people, we will always be disappointed, and nothing can rob the joy of Christmas more quickly. But if our delight is in the forgiveness of our sins and the brotherhood we have with Christ, there is nothing more blessed. This is what God wants us to meditate on. This is righteous in His sight.
Never reduce Christianity to anything less. When you are aggravated by life and aggravated by others, put your focus on what you love, what you delight in. You can’t hardly be filled with aggravation and anger when your filled with delight for Christ. It’s this distinction that gives all meaning to Christmas and is what it’s truly about! Blessed is the man who delights in the Lord. Yes. Yes.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
O Lord, open my lips... 