Delighting in the world or the WORD?

This morning I had the privilege to share a meal and Bible study with a few incredible college students.  Our text this morning was Psalm 1.

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

1 Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

     nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

     and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree

     planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

     and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

4 The wicked are not so,

     but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

     nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

     but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 1 forces the reader to ask himself  - do you want to be blessed?  I think almost everyone would say, “Yes, I want to be blessed.”  However, this world offers so many different opinions on not only what it means to be blessed, but also how one might obtain the blessed life.  In Psalm 1, the author establishes a contrast between two sets of people – the righteous and the wicked.   In his eyes, every single person falls into one of these two categories.  While believers must understand that positional righteousness comes only through faith in Christ, God also calls us to practical holiness – we must pursue righteousness in our life as a result of the right standing we have before God.   In studying Psalm 1, however, we must be careful to fully understand the contrast God has for us.  I don’t think he is simply making a contrast between wickedness and righteousness.  Rather, I think God wants us to examine the object of our delights.  The contrasting question being posed is, “Do you delight in the things of this world and its ‘wisdom’ or do you delight in the Word of God?”

 If we want to live a life that pursues righteousness, we must transfer our delights.  We cannot seek to delight in the world – we must delight in the Word.  What is interesting about this is that no one ever teaches us to follow the world.  We don’t fall into sin out of duty; rather, we sin because of misplaced affection.  We observe the world, we believe the world, and ultimately we begin to follow the world.  What the Psalmist would rather us do is DELIGHT in the Lord and His Word.   We delight in the Lord as we meditate on the truths of Scripture and relishing the Gospel that gives us life.  As we behold His Word, behold His grace, and behold His love we learn to delight in Him – not out of duty – rather, we delight in Him because we see Him as the all-satisfying Lord!

As we find out delight in the Lord, the psalmist encourages us that we are like a tree planted by steams of water.  In this, there are incredible blessings that come.  He says that we will be fruitful.  He says that we will endure.  He says that we will prosper.  These are amazing blessings, but we cannot simply obtain these in and of themselves.  They are but the bi-product of us delighting in the Lord.  If you want to live a blessed life pursuing righteousness – you must delight in the Lord.   In my life, no one has forced me to eat out of duty – food is my quest – and I love eating.  I delight in eating food.  Likewise, my prayer is that I don’t reduce delighting in the Word as mere duty – it is a duty because I need it, but more so the Word is delightful and a blessing!