{"id":639,"date":"2018-05-06T20:31:10","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T19:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=639"},"modified":"2018-05-06T20:31:10","modified_gmt":"2018-05-06T19:31:10","slug":"blessed-is-the-one-psalm-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=639","title":{"rendered":"Blessed is the one – Psalm 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blessed is the one
\nDepending on context Blessed can mean \u201cunder God\u2019s blessing,\u201d \u201chappy or fulfilled,\u201d or \u201cintrinsically right.\u201d All three meanings apply here. When we are doing right God\u2019s blessing will fall and we will be happy and fulfilled. But we each have a choice to make, as Jesus said.
\nMatthew 7:13-14 13 \u201cEnter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
\nWe all face a choice in life. The popular broad road which leads to destruction or the hard to find narrow road which leads to life.
\nDeath or life? What does following the narrow road involve?
\nBlessed is the one
\nwho does not walk in step with the wicked
\nor stand in the way that sinners take
\nor sit in the company of mockers,
\nThe blessing and happiness and the life come as the by-products of living a life which is pleasing to God. How we walk \u2026 stand \u2026 sit.
\nHow can we find the narrow road?
\nbut whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
\nand who meditates on his law day and night.
\nBible Study \u2013 teaches us what God wants to know about Him
\nMeditation opens the door for God to speak directly to us. Not to learn from the written Word but an encounter with the Living Word.
\nPsalm 119:97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
\n98 Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
\nPsalm 119:148 My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.
\n\u201cMeditation is the soul\u2019s chewing\u201d. Meditation simply means thinking about or dwelling on a particular subject or theme or passage of Scripture. It is different from studying. It is more reflective and prayerful. Listen to David Watson.
\n \u201cToday, the majority of Christians find it extremely hard – almost impossibly so – to hear the voice of God. The problem is that we have forgotten how to be still before him, and we give little time (if any) for Christian meditation.
\n We need to use God’s word to bring us consciously into God’s presence. Let God’s word speak to us, drawing us to the Father and glorifying the Son. By letting our whole mind and being dwell on one of the names of God or on one aspect of his character, the Spirit will help us to ‘see God’. Words, phrases or even whole passages of scripture are invaluable for this fresh encounter with God. \u2026
\n The purpose is not to empty the mind of everything, but to detach the mind from worldly cares in order to attach them to Jesus and his word. This aspect is often neglected because in many circles it is assumed that the most important thing about the Bible is its “teaching”. However, much of its poetry, its psalms, its parables, its humour and irony, is lost when it is reduced conceptually to “teaching”. It confronts us not just with information, but with verdicts. In one direction the evangelical approach may be criticised for being too cerebral. The question: “What can I learn from all this?” is not always the right one to ask. Some parts of Scripture serve not to speak about joy, but to give joy; some serve not to instruct us about reconciliation but to reconcile us. The Bible not only tells us about Christ, but also brings Christ to us.\u201d
\n \u201cTo begin with, start with five or ten minutes in silent meditation. As you continue, you will be able slowly to increase the length of time, and, more important, you will begin to hear God speak to you through his written word or by his Spirit in your heart. Soon you will be able to enjoy an increasing sense of the presence of the living God, and better able to hear him as he speaks to you each day.\u201d
\nThe blessings of the narrow road
\nThat person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
\nwhich yields its fruit in season
\nand whose leaf does not wither\u2014
\nwhatever they do prospers.
\nThe dangers of the broad road
\nNot so the wicked!
\nThey are like chaff that the wind blows away.
\nRemember how John the Baptist picked up on this picture of wheat and chaff symbolising good and evil when said this about Jesus.
\n\u201cHis winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.\u201d (Matthew 3:12)
\nSometimes it seems as if the wicked have an easy life! They prosper while Christians suffer. They are lifted up while Christians are overlooked. But we must look at the world from God\u2019s perspective.
\nThe ultimate destiny of all who are on the broad road
\nTherefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
\nnor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
\nFor the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
\nbut the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
\nThere is a symmetry in the Psalm. The final word tells us that DESTRUCTION is the destiny of the wicked \u2013 the very opposite of the happiness and fulfillment which the first word of God\u2019s BLESSING promises to the righteous person.
\nBlessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
\nand who meditates on his law day and night.
\nMeditation is the soul\u2019s chewing. In meditation we mustn\u2019t race through to get to the end, but instead savour every phrase! We invite God to speak directly to us through every single word. That way God\u2019s word can take root and grow and bear fruit within us.
\nWe need to discover the benefits of a sanctified imagination. Entering into the story in our imaginations so that we become a part of it and it becomes a part of us. Experiencing it with our emotions as well as (or sometimes instead of) our understanding. We don\u2019t so much learn about Christ in the written word as have an encounter with Christ who is the Living Word. We need to learn to seek out \u201cthe Word who is in the words\u201d. Then the Bible will no longer speak only to our minds but also to our hearts!
\nGod often speaks to people through imagination and intuition and flashes of inspiration. Most of us just need to learn to listen. Then sometimes God will speak to us through specific Bible verses and passages, which will come alive to us as if they were God speaking directly and personally to us.
\nWe have thought briefly about what Psalm 1 can teach us. But for this Psalm to actually touch our hearts and change us, we need to meditation upon it. Let it soak into us so we can hear God speaking to us through it!
\nSo that is what we are going to do now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blessed is the one Depending on context Blessed can mean \u201cunder God\u2019s blessing,\u201d \u201chappy or fulfilled,\u201d or \u201cintrinsically right.\u201d All three meanings apply here.…<\/span><\/p>\n

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