This meditation on the Psalms was given at the Grace Church Guildford Prayer Meeting on 3 February 2022.
The Good Life. Is that not what everyone is looking for? There was a 1970s TV show with that title, which told the story of how two couples tried to find the good life in two very different ways. For Jerry and Margo, the path to the good life was by running the corporate rat race, increasing in affluence, and thereby ascending the social ladder. In contrast, Tom and Barbara decided the way to happiness was to be found by embracing simplicity and self-sustainability, raising pigs in the garden and living off the land. That was the basic idea behind the BBC classic. Both couples were searching for the same thing (happiness, wholeness, the good life), yet ended up taking two very different paths as they tried to get there. It would perhaps be an oversimplification to say that everyone in Guildford is either taking the path of Jerry and Margo, the corporate ladder, or that of Tom and Barbara, the minimalist lifestyle. And yet, it is true that everyone takes one of two ways in their hunt for the good life. The Bible is clear that there are only two ways to live, two paths down which you can pursue prosperity. And the Book of Psalms begins by explaining them to us. It seems understanding this key division helps us understand every other Psalm in the book. That having clarity on this point provides clarity for all the circumstances of life. Psalm 1 contains a simple, constant rule: (1) The Righteous Flourish (1:1-3); (2) The Wicked Perish (1:4-6).
1. THE RIGHTEOUS FLOURISH (1:1-3)
The Psalm begins, ‘Blessed is the one...’ (1:1). It could be translated ‘happy’. However, blessed communicates a sense of joy that goes far deeper than general jovialness or jolliness. To be blessed means to experience total wholeness, comprehensive completeness, flourishing in all its fullness. Luther spoke of a blessed man being one with whom all things are well. To be blessed is to live the good life! It is what we are all looking for!
Who is this man? What does the good life look like? Well, Psalm 1 teaches that the good life is the godly life. That it is the righteous who flourish. The Christian writer J C Ryle puts it simply like this: the holiest men are always the happiest men. 1:1 reveals three things this person doesn’t do. Did you notice that these three things are progressive? Walking, standing, and then sitting. It is one thing to walk with someone, another to hang around their usual spot, and further to sit in their company. This progression is a progression in association with, conformity to. It is a slide into sin that is perhaps best illustrated by the story of Lot. In Genesis 13 we hear he simply settles near Sodom, but by Genesis 19 we find him sitting among the city’s leaders. However, instead of sliding into sin, the blessed man of Psalm 1 separates himself from sin. He walks out of step with the wicked, avoids standing in sinful places, does not keep company with mockers. In short, he is not conformed to this world.
If that is what he doesn’t do, what does he do? 1:2 tells us his ‘delight is in the law of the LORD... and [he] meditates on his law day and night.’ Notice this isn’t merely what he does, but what he delights in. Bible reading is not merely a good habit of his, it is the longing of his heart. It is not only his preoccupation, doing it night and day, but it is his pleasure (DRD). Rather than seeking the wisdom of this world, he looks to the law of his God.
This fuel that we find here in 1:1-2, goes on to produce the fruit of 1:3-4. In 1:3 we are told that a man who drinks deeply from and delights in God’s Word ‘is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.’ Notice that there is not fruit all the time, there are seasons for it. It takes time to mature in faith, to grow in godliness. There are seasons when Christians are more fruitful and seasons when they are perhaps less fruitful. And yet, though the fruit increases and decreases with the seasons, the leaf does not whither. There is always life. A Christian rooted in God’s Word is like an evergreen tree. Even in a harsh winter, he is sustained, perseveres, show signs of life though there is no fruit for a season. That last line brings to my mind the Greek myth of King Midas, who was said to have a golden touch, for everything he touched turned to gold. Here we see that we Christians have a golden life, everything we do, all that we go through, is used for our good, works for our prosperity. Surely this is the good life!
2. THE WICKED PERISH (1:4-6)
Just as the Bible is very clear that holiness leads to happiness, it leaves us in no doubt that sin leads to sorrow. In 1:4 the wicked are described not like a steadfast, stable oak, but like chaff, that is the part of straw that is left once the grain is taken. The images contrast so clearly: image a tall strong stable oak tree beside a stick of straw, so weak that the wind blows it away. While the great tree can weather the winter, the stick of straw is blown over by a gust of wind. In 1:5 we see that this is God’s coming judgement, under which this straw will not stand. 1:6 leaves us in not doubt regarding the fate of the wicked, for their way leads to destruction.
The righteous flourish, the wicked perish. Such a truth, set out so clearly here before us, should drive us to share the gospel with those that are still in that wicked way. And it should draw us into thankfulness that we have been saved from that way. For we are all wicked by nature, born as stalks of straw in this world, just waiting for the wind of God’s judgement to sweep us away. And yet God, in his glorious grace and great mercy, reached down and plucked us stalks of straw up and planted us in his garden, to drink from the water of his Word. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, so that we could live the good life. He passed under God’s judgement for us, so that we could prosper under God’s blessing. The Psalmist begins his great book ‘Blessed is the one who does not walk in step the wicked...’. And as we rejoice in that, let us not forget he will later say in Psalm 32:1, ‘Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.’ Brothers and sisters, no matter how difficult things might be at this moment in time, let us never forget that we are living the good life: a life of forgiveness that has led to a life of flourishing.
ALEXANDER ARRELL