Walking with the Wise (Psalm 1)
When days seem to merge into each other, with few dividing lines, it's important to remind ourselves that each day is full of decisions to make, often taken without much reflection. Some of those choices are mundane; others are weighty.
The beginning of the book of Psalms is a striking portrayal of two ways: the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous; the broad versus the narrow way - one leading to destruction, the other to eternal life.
The opening verses warn us of dangers to which we must be alert. The counsel of the ungodly; the way of sinners; the company of mockers. If those phrases sound antiquated the dangers they represent remain real and deadly. It's impossible for us to not live 'in the world'; our Lord Jesus deliberately chose not to pray for us to be taken from it (John 17:15). But being in the world means seeing the challenge of the cultural waters we swim in - recognising its potential impact upon us, even while we sleep; seeing the inherent pull of not standing out from a crowd, our hearts courting acceptance. Words and ways, attitudes and actions - all take their baleful toll on us.
Choices have to be made as to how we limit that exposure and defuse its harm. That will inevitably mean thoughtful, prayerful responses to questions about social media, relationships, the cultural 'kool aid' and more besides. None of us find that easy. All of us can readily see where others are in danger but fail so often to see that we are susceptible in ways we're just not alert to. This ought to humble us.
Yet those choices have a positive expression, too. The counter-portrait in the psalm is of one whose delight is in the law of the LORD and who meditates upon it, day and night. That delight and meditation are often taken as a focus on issues of morality and a thoroughgoing commitment to Bible reading. Both of those are deeply significant but neither is the full realisation of what is here.
Christ is the goal, the culmination, of the law, says Paul (Rom 10:4), its final fulfilment. What the law was powerless to do - release from sin and its power and renew the human heart - God did by sending his Son as a sin offering (Rom 8:3) and sending the Spirit of his Son into our hearts (Gal 4:6). To set our minds on things above, where Christ is, seated at God's right hand, is to do all that Psalm 1 proposes but now in full flower. The delight in the law is shown to be a shadow of the heart's cry, "I want to know Christ..." (Phil 3:10).
And it is in our Lord Jesus Christ that the true prosperity spoken of in Psalm 1 reaches its peak, where the conditions for real flourishing are met: the life of God flowing deep and wide within the souls of men and women, being remade in the likeness of the Son; the Spirit working his matchless fruit in lives that once were as insubstantial as chaff and as barren as scorched earth. Such lives, even under adverse circumstances, in the searing heat of trials and temptations, are fed by streams of living water and will not wither and die. The living God dwells within them.
Our Lord divided humanity into the wise and the foolish, according to their response to his words. Once more, today, we have decisions to take, choices to make. May we be given grace to choose wisely, animated in love by the Spirit of the living God.
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O Lamb of God, still keep me
Close to Thy pierced side:
'Tis only there in safety
And peace I can abide.
What foes and snares surround me,
What lusts and fears within!
The grace that sought and found me
Alone can keep me clean.
'Tis only in Thee hiding
I feel myself secure;
Only in Thee abiding,
The conflict can endure.
Thine arm the victory gaineth
O'er every hateful foe;
Thy love my heart sustaineth
In all its cares and woe.
Soon shall my eyes behold Thee
With rapture face to face;
One half hath not been told me
Of all Thy power and grace.
Thy beauty, Lord, and glory,
The wonders of Thy love,
Shall be the endless story
Of all Thy saints above.
James George Deck, 1802-84
