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Psa 1:2, “Meditates day and night”
Biblical meditation has nothing to do with the emptying of the mind for clarity, but with filling the mind with God’s words (cf. Psa 119:11), part of the renewing of the mind process (Rom 12:2).
V2, “Meditates”
Literally, this means chewing the cud! What a mental image in contrast to the “dumping” of the mind by the world! Other words to describe this meditation that the psalmist is referring to are ruminating, mulling over, cogitating, reflecting, pondering, and even memorizing God’s Word. Meditating on God’s Word aids us in extracting spiritual nutrition and digesting it. It gives an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to speak to us. Reading alone will not suffice! It has to be assimilated into the heart and mind and integrated through meditation and reinforced in the daily walk.
This is precisely the relationship between Psa 1:2 and Psa 1:1! V1 happens because v2 is the underpinning. As thought precedes behavior, so v2 (the inward belief) precedes v1 (the outward manifestation of that belief) naturally. So cool, so axiomatic.
V2, “Day and night”
This should be taken metaphorically rather than literally; this delight, however, stretches from the morning to the evening! It is a heart attitude of being open for business in knowing and doing the will of God day or night, anytime, anywhere without fail. This is a lifestyle of the Psalm 1:2 man, a godly routine or habit, not the customary intermittent thing in our culture.
It is not about being so heavenly-minded that we are of no earthly good but being heavenly-minded enough to be of earthly (practical) good for Jesus in representing the kingdom of God as an ambassador of Christ (cf. the practicality of Josh 1:7-8, we simply cannot observe what to do if we are not in the know, right?)! It goes without saying, that willful spiritual ignorance cannot observe anything. Though many are under the Word, sadly, they are not in the Word. Like a pinball, they are getting bumped and flippered by the world to compromise, making a game or sport of them. A Psalm 1:2 mindset puts an immediate stop to such disrespect.
Only God knows how many Psalm 1:2 men or women are in existence today (they’re out there). The most important question is this; are we one of them? Psa 1:1 and Psa 1:3 are the indicators! The fruit tells of the tree! Alarmingly, the number of Psalm 1:2 believers has to be decreasing due to a pandemic crisis of willful ignorance of spiritual truth plaguing those claiming to be Christians! If believers are reading less of the Bible, then it stands to reason smaller numbers are meditating on the Word of God which means v3 is not a reality in the lives of many claiming to be Christian. All of this results in spiritual unhealthiness, hence, the drifting away (apostasy).
This spiritual condition results in smaller expressions of godliness in the world and more behavior characterized as “of the world” by believers doing the opposite of v1 which is indicative of v2 not happening. It also reveals that there is a decline in the spiritual health of believers in general (the absence of v3 in their lives).
There are way too many distractions replacing reading and meditating and applying God’s Word nowadays. We all have 168 hours in the week. We need to reevaluate what things are filling up our week: things of God or things of the world? Why would we allow being “too busy” to rob us of Psa 1:3? How crazy is that? How can we observe to do what we don’t know? We can’t! Therefore, we go about our rat-killing living spiritually defeated lives. If there is one thing that I have learned in this old world, it is that a person will do his or her priority. It may be severely misplaced at times, but that will be the focus and where all of life’s energy is invested, either in the temporal or the eternal. Why are we investing in things that are passing away as believers?
Solomon once made this observation that whatever God does it will be forever. That tells me that whatever we invest in the will of God will be forever. God does not take away from you those things done in His will. What we lose are those things that could have been ours had we not repositioned ourselves out of God’s will. It simply doesn’t pay here or at the Bema seat up there to be in disobedience down here! The Psalm 1:2 man is spot on with his objectives! V1 is the testimony; v3 is the prize in the here and now!
With more biblical literature available today than at any other time in human history, who would have thought that willful ignorance would thrive and grow into a spiritual malady that would pose a threat to Christianity today! It makes sense why there is a declivity of Psalm 1:2 men and women today.
There are three truths concerning the Psalm 1:2 man or woman that we all need to seriously consider.
(1) He or she has spiritual discernment in the world, v1, which means that the Word-driven life is publicly expressed. He or she is observing to do according to God’s Word in the daily routines of life, not plowing through the world ignorant of spiritual truth like a bull in a china shop. Simply put, we cannot be Christ-like in the world apart from the Word, but we can go secular by the chaff-like lifestyle, driven by the winds of the world.
(2) He or she infuses God’s Word into his or her heart tank, v2 (cf. Rom 12:1-2) which means that the Word-driven life is privately expressed. This demands a hunger (“delight” or desire) focused on the right object and proper consumption (“meditates day and night”). In prayer, we are doing all the talking, but practicing v2 allows Yahweh time to speak to us concerning many things. They go hand in hand in a healthy relationship, praying and studying, but hearing what God has to say through His Word is critical.
(3) He or she is spiritually healthy, v3, which means the Word-driven life leads to spiritual prosperity (possible physical prosperity but spiritual for sure). If v3 is not a reality in our lives, like it or not, or regardless of how we think or feel, we are spiritually unhealthy. It is not always easy to ask Yahweh, “Why is v3 not a reality in my life?” We tend to be intimidated by the truth when it applies to us, yes?
V3, “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”
First and foremost, the only way to v3 is to be spiritually regenerated, but with that said, we have to go through v2 and v1 to get there. The analogy of spiritual healthiness is like a tree positioned (“planted”) by a water source to satisfy its thirst. Desire and consumption in v2 are key for a lively tree (us). Its fruit is timely. It is never barren of fruit in season or foliage in any season, and whatever he does for God will prosper (cf Josh 1:7-9).
This may be “reminiscent” of the Garden setting before the Fall. The Word-driven life privately expressed in the life (v2) and the Word-driven life publicly expressed (v1) is indispensable to realizing the spiritual wonder of Psa 1:3. V3 is not a spiritual entitlement but an effort of love on the believer’s part (cf. Jn 14:15)! It is conditionally based upon obedience.
Doesn’t v3 have spiritually healthy written all over it?! It is positive and teeming with life! Here is the bottom line. Apart from the Word-driven life (learning the Word, loving the Word, and living the Word), v2 and v1 are not in operation. This means that v3 never materializes due to disobedience on our part. The tree roots are unable to draw water resulting in no fruit; the leaves wither, and prosperity is replaced by failure. These are earmarks of being spiritually unhealthy because of willful disobedience by pursuing a wind-driven life (Psa 1:4b, or chaff-like) rather than a Word-driven life. And what poses the greatest threat to Christianity today? Yep, spiritual ignorance of God’s Word.
Can you imagine what would have happened if Joshua had ignored Yahweh’s instruction in Joshua chapter 1? It would have been disastrous for all. The first foretaste of that was the fiasco at Ai from sin in the camp after a successful military engagement at Jericho. Why are believers comfortable with being ignorant of God’s Word, spiritually parched and powerless, fruitless, exposed, and spiritually unsuccessful in the world?
Another question for us to consider is why are believers still choosing temporal things that are passing away: trouble, vanity, uselessness, worthlessness, lifelessness, futility, and vexation of spirit over the blessings of being spiritually healthy (v3)? Why would we give all that up for some sin? You would think that we would be fighting tooth and nail to maintain spiritual vitality? Where is the sanity of trading blessings for burdens?
Ah, the irrational, illogical, baffling case of the deceitfulness of sin. Sin makes a muck of everything! There appears today to be more interest by believers in sporting the look of chaff-like rather than Christ-like (“the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff [worthless, useless, lifeless] which the wind drives away” (Psa 1:4). Have we traded in Christlikeness for worthless, useless, and lifeless?
It brings into sharp relief this question. “Do these people who are claiming to be Christians really know Yahweh?” This is a legitimate question when believers look, walk, stand, and sit like chaff. Jesus did say a tree is known by its fruit (Lk 6:44)! If it looks like chaff, if it walks like chaff, if it stands like chaff, and if it sits like chaff, it must be chaff.
It really is not rocket science to those who are of the faith; the Word-driven life in Psalm 1:1-3 is vastly superior in any and every way than the wind-driven life of Psalm 1:4; if we don’t believe that all we have to do is consider the end results of each (Psa 1:6)!
In these days of chaff, we see a visible decline in the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom of God’s Word in the lives of many believers, a precipitous decline of the Psalm 1:2 man and woman. To realize the spiritual healthiness of v3, we must be privately (v2) and publicly Word-driven (v1). As believers, we are to read, study, meditate, and apply the truths of God’s Word in the real world with the whole heart as a lifestyle pleasing and glorifying to Yahweh.
There can be no “vacation” from the Word of God that only sports disaster. Apart from these basics, we will not be spiritually healthy and never experience v3, a seemingly unreal spiritual vitality. V3 is ours for the taking! Do we realize this? Rather than being snookered by sin, we need to be stuck on the Word. Being a Psalm 1:2 man or woman boils down to a love issue. If we love God, the natural by-product of that love (agape) is obedience to His Word (cf. Jn 14:15, 21, 23, 24). Isn’t this the prime directive of all of Scripture to love God with the totality of our being (Deut 6:5)? God’s Word has to move from our head to our heart (Deut 6:6), otherwise, it remains nothing more than mere intellectualism.
To be Christ-like and Word-driven, we have to get into the Word like the Psalm 1:2 man or woman and live it (Psa 1:1). It is the only way to be spiritually healthy (Psa 1:3). The only alternative is to be chaff-like and wind-driven. How do you do that? By simply ignoring the vital role of the Scriptures in our lives, drifting downward, like the ungodly (Psa 1:4).
Have you ever wondered why Adam disobeyed God? Why would Adam trade paradise for death, a blessing for a burden? We might gain insight into that question by asking ourselves a similar one, “Why would we trade the possibility of Psalm 1:3, a picture of real happiness, for the things that are most certainly passing away, for false happiness (1 Jn 2:17)? <><
Have you ever wondered why Adam disobeyed God? Why would Adam trade paradise for death, a blessing for a burden? We might gain insight into that question by asking ourselves a similar one, “Why would we trade the possibility of Psalm 1:3, a picture of real happiness, for the things that are most certainly passing away, for false happiness (1 Jn 2:17)? <><
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