Vibrant For Christ – Psalm 1

The Matthew Henry Commentary says of Psalm 1. “The Lord knows those that are His by name, but we must know them by their character.” “The character of a good man is here given by the rules he chooses to walk by.”

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” Psalm 1:1

Sin invites by passers to walk with it, then, stand with it, and finally sit down with it.

Psalms 119:115 says, “Depart from me, you evildoers for I will keep the commandments of my God.” When I was a teenager, the Lord led me to say to a “friend” who wanted me to do evil, “I fear God, I do not want to go to hell.” After he departed from me, I realized he was not a true friend. He was a user and abuser. God spared me from him.

The devil advised our first parents to disregard God’s commandment. Revelation 12:17 says that Satan wars against those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 22:14 says, “Blessed are they that do His [God’s] commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

Psalms 112:1 says, “Blessed is the man that fears the Lord, that delights greatly in his commandments.”

Proverbs 3:34 says that God scorns the scorners but gives grace to the lowly.

The godly don’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly. They prefer to walk with Jesus. They don’t remain where sinners sin. They don’t sit comfortably with those who scorn God’s Word

The Matthew Henry Commentary says, “The word which we translate ungodly signifies such as are unsettled, aim at no certain end and walk by no certain rule, but are at the command of every lust and at the beckoning of every temptation.”

The Heavenly Father teaches us to value our life. To protect and cherish it!

The devil wants us to destroy ourselves. Psalm 17:4 says, “Concerning the works of men, by the word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer.” In Revelation 9:1-11, Apollyon, which means Destroyer, is the king of the bottomless pit. Psalm 106:36-38 says those who worship idols worship demons. In 1 Kings 18:28, idolators cut themselves with knives until their blood gushed out. In Mark 5:1-3, an unclean spirit made a man act so violently that people could not bind him with chains. In Mark 9:17-18, an evil spirit caused a man’s son to harm himself. In Matthew 17:15, the man said it caused his son to fall into fire and water often. Jesus casted the evil spirit out.

We should guard our relationship with God above all else.

“But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in His Law, he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:2

In John 15:5, Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Jesus is the living Word. As we abide in Him by meditating on His Word and aligning our lives with Him, He produces His fruit in us.

Psalms 34:8 says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts in Him.”

Psalms 144:15 says, “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.”

Luke 11:27-28 says that a certain woman from a crowd raised her voice and said to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” Jesus responded, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”

In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus advised us, “Enter the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go there. Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads to life, and few there be that find it.”

In John 14:6, Jesus is the way. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus.

“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Psalm 1:3

The blessedness of the godly is illustrated by a fruitful and flourishing tree. God’s blessing produces tangible results. Isaiah 61:3 says that a tree of righteousness is a planting of the Lord. Psalms 46:4 speaks of a river whose water make glad the city of our God. God supplies strength and vigor to us by His Word and His Spirit. He keeps us green so we don’t wither.

“The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Psalm 1:4-6

On the flipside is the person who is careless about their relationship with God. Living to sin is not the example that Jesus set for us. Proverbs 21:17 says, “He who loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil will not be rich.”

Jesus poured out Himself in love for people. God the Father was well pleased with Him. Jesus helps His followers to die to selfish ambitions so we can love God and our neighbor.

There is a way of escape from the deadly love of pleasure, and ungodliness. It is via repentance of sin, asking God the Father to forgive our sin and professing faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

Meditation and alignment with God’s Word brings forth good fruit. Your vibrancy won’t wither. He will prosper your work.