Psalm 1 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 1 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;
Verse 2but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.
Verse 3They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
Verse 4The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Verse 5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
Verse 6for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Devotion
At the football game on Friday night a young man is called for a penalty—unnecessary roughness—but not before the halfback is loaded into the ambulance. We pray the injury is not serious, but we wonder how many yards one should be penalized for a sprained ankle or a fractured arm, a broken neck or permanent brain damage.
This Psalm expresses confidence that those who delight in the law of the Lord will grow strong and prosper and the wicked will be blown away like chaff. Yet often we see the wicked, those who practice unnecessary roughness in life, rewarded rather than punished for it.
Still we know those sturdy “trees”, present in every community and every congregation, who delight in God’s law. They provide for us examples of what it means to be planted close to that living stream that brings forth the fruits of faithfulness in their lives.
Prayer
Gentle God, the world can be unnecessarily rough and often the innocent suffer. Help us to honor not those who chose the shortcuts of wickedness but those who patiently wait for you to work your will in their lives. Amen.