30 Days in the PsalmsSýnishorn

Day #1: Psalm 1 (using NRSV)

Psalm 1 is not so much a prayer as a declaration of the reality that undergirds the prayers in Psalms 3–150. Along with Psalm 2, it functions as an introduction to the whole collection; like the fruitful, leafy tree in its third verse, Psalm 1 casts its branches over the whole book. It presents the “blessed” or “happy” life–the life sought by those who pray and praise their way through the Psalms–in a series of three stark contrasts between “the righteous” and “the wicked.” This picture of “the good life” is woven through the Psalter (another word for the Book of Psalms).

The first contrast is between the choices of the righteous and the wicked (vv. 1–2). The wicked are called “sinners” and “scoffers”—they refuse to walk in God’s paths and make light of his instructions. In contrast, the righteous (called “the godly” in some versions) have a different orientation toward God’s commands. First, they “delight” in them, taking pleasure in the good instructions of a good God. Second, they “meditate” on them day and night, giving sustained, thoughtful, and prayerful attention to God’s Word.

The second contrast shows the consequences of those different choices (vv. 3–4). Because of their scorn for God’s instructions, the wicked are “like chaff that the wind drives away.” Their lives lack substance or stability. But the godly, the ones who delight in and meditate on God’s Word, are like healthy, fruitful, beautiful trees, flourishing in every way.

Finally, the righteous and the wicked have contrasting destinies (vv. 5–6). The outcome of a life shaped by scornful sinning against God’s ways is the inability to stand in the gathering of God’s people in God’s presence. The path that the wicked have followed will disappear or perish, but the “way of the righteous” is under the gaze of the good God and will endure.

Today is a good day to practice delighting in God’s Word and meditating on it day and night!