Psalm 1 offers us a choice, we can be righteous or not be righteous. This is a decision that we must make either by deliberate choice or by default by never making the choice to obey God.In this first psalm we are not told who the author was, but many think it was David to pass on the lesson he learned with his fall with Bathsheba. Now when David was confronted by the prophet Nathan, he repented of his sin and God restored him. Today, we know David to be a man after God’s own heart.Psalm One begins by describing who is blessed. To be blessed simply means to be happy and contented with what God provides. The apostle Paul tells us, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), which is the direct opposite of what some popular TV preachers proclaim! And consider Jesus’ words in the sermon on the mount (Matt. 5:3-12).You see, it is our status in Christ, not circumstances here on earth that determine whether we are blessed. So how does one get blessed? They choose the correct path and avoid the slippery slope of sin as described in verse 1: “Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”This is a very important lesson of the progression of sin and so what we should avoid. It begins with who we listen to—we must not walk in the advice of those who do not follow God. There are a lot of voices offering counsel for us and many of them are not following God’s will. We have to deal with policies that leave out God. We are bombarded with ungodly choices from our peers to movies, TV, and social media. So our first question for what we hear is that God’s message or worldly philosophy.Once we start walking down that slippery slope, it becomes easier to find ourselves in the next phase—standing in the way of the sinners. This tells us to be careful about choose our companions and those we associate with. So our question is now: “Do I feel comfortable with people who ...
