The Way of the Blessed Man: Meditations on Psalm 1

Worship is the place where individualism goes to die.

Note: If my thoughts on Psalm 1 feel sermonic, it’s because it is based on a series of sermons on each Psalm. They are chanted and congregationally sung throughout. Much of this material is edited to fit a larger audience. This series aims to stir our people at Providence Church (CREC) to love the song and the promise in each of God’s inspired lyrics. This is the first in the series.

The Way of the Blessed Man

We have always placed a great emphasis on the Psalms. One of my important goals is to ensure that the Church leaves behind at least one singable tune for each psalm.

But there is something else we must cultivate when it comes to the Psalms, and that is an understanding of their breadth and depth. In other words, the Psalms are not merely devotional piety; they are exegetical treasures, weapons for taking down strongholds.

Now, we may sing them, but the ideal is to sing them understandingly—to sing them with wisdom and insight.

From the earliest days of the Church, we have been a psalm-singing people. So, it seems good that we dive into a few psalms, beginning with the genesis of the Psalter, Psalm 1.

I use the word genesis intentionally because Psalm 1 closely aligns with and indeed replays several key themes we see in the Garden of Eden. But we will return to this at the end.

There is a great deal of movement in this opening psalm: there is walking, standing, and sitting. The psalms are sung liturgies; they inform us not only how to pray but also what our posture, mood, and disposition should be in the presence of God. And it’s very clear from the beginning that the liturgy of the church involves the whole body.

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

Worship is not meant to be a spectator sport. When we come into the presence of God in worship, we move, and live, and have our being in Him. It would be strange to treat these movements as mere spiritual matters. The Pietist would read Psalm 1 and say, “These are spiritual movements.” They would say, “Follow these postures in your heart.” But as Douglas Wilson says, “Theology comes out of your fingertips.” The Psalms are flesh-and-blood. They are tangible movements, which is why we don’t individualize them to how I feel; in worship, we all move and live together as one body under one Lord.

So, when the congregation kneels, everyone kneels. When the congregation lifts up holy hands, everyone does the same. Worship is not the place for expressive individualism. Worship is the place where individualism goes to die.

But not only is the psalmist interested in ways of being, ways of acting; he also sings about a particular culture—one marked by bodily engagement. He begins with a list of benedictions. Psalm 1 functions as the Old Testament counterpart to the Beatitudes: “Blessed is the man!” Or, as another translation renders it, “Oh, happy is Adam.” Blessed is the image-bearer—who does what?

First, “he walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.” The ungodly seek an audience with him. “Let’s go for a walk,” they say. And what do the wicked want? They want to include you in their agenda; they want to persuade you that your view of life is flawed. But the wicked will not always be blunt about it. Often, they operate with artistic subtlety—through sitcoms, by introducing a sympathetic gay character when you least expect it, or by articulating a vision of paradise where everyone shares everything equally in New York City. Evil is often subtle in its marketing department.

There are many sad examples of young Christians whose thinking shifts after prolonged exposure to the counsel of the ungodly. Someone may begin by observing how kind unbelieving classmates are, only to find that her perspective on the Christian faith soon changes dramatically. She may go from delighting in God’s people to enjoying the company of the ungodly. Eventually, she may concede that she no longer wants the God of the Bible and abandon the faith.

This is a lesson in the dangers of walking in the counsel of the ungodly. Remember, saints: watch not only where you walk, but with whom you walk; watch where you stand, and with whom you stand; watch where you sit, and with whom you sit.

The New King James Version, Psalm 1:

Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.

These are ways of being, moving, and living that all end in the same place, the place of unblessedness, of unhappiness.

Planted, Fruitful, and Unmoved

The contrast in verses 2–3 is rich. If you avoid these movements, these paths, and these voices, and instead delight in the law of God—meditating on it as a rhythm of life—you will be known as someone steady and immovable. If you go about chanting, humming, singing the psalms, storing the Ten Commandments in your heart, you will not fall prey to online or campus deception. You will walk peacefully with your husband or wife and with your children. You will walk in peace in the church and your community.

Psalm 1 is the kind of psalm that must be memorized, cherished, sung, and revisited again and again. It gauges your habits.

Does this psalm describe you? Does it describe the direction and trajectory of your movements at school, at home, on campus, and at church?

When people think of you, do they say: “That’s a young lady not prone to foolishness and gossip”? “That’s a young man who could one day serve as an officer in the Church”? “That’s someone who draws others toward love, joy, and peace.” “Their disposition is cheerful;” “He’s not quarrelsome.”

The Psalmist uses the language of stability: planted, fruitful, not withering, prospering. That is the blessed life. That is the good life—not a million followers on X, nor necessarily wealth, but a long obedience in the right direction; thousands of habits of grace; millions of words of encouragement; faith upon faith; grace upon grace; cuddling moments with children; coffee with friends; Bible studies; psalm-roars. That is the true Gospel of prosperity.

The New King James Version, Psalm 1:

The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

There is a different composition to the ungodly. “They are not so,” that is, they are altogether different. They don’t share the Christian worldview. They pursue different goals. Their agenda is not the glory of Yahweh but self-fulfillment. And this leaves a legacy of selfishness to their offspring.

The Psalmist says that “the wind drives them away.” The word for wind is the same word for Spirit—ruach. In Scripture, the Spirit is the cleanser of history. He hovers over creation, removing uncleanness, making all things new. As he did in Genesis, he continues to do today in our world. In the case of the ungodly (those who scheme against God’s people), the Spirit ensures that their labors are in vain. The ungodly do not endure. He drives them away. He separates them, whether by excommunication or keeping the church pure from corruption; the Spirit drives the ungodly out of the camp.

The New King James Version, Psalm 1:

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Again, notice the movements. The Christian sits, stands, and walks in the congregation of the righteous. He moves for the sake of true justice, knowing that he will stand before the great Judge Himself. When the Psalmist says the ungodly “shall not stand in the judgment,” he means they will not stand in judgment over God or over us in the congregation. They will not set our agenda as Christians, nor will they dictate how we raise our children, how many children we have, where we worship, how we worship, or with whom we worship.

The unrighteous will not dictate how the Church is ordered, because they despise the judgment of the Church. They hate what is good. They turn away from holy principles, preaching, and psalms.

Indeed, the ungodly are not so. They may rule for a time, but the principle stands: as the way of the righteous prospers, the ungodly perish. Yahweh knows our ways, because He knows our thoughts and our movements.

Christ, the True and Blessed Adam

So, now, let’s return to that Genesis theme and answer a question which the Psalmist assumes, which is, Who is the “blessed man” of Psalm 1? The answer is obvious, but it must be remembered that Psalm 1 is a reinstatement of the opening chapters of Genesis. Who walked, stood, and sat in the counsel of the ungodly? Adam did. Rather than delighting perpetually in the counsel of God, Adam heeded the voice of the serpent. He should have interrupted that dialogue and protected his wife from the scornful.

Instead of remaining planted as a tree, uncorrupted by false voices, he partook of the tree of death. God had called Adam to trust Him and to wait upon Him, but he chose the counsel of the wicked.

How did our Lord respond to the failure of Adam?

Jesus enters the scene in the first century and is immediately thrust into warfare with the Devil and his ambassadors. Yet He does not walk with them, nor stand or sit with them. He rebukes them with the Word of the Lord. He delights to do the will of the Father, day and night. He meditates on, quotes, and embodies the law of God.

He plants Himself by rivers of water. Indeed, He becomes the fountain of living water for all who thirst. He becomes the tree of everlasting life by giving His body on a tree for the life of the world. Yes, whatever He does prospers. Whomever He touches is healed. Whatever tree He curses withers. Those He rebukes fall. Those He blesses prosper.

Psalm 1 does not end by asking us to admire the blessed man from a distance, but to follow Him. In Christ, the true Adam, the blessed life has been given to us before it is ever demanded of us. He has walked where we failed, stood firm where we wavered, and sat enthroned where we could not. And now, united to Him, the Spirit plants us by living waters and teaches us how to walk, where to stand, and where to sit.

So go from this place unafraid of faithfulness, unashamed of holiness, and unmoved by the counsel of the ungodly. Delight in the law of the Lord. Sing the Psalms with understanding. Raise your children in wisdom. Love the Church. Trust the slow work of God. For the way of the righteous is known by the Lord, and in Christ, that way leads not to chaff and scattering, but to life, fruitfulness, and everlasting joy.

Notations

• If you are an old soul like me, this interview with Billy Joel was iconic in every way—beginning with the discussion about the role of classical music in shaping his own, the influences of the Beatles, and the musicality of vowels. The whole thing was splendid!

• I had never heard of the Spanish journalist Itxu Díaz over at the American Spectator, but I shall familiarize myself with him after this ode to the West. And it comes right as I begin to delve into the Iliad. So, extra timely gem. Here’s his closing paragraph:

  No. Not all cultures are of equal value. Not all ideas deserve equal respect. Not all the barbarism found in the non-Western world can be explained away by the injustices suffered by those who commit it. The West, too, could have become its worst self. It could have remained trapped in Nazi barbarism, embraced bloody revolutions, or failed to resist the Muslim invasions. Instead, it chose to strive for its best self. Others did not. Other cultures, like the one Zohran Mamdani admires, struggle every day to return to their worst. That is why the following statement is neither arrogant nor provocative, but calm and firm: the West is better. And we should be proud enough to defend it to the end, just as our ancestors did.

• On Households: