THE FIRST PSALM<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nBlessed 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; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. 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.<\/em><\/p>The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. \u2014 Psalm 1:1-6<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nGATEWAY TO PRAYER<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nThe Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible, but it is noteworthy that the first Psalm is not a prayer per se but a meditation\u2014in fact, it is a meditation on meditation. This Psalm\u2019s prime place is not an accident. Eugene Peterson<\/strong><\/em> points out that the Psalms are an edited book, and Psalm 1 is the entrance to the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe text [of the Psalms] that teaches us to pray doesn\u2019t begin with prayer. We are not ready. We are wrapped up in ourselves. We are knocked around by the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nPsalm 1 is \u201cpre-prayer, getting us ready.\u201d This is an important discovery.<\/em> Many of us have a devotional life in which we jump from fairly academic study of the Bible into prayer. There is a \u201cmiddle ground,\u201d however, between prayer and Bible study, a kind of bridge between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"meditating](\"https:\/\/blog.olivetree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ancientmodernbibleSHOOT810-835-1.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nTHE MIDDLE GROUND: MEDITATING ON GOD’S WORD<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nWhile deep experiences of the presence and power of God can happen in innumerable ways, the ordinary way for going deeper spiritually into prayer is through meditation on Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we pray without meditation,\u201d writes Edmund Clowney<\/strong>, \u201cour own communion with God becomes poor and distant.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nAccording to Psalm 1, meditating on God’s Word promises at least three things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MEDITATION: STABILITY<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nThe person experienced in meditation is like a tree rooted so that wind cannot blow it away. Notice that this tree is planted by streams of water. Trees by streams do well even if there is little rain. This is an image of someone who can keep going in hard, dry times. We need to have the roots of our heart and soul in God at such times, and meditation is the way to do that. The streams of water represent the \u201claw of the Lord,\u201d the Word of God, and to put roots into the water is a metaphor for meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meditating on God’s Word, then, is what gives you stability, peace, and courage in times of great difficulty, adversity, and upheaval. It helps you stay rooted in divine \u201cwater\u201d when all other sources of moisture\u2014of joy, hope, and strength\u2014dry up. By contrast, chaff\u2014the husk around the seed or the kernel in grain\u2014is very lightweight and in any little puff of breeze just blows away. Anything can move it. The way to avoid being chaff rather than a tree is through meditation on God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a note of realism here. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\nNotice that the tree bears fruit only in season, yet it never loses its leaves. Meditation leads to stability<\/strong>\u2014the tree is an evergreen!\u2014but not to complete immunity from suffering and dryness. We must not always expect meditation to lead to uniform experiences of joy and love. There are seasons for great delight (springtime blossoms?<\/em>) and for wisdom and maturity (summertime fruit?<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\nHowever, there are also spiritual wintertimes<\/strong>, when we don\u2019t feel God to be close, though our roots may still be firmly in His truth.
Meditation also brings the promise of substance, of character. Chaff cannot produce anything, while the tree can produce fruit. The reason for the difference is that the tree is a growing thing, and the chaff is not. Persons who meditate become people of substance who have thought things out and have deep convictions, who can explain difficult concepts in simple language, and who have good reasons behind everything they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMany people do not meditate.<\/em> They skim everything, picking and choosing on impulse, having no thought-out reasons for their behavior. Following whims, they live shallow lives. The people who meditate can resist pressure\u2014but those who do not go along with the throng, chaff-like, wherever it is going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"meditating](\"https:\/\/blog.olivetree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/ancientmodernbibleSHOOT810-835.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nMEDITATION: FRUIT<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nMeditation bears fruit, which in the Bible means character traits such as love, joy, peace, patience, humility, self-control (Gal. 5:22<\/a>ff.)<\/em>. Real meditation, then, does not merely make us feel \u201cclose to God\u201d but changes our life. As Old Testament scholar Derek Kidner observes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe tree is no mere channel, piping water unchanged from one place to another, but a living organism which absorbs it, to produce in due course something new and delightful, proper to its kind and to its time.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nMEDITATION: BLESSEDNESS<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nFinally, meditating on God’s Word brings blessedness\u2014a very fulsome idea in the Bible. It means peace and well-being in every dimension. It means character growth, stability, and delight (Ps. 1:2)<\/em>. Meditating on the law of the Lord, the Scripture, moves us through duty toward joy. The biblical promises for meditation are enormous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n-Timothy Keller<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\nLEARN MORE ABOUT MEDITATING ON GOD’S WORD<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.olivetree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NKJVAncientModernBibleSocial-1024x580.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMany things have changed in the last two-thousand years. The good news of Jesus Christ isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NKJV Ancient-Modern Bible<\/strong><\/a> features all-new book introductions, articles, and commentary from voices both ancient and modern to help you experience the Word of God as never before. Read the Bible alongside Augustine, Luther, Graham, and others\u2014and discover the rich wisdom of ages past and present, which is the rightful inheritance of every follower of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. 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.<\/em><\/p> The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. \u2014 Psalm 1:1-6<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible, but it is noteworthy that the first Psalm is not a prayer per se but a meditation\u2014in fact, it is a meditation on meditation. This Psalm\u2019s prime place is not an accident. Eugene Peterson<\/strong><\/em> points out that the Psalms are an edited book, and Psalm 1 is the entrance to the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe text [of the Psalms] that teaches us to pray doesn\u2019t begin with prayer. We are not ready. We are wrapped up in ourselves. We are knocked around by the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Psalm 1 is \u201cpre-prayer, getting us ready.\u201d This is an important discovery.<\/em> Many of us have a devotional life in which we jump from fairly academic study of the Bible into prayer. There is a \u201cmiddle ground,\u201d however, between prayer and Bible study, a kind of bridge between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While deep experiences of the presence and power of God can happen in innumerable ways, the ordinary way for going deeper spiritually into prayer is through meditation on Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf we pray without meditation,\u201d writes Edmund Clowney<\/strong>, \u201cour own communion with God becomes poor and distant.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n According to Psalm 1, meditating on God’s Word promises at least three things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The person experienced in meditation is like a tree rooted so that wind cannot blow it away. Notice that this tree is planted by streams of water. Trees by streams do well even if there is little rain. This is an image of someone who can keep going in hard, dry times. We need to have the roots of our heart and soul in God at such times, and meditation is the way to do that. The streams of water represent the \u201claw of the Lord,\u201d the Word of God, and to put roots into the water is a metaphor for meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meditating on God’s Word, then, is what gives you stability, peace, and courage in times of great difficulty, adversity, and upheaval. It helps you stay rooted in divine \u201cwater\u201d when all other sources of moisture\u2014of joy, hope, and strength\u2014dry up. By contrast, chaff\u2014the husk around the seed or the kernel in grain\u2014is very lightweight and in any little puff of breeze just blows away. Anything can move it. The way to avoid being chaff rather than a tree is through meditation on God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notice that the tree bears fruit only in season, yet it never loses its leaves. Meditation leads to stability<\/strong>\u2014the tree is an evergreen!\u2014but not to complete immunity from suffering and dryness. We must not always expect meditation to lead to uniform experiences of joy and love. There are seasons for great delight (springtime blossoms?<\/em>) and for wisdom and maturity (summertime fruit?<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, there are also spiritual wintertimes<\/strong>, when we don\u2019t feel God to be close, though our roots may still be firmly in His truth. Many people do not meditate.<\/em> They skim everything, picking and choosing on impulse, having no thought-out reasons for their behavior. Following whims, they live shallow lives. The people who meditate can resist pressure\u2014but those who do not go along with the throng, chaff-like, wherever it is going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meditation bears fruit, which in the Bible means character traits such as love, joy, peace, patience, humility, self-control (Gal. 5:22<\/a>ff.)<\/em>. Real meditation, then, does not merely make us feel \u201cclose to God\u201d but changes our life. As Old Testament scholar Derek Kidner observes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe tree is no mere channel, piping water unchanged from one place to another, but a living organism which absorbs it, to produce in due course something new and delightful, proper to its kind and to its time.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Finally, meditating on God’s Word brings blessedness\u2014a very fulsome idea in the Bible. It means peace and well-being in every dimension. It means character growth, stability, and delight (Ps. 1:2)<\/em>. Meditating on the law of the Lord, the Scripture, moves us through duty toward joy. The biblical promises for meditation are enormous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many things have changed in the last two-thousand years. The good news of Jesus Christ isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NKJV Ancient-Modern Bible<\/strong><\/a> features all-new book introductions, articles, and commentary from voices both ancient and modern to help you experience the Word of God as never before. Read the Bible alongside Augustine, Luther, Graham, and others\u2014and discover the rich wisdom of ages past and present, which is the rightful inheritance of every follower of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGATEWAY TO PRAYER<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nTHE MIDDLE GROUND: MEDITATING ON GOD’S WORD<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
MEDITATION: STABILITY<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
There is a note of realism here. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Meditation also brings the promise of substance, of character. Chaff cannot produce anything, while the tree can produce fruit. The reason for the difference is that the tree is a growing thing, and the chaff is not. Persons who meditate become people of substance who have thought things out and have deep convictions, who can explain difficult concepts in simple language, and who have good reasons behind everything they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nMEDITATION: FRUIT<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
MEDITATION: BLESSEDNESS<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
-Timothy Keller<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
LEARN MORE ABOUT MEDITATING ON GOD’S WORD<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n