Psalm 1 is purposely placed at the beginning of the psalms as an introduction to God’s economy. “It announces that the primary agenda for Israel’s worship life is obedience, to order and conduct all of life in accordance with God’s purpose and ordering of creation.” (Walter Brueggemann)

There is no grey area allowed for in this psalm. All is either black or white. If we choose to follow and obey the law of the Lord, to steep ourselves in it day and night, we will be blessed. The result will be that we will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. We will bear fruit and prosper. If we choose to stray from God’s law, we will ultimately become like chaff that the wind drives away. One might say, “Well, life isn’t quite that simple,” and yet if one considers the way many lives play out, we see that in fact those who follow God’s law tend to do well and those who reject it tend to end up in ruin. God is saying, “I want you to be blessed. Follow My law. Live in it. If you do, you can expect to be blessed.”

And in whatever he does, he prospers.
● Verse 1 begins in the negative. What are we told the person who is blessed does not do?
● What is the contrast in verse 2? What does the blessed person do?
● How would you see implementing verse 2 into your life?
● What is the result in verse 3? Meditate on the tree metaphor given here.
● In what ways is the psalmist telling us to detach ourselves from the world?

But the way of the wicked will perish.
● How is the wicked person contrasted with the blessed person?
● The psalm does not describe what the wicked do, but rather focuses on what will happen to the wicked. What is their destiny?
● What does it mean when it says, “The Lord knows the way of the righteous?
● How is that contrasted with the second part of verse 6?

Heed instruction and be wise.
● How is this passage similar to Psalm 1? What is the message of this passage?
● How is one blessed according to this passage?
● Meditate on what the writer says about the advantages of heeding God’s instructions.
● What happens to the one who sins in verse 36?
● How are sin and foolishness related?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
● What does the writer mean by “the fear of the Lord?”
● Why would the fear of the Lord be the beginning of knowledge?
● Why would fools despise wisdom and knowledge? What will be the result of doing this?
● To have knowledge is to have understanding or information about something. To have wisdom is to have the ability to apply knowledge to daily life. The beginning of this is the fear of the Lord. Meditate on this fact.

And He will make your paths straight.
● Meditate on this passage in light of what you have learned from Psalm 1. How is this similar to the message of Psalm 1?
● What are we told to do in this passage? What are we told not to do?
● What happens when we do as we are instructed to do in this passage?
● How does God bless us when we follow Him according to this passage?

Do not enter the path of the wicked
● How is this passage similar to Psalm 1?
● Why do you think the writer is warning us to stay away from the path of the wicked?
● Meditate on the fact that sin or wickedness is a path that we can choose to follow. It may start out small, but it can grow very large and become overwhelming.
● Are there any paths of wickedness that you are being tempted to go down? Pray to God about that.

A Call to Purity
● Meditate on this chapter of Proverbs. This is a specific example of a wrong path that many have followed – both men and women.
● How does the writer reason with the reader? What reasons does he give to avoid the wrong path and follow the right one?
● Meditate on verse 21.
● Meditate on verse 22. Notice how the young man is destroyed by his own sin.