Monster Meditation: Psalm 1

<sup>Two years ago when I started teaching at North Star, I began reading the Psalms. Everyday, I would read through another psalm--multiple times when I could. For some reason, though, I only read through the first 45. So with today being the first day students have arrived, I decided I should try again and continue throughout the year. As I go, I also would like to capture my thoughts here.

1</sup> Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

⁴ Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.

⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

⁶ For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

I preached this summer on meditation and about how frequently people neglect the practice of it. So with this psalm, that was one of the first things to stand out to me. To delight in any sort of rules and regulations seems backwards to me. But I figure when laws are fully understood and practiced correctly, laws form something that is no longer something that I have to be annoyed with, but rather embrace. Despite my urges to break any of God's law--stupid human nature--I can look at them as a higher standard that, if followed, creates a system for me to latch onto, even root myself into.

I also like the image of the wicked being like chaff. This imagery is repeated throughout scripture, but today, I got a new picture in my head. I see the wicked flailing through life, with no perceived direction--taken wherever life sends them--with goals in mind that only applies to the life at hand.

Finally, verse six adds a dash of hope for me. On my first reading, I got the sense that God watches over good people and let's the sinners fizzle out. But, after a few times through, I noticed that it is the ways of these different people that are affected. God watches the way or path of the righteous. It's like a well-lit mountain road with plenty of shelters or places to contact any authorities in case of emergency. The way of the wicked is a place on which people venture with no life lines, with nothing to save them if something should happen. The hope factor comes in when I realize that a person can switch ways, and in doing so, switch their ultimate destination.