“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but who delights in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2).
Psalm 1 is an introduction to the theology of the Old Testament. It tells us the purpose for the Psalms and the Old Testament is to show us how to live the blessed and happy life.
Yesterday we saw the three things that happy and blessed people do not do – they do not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of mockers.
Today, we look at what happy and blessed people do – they “delight in the law of the LORD and meditate on it day and night.
- Blessed and happy people delight in the law of the LORD
- Honestly, when is the last time you saw the Ten Commandments and thought, “Sweet! The laws of the LORD! Yippee!!!”
- But the orthodox Jews celebrate the laws because God makes it crystal clear how we can love God and live a blessed life. No other nation has this. Everyone else has to guess and feel their way into discovering ways to please God. It’s exhausting. It’s frustrating. It’s discouraging.
- In the laws of the LORD, God lays out the foundations for living the blessed and happy life. What a genuine blessing!
- Secondly, blessed and happy people not only delight in the law of the LORD, but they meditate on it day and night
- Ok. What’s the first thing you think of when you hear “meditate?” I think about a guy sitting in the Buddah position floating in the air saying, “Hommmmmmm.”
- So the thing is this picture doesn’t help me. I don’t see how I can “hommmmmm” all day and night. I have stuff to do. Besides, I don’t know how to float on air.
- So, what does it mean to meditate? The Hebrew word comes from the picture of a cow chewing on the cud. The cow eats the grass and then throughout the day, brings the un-fully-digested grass back up and chews on the cud to get more nutrients. A cow will do that seven times to get the full nutrients out of the grass.
- Meditating on the law of the LORD means to start the day with God’s word, then recall the word of God throughout the day. The nutrients we get from God’s word will be different as we go through the day
Blessed and happy are you as you recall and chew on God’s word and truth throughout the day. God’s word is a constant companion throughout the day. Every time you recall God’s word you will get something else out of it.
Meditate on that!
Praxis: Faith in Action 