Complimentary Story
January 2025 A new year is accompanied by many new resolutions, especially among Americans. A large percentage of those resolutions involve losing weight and getting healthy physically. There is nothing wrong with that. However, what benefit is there to physical health if our spiritual health is bottomed out? I propose two things for readers. One, let’s determine to get healthy — spiritually speaking. That is going to require that we discipline ourselves is a number of areas. Two, let’s determine that we will apply ourselves to praying, reading, and meditating on God’s Word daily. Let’s determine to ask God to pour out His Spirit on us and in turn, pour out that living water with the ecclesias we participate in, and toward our family members, and co-workers as He leads us. If we want to see true change and godliness in America, it must begin with our commitment to the same. Happy New Year. I’m praying for you all to reach these goals.
Psalm 1 Overview: The Psalms as Israel’s Songbook
The Psalms are the songbook of Israel. Let me give you an example of this point: look at Psalm 4, if you will, and notice the heading, the introduction, if you will, to the Psalm. Psalm 4 in my Bible says, “For the choir director, on stringed instruments, a psalm of David.” Now, any place in the Psalms where you see that designation, “for the choir director,” that Psalm was specifically written to be a public worship song. In other words, it was to be used in Temple worship for the choir director.
Now, all of them, for the most part, were used in worship in the Jewish worship ceremonies, and whether it was in the temple or later in the synagogue, they were used for worship. But those with the designation “for the choir director” specifically were used in that sense.
The Hebrew word for “Psalms” is “Tehillim,” which means “praise songs.” The Greek word, “Psalmoi,” from which we get our word “Psalms,” means “a collection of poems sung to musical accompaniment.”
Psalm 40 is a good example of those definitions: “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and hear and put their trust in God.” Many of the Psalms were songs of public worship, as I’ve mentioned. They were sung in the temple during corporate worship, but they were also the substance of personal devotion time, and that’s how I like to use them.
Jewish Poetry: Parallelism in the Psalms
Many scholars classify the Psalms as poems due to their structure. If you have a study Bible, this information is readily available — you don’t have to do a deep dive into any kind of resources. I’ve got a Ryrie Study Bible, which has the information that I’m about to share with you in the introduction to Psalms.
Jewish poetry, especially in the Psalms, often shows parallelism, which refers to the relationship of one line to another. You’re going to see this as we work our way through the Psalms.
1). Synonymous Parallelism: In this form, the second line repeats the first. For example, Psalm 15:1 says, “Lord, who may dwell in Your sanctuary? Who may live on Your holy hill?”
2). Antithetical Parallelism: This is just the opposite. The second line contrasts with the first. An example is in Psalm 37:9, which says, “For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.” Now, you know because you’ve been around here long enough that when you see “but,” in the Scriptures, that is an indication or an alert that a contrast is coming.
3). Synthetic Parallelism: In this form, each successive line expands on the meaning. Psalm 19:1, which talks about God's revelation through His words, statutes, and precepts, is an example.
Authorship of the Psalms
The Psalms were written by people like David — 73 Psalms, for sure, are attributed to David’s authorship. Some scholars believe that up to 75 of the Psalms were written by David. You could make that argument, but I don’t think it’s something we need to divide over. Asaph wrote 12 of them; the Korahites (sometimes designated as “a psalm for the sons of Korah”) contributed 12; Solomon wrote a couple; Moses wrote a couple — which is something that some people don’t even know; Ethan wrote at least one of them; and Heman is listed as well.
The Psalms cover a wide range of subject matter: praise, worship, thanksgiving, supplication, intercession. They also talk about fear, sin, betrayal, frustration, anger, depression, and so on and so forth.
Types of Psalms
There are several types of Psalms:
• Lament Psalms: These are cries to God. We sang that song this morning, “I Cry Out” — that would be a good example of a lament Psalm.
• Testimonial Psalms: These are Psalms that tell others about God’s goodness and what He has done.
• Penitential Psalms: These are sorrowful Psalms expressing regret for sin.
• Imprecatory Psalms: These are some of the most difficult Psalms because they involve the psalmist calling judgment down from God upon the wicked. A lot of people recoil at the notion that we should be calling God’s judgment down upon people.
• Wisdom Psalms: These are instructional, giving insight into godly living.
• Messianic Psalms: These, of course, testify about Jesus. Psalm 2 is an example, where we will see that it speaks about Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself attested that some of the psalms spoke of Him. See for example Luke 24:44.
In the Messianic Psalms, we see descriptions of the Messiah, such as:
• Psalm 22: He is the suffering servant.
• Psalm 23: He is the Good Shepherd.
• Psalm 24: He is the exalted King and Chief Shepherd.
• Psalm 110: He is the high priest.
• Psalm 118: He is the stone that the builders rejected.
• Psalm 2: He is the coming King.
Psalm 1 as a Spiritual Checkpoint
Now, this brings us to the text of Psalm 1. How many of you have traveled recently and been to an airport? Went through the check-in process? Because it is a process now, isn’t it? I’m old enough to remember when you just walked up to the ticket counter and said, “I’m going to such and such a place,” and even if you didn’t have a ticket, you could buy it on the spot — no security checks, none of that. You just got your ticket and walked right through the airport to your gate.
Well, now there are all kinds of checkpoints, right? Security everywhere, and you can’t get past a certain point in the airport before you’re stopped and told you need a ticket to go further. I think about the Dayton Airport; you’re allowed to stand right there looking down a long hallway to see folks arriving, but you can’t go any further. That’s a checkpoint.
Psalm 1, if you will, serves as a checkpoint of sorts. By its location, it’s the first Psalm, and as we go through it, we’re going to see that it is a gateway. The message we see very clearly here is that you cannot understand, grasp, appreciate, apply, or sing the Psalms for yourself unless you belong to the congregation of the righteous. That’s a fancy way of saying, unless you are a born-again, believing Christian.
The Questions Psalm 1 Poses
How do I know this? Let’s look at a couple of verses, and then we’ll do a deep dive. Notice in verse 1, it says, “How blessed is the man…” And then notice in verse 6, “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous.” In order to be blessed and to be known by the Lord as righteous, something fundamental has to happen to you spiritually.
In our culture as Americans, we’ve been programmed — I see it in our children, and I see it in adults as well, older people who should know better — to believe that hard work always pays off. But how many of you know that’s not true? Hard work, brothers and sisters, can become, metaphorically at least, a very, very heavy ball and chain. Hard work can enslave you; it can rob you of the joys of life, and it can rob you of contentment.
“If we just work harder,” the saying goes, “anything can be ours; the sky’s the limit,” right? Some people make the same argument within the context of education: “Education is the key to the future.” I could give you countless examples of people who are wealthy and never graduated from high school or are running corporations today with just a bachelor’s degree, or people who started companies in their garages and sold them for billions of dollars. So, this notion that all you need is education to succeed? That’s nonsense.
Blessedness in the Christian Life
When it comes to the Christian life, our blessedness — and I’m thankful for this — our blessedness has nothing whatsoever to do with how hard we work for it. And you should be glad about that, too! If we had to work to earn it, would we ever know where the line is? When we’ve done “enough?” We wouldn’t! We’d never know if we’d done enough.
For the believer, we look to the One who has already done it and done it all and done it perfectly — the Lord Jesus Christ. Here’s my point: “How blessed is the man…” That has nothing whatsoever to do with our own efforts, positionally speaking.
Righteousness, Salvation, and Sanctification
Now, I make that distinction because righteousness and sanctification do play into our efforts. We are saved by the finished work of Jesus Christ, and therefore we are blessed. We are righteous because of Christ’s work on our behalf. But we are sanctified — that’s a whole other term, isn’t it? We are sanctified positionally by Jesus, but we are also called in the Scriptures to “work out our salvation.” Now, what does that mean?
It means we are saved positionally. We can’t be “more saved.” You’re either saved or you’re not. When you’re saved, the Bible says that you are adopted as children, sons, and daughters of God. We are joint heirs with Jesus; we have the eternal inheritance as sons and daughters — that doesn’t change. You don’t become “more” of a son or “more” of a daughter.
What does change, though, is when God sets us apart positionally — that’s sanctification. There’s also a part where we work out our salvation; in other words, we experience sanctification. That’s where good works come in. Not works for salvation, but works because of salvation. You can’t do good works to gain God’s favor, but once we have received God’s favor, we’re expected to do good works.
Sanctification and Good Works
For instance, Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” After salvation, we’re expected to honor and serve the Lord. So, this idea of blessedness here, brothers and sisters, serves as a gateway, alerting us to the fact that something is expected of us.
We can’t talk about God as our Great Shepherd in Psalm 23 unless we know Him as our Shepherd, right? We can’t talk about God’s forgiveness, as David does in Psalm 51, unless we’ve experienced His forgiveness. We can’t talk about worshiping God or His mercy as described in Psalm 100 or 103 unless we’ve experienced it.
Key Questions in Psalm 1
As we work our way through this Psalm, I want to point out three essential questions that it raises. Each of these questions demands an answer:
1). What does it look like to belong to God?
2). What are the results of belonging to God?
3). What is the final destination of those who belong to God?
Psalm 1: The Path of the Blessed Person
“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”
The psalmist begins by describing the blessed person negatively — by what they don’t do. Blessedness comes from God, brothers and sisters, and Psalm 1:1 reminds me of Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and perfect will of the Father.”
The blessed man receives God’s favor and does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Right away, we see a contrast. Notice the progression: “...does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.”
• Walk in the Counsel of the Wicked: This phrase tells us that blessing comes from refusing to listen to the advice of the world. The ungodly may tell us, “If you’re tired of the one you’re with, dump them and find someone else.” Or, “Oh, you’re pregnant, and you’re not ready for it? There are places that can ‘take care’ of that problem.” This is the advice of the world, but the blessed person refuses to walk in that counsel.
A Story of Comfort in God’s Word
I was blessed recently to hear a story about someone going through a difficult time. They’re about to lose a loved one, who they know will soon be joining the Lord. Someone shared that they walked into the room and saw this person sitting at the kitchen table with Scripture open, reading and meditating on God’s Word. That’s where we go for comfort — not to horoscopes or advice columns or secular ideas, but to God’s Word.
Believe it or not, a statistic I read stated that 36% of Christians read their horoscopes daily. That’s shocking, especially when it’s the same percentage as the general population. Years ago, I decided not to even glance at a horoscope column in the newspaper because I didn’t want to risk letting even a hint of that superstition influence me. It’s important to guard ourselves against influences that aren’t from God.
Avoiding the Influence of the World
The blessed man doesn’t just listen to God’s Word — he refuses to walk in the advice of the ungodly and doesn’t apply it. When someone tells you, “You just need to do this or that,” the first question that should come to your mind is, “Can you show me where that’s at in Scripture?”
If the counsel doesn’t come from the Lord, how beneficial do you really think it will be?
Progression of Sin: Walking, Standing, Sitting
Notice the progression in the verse: “walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the path of sinners, sit in the seat of scoffers.” This progression shows a deepening association with the world. First, it’s listening, then it’s standing on the same path, and finally, it’s sitting down in the seat of those who mock God. The blessed person resists this pattern, avoiding sin’s subtle entanglements.
Delighting in the Law of the Lord
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law, he meditates day and night.”
The blessed man doesn’t take pleasure in the world’s advice but finds joy in God’s law. He meditates on it day and night, truly delighting in it. Let me ask you: are you at a place where you look forward to spending time in God’s Word?
God calls all His people to spend time with Him. If you’re not hearing His voice calling you to spend time in His Word and in prayer, it may be because you’ve muffled it.
Characteristics of the Blessed Person
Psalm 1 gives us a picture of the blessed life. The characteristics of this person include:
1). A Crowd-Resistant Mentality: The blessed person does not conform to the world but stands out as separate, resisting peer pressure and worldly influence.
2). A One-Track Mind: The blessed person is devoted to God’s Word, unaffected by conflicting advice. As Winston Churchill once said, “A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” The blessed person maintains that single-minded focus on God.
3). Deep Roots: The blessed person is like a tree planted by water, drawing strength and resilience from God alone. This tree stands firm in all circumstances.
4). Weatherproof Faith: Their faith endures through all seasons. No matter what life throws their way, they remain rooted and steadfast.
The Wicked Are Like Chaff
The psalmist contrasts the righteous with the wicked. Unlike the tree rooted by streams of water, the wicked are like chaff blown away by the wind. They lack foundation, stability, and substance. In the end, they will not withstand judgment because they have no righteousness to protect them.
Judgment and Righteousness
Psalm 1 closes by stating, “For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” The Lord watches over the righteous; He knows and cares for their path. But the path of the wicked ends in perishing. This is a sobering reminder of the eternal consequences of our choices.
For further study, read Psalm 37 on your own time. It really elaborates on the theme of the righteous and the wicked and will enrich your understanding of Psalm 1.
Closing Prayer and Reflections
In conclusion, let’s reflect on Psalm 1’s call to a life of righteousness. The Psalm sets a foundation for the whole book, urging us to choose the path of the righteous and resist the influence of the world.
Father, we thank You so much for Your Word. We thank You for Your Holy Spirit, who gives us understanding. Give us the words to speak that people need to hear. Help us not to fret, worry, or be anxious about what we’ll say, but to rejoice when opportunities come, trusting You to supply exactly what we should say.
Lord, we know we don’t have to be eloquent or have theological expertise. All we have to do is be obedient. Prepare the hearts of the people You would have us talk to this week. Thank You, Father, for this fellowship, this body of believers. You continue to sustain and provide for us. We are so blessed and so thankful. We love You, Lord, and we pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Dr. Mike Spaulding
P. O. Box 3007 • Lima, OH 45807
