Walk, Stand, Sit, or Grow

 Psalm 1

Today, I’m looking at Psalm 1.  I read the whole Psalm a few times, but the first three verses really stand out for me.

“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.
 (NIV84)

I was thinking about the phrase “walk in the counsel of the wicked”.  What could it look like today to walk in the counsel of the wicked?  This phrase addresses how decisions could be made and courses charted in life. Am I living a life that is culturally acceptable, or am I living a life that glorifies God?   “10 Steps to a New You” in a magazine looks so much more interesting than reading my Bible and spending time in prayer.  However, my choices need to be made prayerfully, based on God’s wisdom.  I should not chart my course according to self-help advice or socially acceptable “norms.”

What really stuck with me all day was the next phrase: “stand in the way of sinners”.   When I stand still, I don’t make any progress.  It is the lack of progress that is really bothering me as I think about this.  I thought about my habits; I stand in them day in, day out.  Some habits are totally acceptable to the world, but not to God, the “that’s just the way I am” habits, and the “I have trouble with that” habits.  Why is it that bad habits are so hard to break, and good habits are so hard to establish?  What kind of habits and attitudes am I standing in?

Notice the next phrase!  “Sit in the seat of mockers.” Isn't that the truth?  Scornful people, mockers, they seem to be on the sidelines of life.  They are always watching, and their mouths are always ready to throw those verbal darts which often hit the mark with more accuracy and force than we let on.  But today, I thought of how mockers get there, onto the sidelines.  Is it that they have lost hope?  The psalmist says “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”  Painful words spill from pain-filled hearts sometimes.

But…

(Here comes the good part!)

His delight is on the law of the LORD,

And on his law he meditates day and night.

I love that.  And I have to say, the more I read the Bible, the more delightful it is.  Meditation, here, is not about emptying one’s mind, but filling it up…with scripture.  It is not hard to meditate on scripture.  All you have to do is think about it.  But I find it is easier to ponder a verse or passage all day if I am personally studying it. Why?  Because I have more to wonder about, consider and work through when I’m studying a verse or passage.  I must figure out what it says, what it means, and how it can work in my life.  There is simply more for my brain to do.  It is hard for me to meditate on the passage my pastor preached on last Sunday.  I can’t always remember what he said.  (I hope he is not reading this.  However, he might agree with my point.)  If you are personally engaged in studying your Bible, it is easier to mediate on a verse or paragraph.  Meditation also happens when you are memorizing verses.  So, if you want to mediate day and night, start studying or memorizing a verse!

Bible Study makes a difference. God reveals Himself to us in his Word.  It is He who brings about real and lasting change in our lives.  He is the One who can guide our paths, break our long-standing bad habits and establish new life in us.  It is He who can give us hope that will endure through any circumstance.  He can forgive and heal and restore us to experience real joy.  Instead of inertia, we can sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from His Word, we can stand on the promises of God and walk in the light of His path.  We can grow and yield good fruit in season, because, as the Bible tells us, God has set us free, through Jesus Christ!

Father, 
Thank you for your Word.  It is so powerful and effective.  You are able to reach and change parts of me that otherwise could not be changed.  Help me not to stand still in my walk with You.  Help me to feel so uncomfortable in my bad habits and attitudes, that I will abandon them, for Your sake and with Your Divine help.  Plant me in Your Word, in Your Stream, so that I might yield Your fruit in Your season, for Your Glory.
Amen.

“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.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

  and on his law he meditates day and night.

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."

Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV84)

Refuge

Psalm 1-41

Refuge.  It is not the most frequent word found in Psalm 1-41.  However, it is the word that I am left with after reading that beautiful section of scripture straight through.  In fact, I've been pondering it for weeks now.  Once when I was a kid, we were surprised by a big thunderstorm while camping.  My mom, dad, brother and I were in the camper when we heard a knock.  I will never forget the sight of my soaked grandparents standing out in the rain, after their tent had been badly damaged in the storm.  They needed refuge!  We laughed and played games that night, waiting for the storm to pass.  As I read Psalms, I wonder if I really do take refuge in the LORD.  Could Hebe inviting me to something deeper that the Psalmist understood?  When storms come, where do I take refuge?

 Once again, the concordance proves to be the best place to start finding answers to my questions!  I pulled it up, typed in the word "refuge," and read every verse in Psalms where it is found.  I discovered that the word “refuge” is connected to God in each of the 44 times it appears throughout the whole book.  What does it mean to take refuge in God? 

Using an online Hebrew Interlinear Bible, I found that the Hebrew word for “refuge” almost always used in Psalms 1-41 (which the King James Version translates as "trust") is the word chasah.  It’s a verb.   What would it be like to use ‘refuge’ as a verb?  I’ve always thought of refuge as a place, not an act.  Places are fixed locations.  But an act can be done in lots of different places and conditions.  Thinking about refuge as a verb really changes things.  I know very little about Hebrew, but I notice that the interlinear Bible translates the word chasah into English as “take.” And, as my concordance search revealed, it is always connected to God.  Take God.   I have turned this information over and over in my head for a few weeks. (It is so easy to meditate on scripture when you are trying to understand it.) 

Take God.  God is so much more real than I can comprehend.  David knew.  God is not only able to provide what I need, but he is able to give Himself and fill my need.  What an invitation!  God is here, for the taking.  His salvation, strength, wisdom, hope, help, healing…. Take!  Blessed are those who take.  I thought of my soggy grandparents.  What if they had run somewhere else in the storm?  What if they had chosen to stay in their damaged tent?  Sometimes the hard thing to do is to get up and run for cover in the LORD.  Sometimes I run the other way because it seems to be the easier option.  Don’t take something else.  It won’t be enough.  When nothing else is left, when nothing else is right, when nothing else is within reach, take God.  David knew the pain of great loss, he knew what it was to flee for his life, and he knew the value of personal safety and security.  He Took God.  He Refuged.  And from his Refuge, he Rejoiced!

“ The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.”

--Psalm 18:2a