"His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in the Law, he meditates day and night."
This is part of Psalm 1, which I'm teaching on in our home fellowship this Sunday. I memorized the Psalm and have been meditating on it quite a bit. I also have listened to 4 sermons on Psalm 1 in the last 3 days.
I thought I would share some of my musings with you.
Psalm 1 is full of contrasts: There's the wicked vs. the righteous. There's those that are firmly rooted vs. those blown away by the wind. There's the path of the righteous vs. the path of the sinner. There's the path that is known (approved and preserved) vs. the path that perishes. There's delight in the Law (instruction) vs. the counsel of the wicked.
There's the question of who is righteous. Many will so, none are righteous (Ro 3:9-10). Yet, in the Psalms and elsewhere in scripture, there's a clear distinction between righteous and unrighteous and between godly and ungodly. In Romans 3, Paul is obviously talking about the fact that there is no one righteous apart from Christ. However, in Christ we are made righteous.
There seems to be a progression of sin, where you go from moving in sin to standing in sin to sitting in sin. The progression is towards being more stuck or fixed in sin.
That raises the question of being fixed or firmly planted. Even though someone is fixed in sin, they are like chaff which is blown away by the wind and they will not be able to stand in judgment. Whereas, the righteous man - the man who delights in the law, will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. That man will be firmly fixed and the implication is that he'll be able to withstand judgment.
Sometimes people think that living a sinful life is more free than the Christian life which is filled with rules and regulations. The fact is that there is life in the tree that is firmly planted. It yields fruit, it's leaf doesn't wither (read into that a person who is full of life even in a dry period) and it prospers. The one that is "free" is blown about. They are subject to their environment and therefore less free than the one who is firmly planted.
Finally, let's look at Delighting in the Law. This I think is the key to the passage and the thing I'm still meditating on and wrestling with. What does it mean to delight in the law other than that it includes meditating on it? How does one come to the place of delighting in the law?
So far, for the second question the two things that strike me are that prayer is one way to delight in the law and that actually spending time with the law is key to seeing its value and beauty which will result in delight. Psalm 119:18 is an example of someone praying this very thing.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on these two questions, this chapter or on delighting in God's Word.
I thought I would share some of my musings with you.
Psalm 1 is full of contrasts: There's the wicked vs. the righteous. There's those that are firmly rooted vs. those blown away by the wind. There's the path of the righteous vs. the path of the sinner. There's the path that is known (approved and preserved) vs. the path that perishes. There's delight in the Law (instruction) vs. the counsel of the wicked.
There's the question of who is righteous. Many will so, none are righteous (Ro 3:9-10). Yet, in the Psalms and elsewhere in scripture, there's a clear distinction between righteous and unrighteous and between godly and ungodly. In Romans 3, Paul is obviously talking about the fact that there is no one righteous apart from Christ. However, in Christ we are made righteous.
There seems to be a progression of sin, where you go from moving in sin to standing in sin to sitting in sin. The progression is towards being more stuck or fixed in sin.
That raises the question of being fixed or firmly planted. Even though someone is fixed in sin, they are like chaff which is blown away by the wind and they will not be able to stand in judgment. Whereas, the righteous man - the man who delights in the law, will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. That man will be firmly fixed and the implication is that he'll be able to withstand judgment.
Sometimes people think that living a sinful life is more free than the Christian life which is filled with rules and regulations. The fact is that there is life in the tree that is firmly planted. It yields fruit, it's leaf doesn't wither (read into that a person who is full of life even in a dry period) and it prospers. The one that is "free" is blown about. They are subject to their environment and therefore less free than the one who is firmly planted.
Finally, let's look at Delighting in the Law. This I think is the key to the passage and the thing I'm still meditating on and wrestling with. What does it mean to delight in the law other than that it includes meditating on it? How does one come to the place of delighting in the law?
So far, for the second question the two things that strike me are that prayer is one way to delight in the law and that actually spending time with the law is key to seeing its value and beauty which will result in delight. Psalm 119:18 is an example of someone praying this very thing.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on these two questions, this chapter or on delighting in God's Word.
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