Verse: Psalm 1:1-3
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.
Devotion
I had food poisoning a few years back. I ate at a restaurant and later that night, everything went horribly wrong. It was 24 hours of … well I’ll spare you the details.
For some reason as I read this passage this morning, I thought of that. Think about it: we can either be influenced, directed, and led by the world, or by the Word. We can eat from the food of the world’s wisdom, or we can eat from the Word of God.
The crazy thing is, when I got food poisoning it wasn’t like I purposefully ate garbage. I ate the food in front of me. It looked good. It even tasted good. But it was so bad for me. I wish someone had warned me!
This Psalm is warning us. The wisdom of this world, the “ways” of this world, look good and taste good, but in the end they will ruin us. Think about this imagery: “walk in step”, “stand in the way”, “sit in the company.” This is just living in the world, and not using discernment or wisdom to know what is good for us and what is damaging. It is building our worldview from what is accepted in society rather than the word of God. It is building our beliefs from what is popular instead of what is True.
The blessing this Psalm promises (“blessed is the one”) that if we make the conscious decision to NOT follow the way of the world, but instead follow the way of the Word, we will be like a healthy tree that produces fruit for others.
So we have a choice. We can eat from the wisdom of this world, and effectively poison ourselves from the inside out, or we can eat from the wisdom of the Word and become strong, healthy, and helpful.
Author: Christian Dunn
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