1 The truly happy person
doesn’t follow wicked advice,
doesn’t stand on the road of sinners,
and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful.
2 Instead of doing those things,
these persons love the Lord’s Instruction,
and they recite God’s Instruction day and night!
3 They are like a tree replanted by streams of water,
which bears fruit at just the right time
and whose leaves don’t fade.
Whatever they do succeeds.
4 That’s not true for the wicked!
They are like dust that the wind blows away.
5 And that’s why the wicked will have no standing in the court of justice—
neither will sinners
in the assembly of the righteous.
6 The Lord is intimately acquainted
with the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is destroyed.
Reflection
While I was in seminary, I was invited to help teach an adult VBS in a Baptist Church, and Psalm 1 was our guide through the week. I had never taught adults at VBS before, and so this was a brand new experience. It was the early 2000s, and the topic I was assigned was something like “Cyber-Based Bible Study.” At the time, using the internet for studying scripture was a foreign concept for most people. But I was inspired by how many members, even older members, of this historic Black congregation were more than ready to engage a new way of bringing Scripture to light and life. It was exciting. And I still think about that experience every time I read Psalm 1.
Psalm 1 is an excellent introduction to the psalter – almost as though the editors specifically planned it in order to set out the goal of the next 150 chapters. If I had to summarize the message of Psalm 1, I would put it this way: “The wise follow God and find comfort; the foolish do not and suffer for it.”
Over the 5 evenings of classes, my students shared with me their experiences of faith – the good, the bad, and everything in between. I was young then, only in my late 20s, and many of them were in their 60s or 70s. Their experiences were very different from my own. It didn’t matter. Over and over they witnessed to me how faith made the difference between hope and despair, between living in gratitude or falling into bitterness. These folks came out to listen to an excited young seminarian talk about new ways to study scripture because their faith mattered so much to them, because they knew that it was only by staying close to God that their lives could be like those trees planted by the water, bearing fruit and staying green regardless of circumstances.
I love this particular phrase in this particular translation: “the TRULY happy person…” It’s so easy to fall into thinking that the path to happiness lies in acquisition – of money, power, things. Psalm 1 is a reminder that the truly happy person values one thing above all, and that’s a right relationship with the One who made them.
by Joe Monahan
For Pondering and Prayer
What’s one step you could take to improve your relationship with God? Is it praying more, learning more about the scripture, making worship a regular practice, or something else?
Prayer: Lord, remind me today that faith in you is the water of life that sustains us when we feel dry and lifeless. When we wander, bring us back to your life-giving springs. Help us to find comfort and peace in your presence today and all our days. Plant us and root us by your waters. Amen.
