Psalms 1-2
I love reading the Psalms; they are short, sweet and get to the point quickly. If you would dwell in just Psalms and Proverbs for a while it would help your overall view on life and build your relationship with God. These two Psalms go into a person’s character and the way they lead. Again just parking in either of these chapters would help ones outlook on how you run your life.
Chapter 1 contrasts the way of the righteous to that of the wicked. The first point King David makes is clarify who is your “counsel”. How often do we pick the one who is the fool to listen to? Oh how that has happened to me so often when the one who says “hey guys watch this” becomes the one we endeavor to be like. We should look for the ones who are successful and live Godly lives while avoiding guidance from the fools and wicked.
He also mentions not “standing the way of sinners” or “sitting in the seat of scoffers.” Here is simple we just need to bail out of association from these people. If a person has a problem with say porn, the last thing I personally would do is try to stand in their way. Follow me on this, if you know you have a weakness then the last thing you want to do is put yourself in the line of fire! If that sinner comes to you for help, offer it. But don’t just stand there condemning their actions, because it will fall on deaf ears 99% of the time and it could suck you in.
Verse 2 gives the key to living more than anything else:
but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
In David’s time that’s all they really had was the books written by Moses. Sure there were other wirings that were available, but the law was their “Word”. After Jesus, the “church” gathered all the writings of Moses, the prophets and biblical scholars, along with the disciples and Paul to form what we have today as the Bible. This now is our “law” that we need to “mediate on day and night.” Just set aside a time each day to read a chapter or two, don’t try to do it all. I can say with 100% certainty this will help your walk with God.
Chapter 2 focuses more on the reign of anointed men. The world is full of “leaders” who are wicked and we often wonder how they get anointed. I still am not sure how this happens, but can assure you they are NOT anointed by God. We look at today and see many leaders who are in direct opposition of God or interpret their “calling” to eliminate all others who do not bow to their “god”. Often Christianity gets singled out for overstepping the bounds and become twisted. Two examples I can think of are the Crusades and Nazi Germany. The Crusades are often singled out as Christian expansion but we often forget that they were in response to the Islamic Caliphate and their expansion into Europe. Nazi Germany twisted the Bible in a propaganda campaign to justify the extermination of millions of Jews. One was a defensive action that went overboard, the other was just pure evil in it’s leaders.
I think as we assume roles of leadership the key we must focus on is verse 11:
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
We need to have a healthy respect for the power of the Lord. I often think today we demoralize God into some kind of genie whose job is to give us stuff. Prosperity preaching wins over obedience since that gives us what we want. The last thing we want to hear is just how powerful God really is in our day to day lives. We don’t need to fear the Lord as long as we do chapter 1 and meditate on His Word day and night! But we need to have a healthy respect for what God can do.
Leaders especially need to have a healthy respect for the Lord because they have a much greater responsibility than most of us. Their actions no only impact their lives but the lives of millions. So in the position this Psalm is focusing on, they should follow its words much closer. I personally fear for our world as leaders are allowing the erosion of civil decency in the name of freedom. If I could only write what I know, but unfortunately Larry Flint would question printing it in his publications. Fortunately I do not know from experience, but from first hand recounting. Oh I could rant for hours on this, but will just say keep YOUR relationship with God strong so when the sh%$ come down, you will have some isolation!!