• Read Psalm 1🌳

MORNING— Rooted in the Word

• Focal Passage: Psalm 1:1-2

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight in in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.”

The first three Psalms are tied together by the English words:  Blessed or Blessing.  Psalm 1:1; 2:12; 3:8

The word for blessed in Psalms 1 & 2 is ‘asher.  Charles Swindoll states:  “Blessed” is somewhat bland in our English language.  The Hebrew word is much more descriptive, especially with its plural ending.  Perhaps a workable rendering would be, “Oh, the happiness, many times over.” The word in Psalm 3:8 is the word Bᵉrâkâh:  a gift, a present, prosperity.  Who wouldn’t want “happiness, many times over” and “prosperity” from the Lord?

The best way there according to Psalm 1 is to “watch where you walk.”  We see throughout this Psalm: two roads.  One road leads to a blessed state or happiness (v.1).  The other road leads to a state of perishing (v. 6).  Choose wisely.

The blessed chose good company for their journey. 

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

Witness the digressions… all in this one verse.

Walking to Standing to Sitting.

Accepting their counsel to going along to get along to sitting among them.

It is a horrifying day when a parent has to acknowledge that their child isn’t merely hanging out with the wrong crowd.  They ARE the wrong crowd!  One other digression is pointed out by Charles Spurgeon:  one from Wicked (careless or ungodly), to Sinner (one openly sinning) to mockers (one openly ridiculing the righteous).

So how does the blessed individual avoid these digressions?  By reading, studying and meditating on God’s word.  Actually by delighting in it.  

When we fall in love with the Bible’s author—it becomes personal.

There is a difference between reading a used book with a random note scribbled in the margin and opening a book with a handwritten note from someone you love. One barely holds your attention. The other slows you down because it was meant for you.

When the Bible is seen as a letter from God—not to humanity in general, but to you—everything changes. Prayer and Scripture begin to work together. Delight grows where duty once dominated.

God’s Word becomes oil in the engine of a blessed believer. It keeps the heart from seizing up. It keeps one moving in the right direction.

And it helps you watch where you walk.

• Reflection:  Do you have a method of getting God’s word into you? What delights have you found in His Word today?

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EVENING— Planted by the Stream 🌳

• Focal Passage: Psalm 1:3

“He will be like a tree 🌳 firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”

After warning us where not to settle, Psalm 1 shows us where life is meant to take root.

🌳 A tree firmly planted by streams of water.

This tree 🌳 did not arrive by accident. It did not place itself. It was planted—set where nourishment is steady and dependable. Its strength does not come from appearance or effort alone, but from where it draws life.

The righteous person delights in God’s Word because it has become a source of life. It shapes judgment, steadies the heart, and anchors decisions. Over time, fruit appears. Leaves remain green because the supply does not fail.

The wicked, by contrast, are described as chaff—unrooted, weightless, and unable to stand when pressure comes. They move easily and attract attention, but they cannot endure.

Psalm 1 leaves no ambiguity.

It begins with the word “Blessed.”
It ends with the word “Perish.”

Those are not poetic flourishes. They are destinations.

John 3:16 echoes the same dividing line:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

To be planted by God is to belong to Christ—to be forgiven, rooted in grace, and given life that endures judgment. To refuse that planting is to remain exposed when the winds come.

Psalm 1 stands at the entrance to the Psalms and asks the question:

Where is your life planted?

• Reflection:  Have you trusted Christ to set you on the way of the righteous?  Are you meditating on your road map?
• Closing Prayer:  Lord, every so often I drift.  Help me watch my steps and my company.  Help me to delight in Your Word by delighting daily in You.  Help me to flourish where You have planted me. Amen.