Who Are You Listening To?

Verse: Psalm 1:1-3
¹ 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,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ 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.

Series: Selected Psalms

Devotion:
Who am I listening to? Who are you listening to?

David paints a powerful picture of living our lives under two different forms of “counsel.” There is the counsel of the “wicked” and then there is the counsel of the “law of the Lord.”

He goes to great lengths to state in three different ways how we will be blessed if we avoid the counsel of those who don’t live by God’s word. Don’t walk, stand, or sit with them! This is poetic of course. He is saying essentially (which is repeated throughout the Psalms, the rest of the wisdom literature, and the New Testament) “do not align your life with the ways of the world.”

No one is actually sitting down with known wicked people and asking for their advice. But we all have an ear to what culture would tell us to do, don’t we? We all have a desire to “keep in step” with the world’s definition of success, or being cool. We all want to be accepted by the “company” of those around us, even if it requires us at times to compromise.

However, if we want to be like a tree who produces fruit and prospers, then we must align ourselves with the will of God instead. David, surely, knows the temptation. And he’s followed the way of the wicked. And he’s suffered the cost. In hindsight he is encouraging all of us to choose the way of God. Like Jesus said,  “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14).

How do we “sit under the counsel of God” rather than the wicked? We imbibe the word of God. We read it. Study it. Enjoy it. Find our life in it. Meditate on it. And live by it! We sit under the teaching of Jesus and learn to live the life that he offers us.

David says we are blessed when we “delight” in the law of God (synonymous for the Word of God). The one who delights in the word of God is the one who loves God’s ways. To her, God’s ways aren’t burdensome or boring. They are life.

I love to serve others, to love the least, to live in forgiveness, to be a person of peace, to stand for those who are hurting, to live a life of prayer and  devotion, and all that following Jesus entails. And when we follow his way, our lives begin to produce more and more fruit and meaning. We begin to dig deeper and deeper roots into what really matters in life. Our leaves do not wither, because we don’t get caught up in the meaninglessness of this world’s pursuits. We start to really enjoy life, to deeply appreciate relationships, and to find the beauty of God in all things. This is the fullness of life, the flourishing life, that Jesus invites us into. And it is there for us! We just have to choose!

Prayer
Help me, Lord, to see your way and know your way. Keep me from the distractions of this world that so easily pull my focus away from your way.

Author: Christian Dunn