Is our delight in the law of the Lord?

We talk frequently about how we need to live as Christians. We want to imitate Jesus so we read and study his life as well as the letters that were written to Christians to show us how to live. It might seem counter-intuitive then to go back to the Jewish scriptures to see how we are to live as Christians! But that is exactly what we have in the book of Psalms.

In these Hebrew poems we see life as it is and how God wants us to live. Although written close to 3,000 years ago we can recognise our lives and what we go through in what the psalmists struggled with.

“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.” (Psalms 1:1-3 NIV)

In the first Psalm we find a contrast between the wicked and those who follow God. Notice that there is a difference and those following God must live a certain way – they are not to spend their time with the wicked, neither “walking in step” with them, “standing int he way” with them, or “sitting in their company”.

What is the problem with spending time with those not following God? Paul pointed out what this could lead to. “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’” (1 Corinthians 15:33). We tend to be like those we are around. If we spend our time around people who care nothing for Jesus, whose lives are spent trying to get ahead at other people’s expense, who sit around “mocking” others, we begin to take on those characteristics. When we compromise our beliefs and practices one time it then gets easier to continue to turn our backs on God and his word.

Instead we should take delight in God’s word and spend time thinking about it day and night. If we are going to be meditating on it we have obviously already spent time reading and studying it.

If we spend time thinking about God’s word we are like a tree planted by streams of water. A tree beside a stream is one that receives constant nourishment. Because of the continual nourishment it produces fruit. This picture carries over into the writing of the apostles: Paul talked about the need to produce fruit – the fruit of the Spirit – in our lives.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-25)

The contrast is similar to what the psalmist wrote: don’t follow the wicked but live differently. Rather than keeping in step with the wicked we need to keep in step with God’s Spirit producing the Spirit’s fruit in our lives. It is this person who flourishes in life – in real life. This is a stark contrast with those who reject God’s ways.

“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 1:4-6)

Those who follow God are blessed; those who reject God are blown this way and that by the wind, not having roots to ground their lives. They are rejected now, not welcome in the “assembly of the righteous”, and ultimately they will be judged. Their way of life leads to destruction while God watches over the lives of the righteous.

Photo by Jon Galloway: trees flourishing by the River Jordan in Galilee.

Readings for next week: Zechariah 10-14; Malachi 1-4; Psalms 1-5