The construction of the Psalms is very much like the Bible itself. The psalms were written by many authors, over a period of many centuries, from a variety of life experiences.
The first psalm contrasts two paths of two kinds of people – the blessed and the ungodly.
It begins by saying that there are certain things blessed people don’t do: they don't adopt the habits, behaviors or perspectives of the ungodly. It doesn’t necessarily mean completely separating from people, because we’re also called to reach them. But Scripture does warn us about how people can influence us.
The psalm also explains what the blessed person does do – he delights in the law of the Lord, and meditates on it day and night.
Delighting in it means you see it as a good thing – not a burden, not a chore, not shackles.
Meditating doesn’t just mean reading. It means contemplating to understand. The original Hebrew word carries the idea of mumbling to oneself in deep thought.
And what is the result? The one who delights and meditates in God’s word is like a fruitful tree; the one who doesn’t is like chaff – fruitless, lifeless, and blown away by even a small wind.
What does it mean that everything he does will prosper? Is that just hyperbole?
In Psalm 73, Asaph complains that the ungodly seem blessed; they’re healthy, wealthy, and everything seems to go well. Meanwhile, he seems the righteous suffer. But then he says he remembers their end.
It reminds me of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25 about the master and the talents. The ones who produce a return at the end of the master’s trip are told, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Perhaps this is what the psalmist means when it talks about our prosperity. Not that we never face hardship or failure, but rather, that we can bear fruit in any and all situations rather than being blown away.
Paul describes it this way in 2 Corinthians 4: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”
He’s saying our lives are a testimony of who Christ is in any and all circumstances. If you want a blessed life, delight in His Word, meditate on it, and bear fruit for Christ in every season.
