Devotions From The Psalms

Psalm 1--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 meditate 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.

This first psalm tells of two kinds of people. First, there is the man who is blessed. This is the man who has been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and who through God's mercy and grace imputed to him walks not in ways of the ungodly. This doesn't mean that he never sins. It simply means that God always delivers from that sin, and never entirely gives a person who belongs to him over to sin's cold, death grip. God gives him faith to delight in that same law that declares him a wretched, depraved sinner, with the knowledge that Christ delivered him from the law's curse, by suffering God's infinite wrath in our place. Enjoying this blessedness causes him to flourish like a tree by the riverside. The truth is his life. Just as trees need water to live, the believer needs the truth found in God's word to live, and without this truth, there is only death. The believer may not have earthly fame or success, but prospers because he has victory in Jesus, his Savior and his God.

The other kind of person described here is the unbeliever. They will not stand in God's judgment, but will justly be punished for their sins everlastingly in hell. They will not stand with the righteous, when the righteous hear the glorious declaration of freedom, and their Judge saying, "well done, good and faithful servants, enter now into the joy of your Lord." Rather, they here "depart from me, ye workers of iniquity..." and then will be delivered to the tormentors where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.