(Ver 1.4)  There are more subjects in the Bible to study than there is time to study them.  Today I want to discuss the first chapter of Psalms.  The book of Psalms is a series of thoughts from God written down by the prophets of God for his people.  Moses is known to have written some of the Psalms, and David is known to have written some of the Psalms.  The book is a vast wealth of information and has many very profound revelations and prophecies within it.  The Book of Psalms is written like the other parts of the Bible, in a seemingly random pattern of unrelated thoughts, but yet Jesus said these are those that testify of me (John 5:39).  So we should be able to see Jesus in every book of the Bible and practically every chapter.  Today I’m going to go through a few thoughts on the first chapter of the Book of Psalms.  This is not a long chapter so it will not take a long time for us to review it and see what God says to us:

Psa 1:1  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

What does it mean to walk in the counsel of the ungodly?  What is counsel?  The word translated as counsel is a word that means “advice”.  Advice are words of guidance or the suggestions on what you should do in life.  There is no shortage of “free advice” on TV and the internet.  However, for God’s people we are not supposed to get our advice on what we should do or where we should go or even what we should invest in from ungodly people.  If you are looking to your unsaved friends, co-workers, newspapers, magazines or TV shows like Oprah for your counsel or guidance for your life you are being deceived.  Then this verse says Christians should not stand in the way of sinners.  That does not mean we are obstacles to them, it means don’t do what they do.  Just as we do not follow the advice of people who are ignorant of God, we do not observe them and do what they do.  Jesus put it this way, if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the ditch (Luke 6:39).  This is just having basic good logic, common sense and is sound judgment to follow.  God’s Word is the only truth that you will ever need to help you make every decision.   Of course this gets more complex than that, but the Word of God is the foundation for building your life and there is nothing else that can replace it.  If you base your decisions upon anything else you have already been deceived and you cannot blame God for what happens to you, even though many people still try to.

Psa 1:2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

You see this verse says exactly what I just tried to say to you, but in a more direct way.  The basis of your life is the Word of God.  The Bible says “I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me” (Isa 26:3).  Isn’t that saying the same thing that this verse in Psalms just said?  How do you delight in the Law of the Lord?  It tells you that you keep it in your mind both day and night.  That is a mental exercise and a thought process that is easier said than done for most people.  There are just too many distractions in life to fulfill this verse completely, or at least this is what many people think.  Their mind has been cluttered with many worthless things that do not mean anything, nor do they have any redeeming value to them.  These are the designed distractions of the enemy used to get your mind off God and His word.  Why do you think there are so many mindless TV shows on today?  They are intentionally designed distraction of the blind leading the blind.  Reality TV has gotten so immoral that I refuse to waste my time with it.  However, there are so many people watching these TV reality shows, it drives more of them to be created every year.  This generation appears to be consumed with the trivial mindless words spoken from people who do not know God or even want to know Him.  I was watching Jay Leno the other night and he had a Jay Walking on that had people from off of the street being asked basic questions on American History.  Nobody could answer any of the basic American History questions, but everyone of them could answer and tell you who was on the TV show Jersey Shores.  What a mindless generation we have allowed to be raised in this country.

Psa 1:3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Here is why I like the Bible so much!  It has verses like this in it and ignorant spiritually blind people do not have a clue what it means.  If you have ever really read the Bible seriously you know that people are often times symbolically called trees in the Bible.  For example, people are the symbolic trees of the field who clap their hands in Isaiah 55:12.   As you can see in this verse, people are only prosperous in life if they have done the verses prior to this verse.  Are you interested in being prosperous?  Some of the secrets to prosperity are found right here in this chapter and that is why I am talking about them today.  This verse is a parallel verse to one I always associate with it found in Revelation 22.  We can read in Revelation 22 about the “tree of life” standing on either sides of the river flowing from the throne of God and we can see that these trees produce their 12 kinds of fruit every month forever.  God is making a connection here and hopefully you can see it.  The people in the church are the trees being described in this verse.  We are to produce our spiritual fruit for God here and now in this life and forever throughout eternity.  It is a never ending process of spiritual replication.

The last three verses in chapter one are in stark contrast to the “Trees Planted by the Waters”.  The last three verses speak of the ungodly who do their own things, their own way and do not care for others.  They are described to be “chaff”.  This is found to be a descriptive term for that which you consume with fire.  I do not like to think about people going to hell, but yet it clearly says in the Bible that people go there who do not want to follow God’s ways.   So it comes down to a decision on every human on the planet and many of them do not understand the severe consequences of the choices they have made.  I use to be one of those who rejected Christ and thought the church was stupid.  Now I have learned that I was the one that was stupid and have been able to see finally that I have made the correct choice.  More than likely I have told you nothing new today from this chapter study, but have only helped to remind you that if you are a Christian you also have made the right choice.  God bless you today!