The Psalms are a collection of God inspired songs; beautiful, poetic reflections of the whole range of human emotions coupled with deep, theological truths.
Prayers to God, praises about God, expressions of grief, sorrow, doubt, joy, and happiness. It’s like they were written for you, to say for us what we feel in words we could not express ourselves. They are like a mirror to help us see and understand what is really going on in our hearts. They are like medicine for the soul living in a sin cursed world, giving healing to our emotions, helping us to lament, to praise, or repent. David Murray wrote, “We sing to Jesus in the Psalms, we sing of Jesus in the Psalms, and we sing with Jesus in the Psalms.”
The Psalter begins with something everyone wants — happiness. The Hebrew word translated “blessed” means happiness, and Psalm 1:1 begins “Blessed is the man…” In a book designed to worship the true and living God, the inspired songbook begins, “happy is the man.” God’s word and God’s commands are not contrary to human happiness. In fact, true joy and happiness is only found with God. This Psalm makes the case that loving and worshiping God is not only man’s chief purpose (Deut. 6:4-5); but it is also man’s chief joy.
The happy man is the one who doesn’t follow the ways of an ungodly society. He doesn’t stand with the sinner or sit with the scornful (Psalm 1:1). The happy man doesn’t find direction inwardly, or by following the crowd. He doesn’t find delight in the same things the world does, but the happy man finds his pleasure in God’s word. The meditation of God’s word brings joy, as opposed to the ways of the sinner (Psalm 1:2). When you live by faith and your heart is full of God’s word, the fruit that produces in your life is stability, joy, and godly living (Psalm 1:3).
Why avoid the way of the sinner? Because, even though the house of the sinner may seem to bring happiness in the “seat of the scornful,” the way of the sinner is death (Psalm 1:6). The path of the ungodly is not the established life, like the tree planted by the water, but is like the dead, light, temporary wheat chaff that blows away with the wind. Whereas a strongly planted tree won’t be moved, the sinner is blown about by his own nature and the course of this world (Psalm 1:4).
Where the happy man refuses to sit with the scorners and stand with sinners, the ungodly man will not stand in the day of righteousness judgment or sit in the congregation of the righteous. The happy man will walk alone with God; the ungodly man will walk with the majority now, and die alone without God. This psalm instructs us on how to live, encourages us in pursuing godliness, warns of the dangers of wickedness, and confirms the way to happiness is with God.
