I was scrolling Amazon’s list of Kindle book recommendations below the one I had just purchased for a class, today, when I came across an interesting-looking devotional book, based on the book of Psalms. The introduction recommended that a reader read the day’s selection from the Psalms, meditate on its meaning for themself and journal their thoughts, then read the author’s thoughts, before praying a guided prayer through the verses they’d just read. The idea intrigued me, and I scrolled down through the preview to January 1, habitually said a quick prayer, and read the six verses of Psalm 1, printed there in NIV.
‘Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person 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. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.’
Psalms 1:1-6 NIV
The devotion below the verses didn’t have half the depth of my own thoughts, which hit like seeing something with glasses for the first time, after seeing it many times with blurred vision.
Blessed… is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked? who does not stand in the way that sinners take? or who does not sit in the company of mockers?
Something hit. How often do we stand in the way that sinners take? Not walking down their path, of course, but standing there in conversation, in a sort of awkward communion, hoping they’ll join us on our journey down the way that the righteous take but not wanting to turn them off by mentioning our desire, never realizing just where we’re standing? How often have I done that? How often have you?
How often do I sit in the company of mockers? Those who mock–in a friendly, innocent-looking, not-really-meaning-anything-serious way, of course–those who are following God the best they know how? Or who mock their professors who are a little annoying? Or the school policies they don’t agree with? It’s all innocent, you know. They’re not mocking the Bible, or God, or the Church– well, not really–.
How often do we sit at their table, laughing along uncomfortably, feeling like something’s off but not wanting to make the situation uncomfortable by disagreeing, or to give up our opportunity to “make friends” by leaving?
Is this what unfaithfulness looks like? Not always adultery, but maybe silence? Being soft instead of firm?
What if all of us delighted in the law of the Lord, and meditated on His law day and night?
Makes me remember the recruitment director of the mission organization I served with, who carried a tiny New Testament in his pocket, in front of his phone, so it would be the first thing his fingers touched when reaching in. What if we did that?
Well, we’d be blessed. We’d be like trees, planted by streams, which yielded fruit and whose leaves did not wither. Everything we did would prosper.
I kinda want that.
Oh, and it just occurred to me that the most firm and non-mushy plants are the ones who are watered regularly….
