30 Days 30 Psalms -- Day 1

As I mentioned last week, we will be doing something different here on the blog for the next 30 days. Each day, I will post a devotional piece on a Psalm from the book I have completed. This material is copyrighted, and while I do not care if you disseminate it, please don't charge anything for it. There will not be a sermon, verses or reviews while we are in the 30 days.

Psalm 1

This Psalm is one of the more familiar Psalms, and it is one of the first passages of Scripture that I memorized while at Christian school as a boy. It is a brief Psalm whose basic message is that those who act in a righteous manner and follow the law of the Lord will have a life that is blessed. On the other hand, those who follow the path of unrighteousness and wickedness are ultimately destined for trouble.

This Psalm starts out by telling us that we will be happy if we do not listen to the counsel of those who do not follow God. We are not to keep company with those who practice a sinful lifestyle or with those who mock God or the ways of God.

One application of this for our lives is what we take into our minds by way of media and entertainment. If we continually bring into our minds those things that are contrary to God's word, it can dull our sense of what is right and acceptable in the eyes of God.

A righteous person is a person who loves to study God's word. We need to study the whole counsel of God giving special attention to the words and teachings of the Lord Jesus. Those who follow this will have deep roots like the trees near the rivers of water. We can withstand the trials and the tribulations of this life. We can produce the fruit of the Spirit and lead other people to a relationship with the Lord Jesus.

Those who will not follow the ways of the Lord are like the chaff of wheat that easily blows away in the slightest breeze. They will not stand when the Lord Jesus comes again to judge the living and the dead.

This Psalm ends by telling us that the Lord knows who the righteous are. Those follow the Lord are known by Him, and they are cared for by Him. In this we can find great comfort.