But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.
Psalm 1:2 NLT
Main Point:
The law of the Lord constantly produces fruit because it is the priority and passion of the godly.
We can see the law of the Lord as pointing to the rule and reign of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the ultimate law giver of God and He rules through His Word. And His Word is from God the Father.
Jesus tells us that apart from Him we can do nothing and that He is the fruit-bearing vine. The life-giving, fruit-bearing Word of God is the ultimate Law of the Lord. And Jesus told us the summation of that whole law is love for God.
So of course if we love God we will want to be with Him rather than with others; we will raise His opinions, plans and priorities above those of the sinners who are against God.
Our love for God will look like a passionate pursuit, and it will consume our thoughts, time and emotions. Our actions and the things we do will flow from the fruitful, enlightening law of the Lord which will tell us where to go, how to handle money, how to view this world and our situations and how to live in every way.
And what is the result of having the law of the Lord as our priority and passion? We will produce fruit regularly, we will prosper in the ways of godliness. We will not be condemned by God in the judgement, we will have a place with God and we will be watched over and end up in eternal life rather than destruction.
The contrast between following the trends, thoughts and opinions of those not pursuing the law of the Lord is obvious in this chapter. The psalmist is encouraging the reader/listener to persist in making the law of the Lord his priority and to treat it like his passion in contrast to the way the ungodly form their opinions and set their priorities and passions. We are given a picture of people on two different paths and the results of following those paths.
It is interesting to note that psalms are going to be saying a lot about God’s Word (the law of the Lord) and God’s King (Jesus ultimately). The first task of the King according to the Law was to write the Law (Bible) out himself word for word and to memorise it.
We see in the life of Jesus that He began making God’s Word a priority as a young man (Luke 2:41-52). Jesus lived and instructed His followers according to the principles of this Psalm.
To follow Jesus is to be convinced that the Law of the Lord is worthy of being the priority and passion of my life above all the trends, thoughts and opinions of the world that ignores God’s Word.
So the follower of King Jesus will be fruitful, uncondemned, and eternally welcome in God’s kingdom and thus not perish.
Thank you for taking time to write up this amazing reflection on Psalm 1. Reading your blog was a good opportunity for me to re-visit this book and really appreciate how David used figures of speech and style of writing to paint a beautiful picture of the heart of God.
ReplyDeleteAs I read through your write up, I was reminded of the foundational importance of the very first Psalm and how even David must have felt when he wrote it. To me, it is the story of creation and we see in the first verse how God is pronouncing blessings on his beloveth (those who walk in his ways). The last verse speaks of salvation through Christ. The mention of righteousness is an intimation of salvation through grace and the blood of Christ.