Psalm 1:2

Psalm 1:2-3:

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

[3] And 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. (NASB)

Psalm 1:2-3:

2. But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law, the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God he habitually meditates, ponders and studies by day by night

3. And he shall be like a tree firmly planted and tended by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper and come to maturity. (AMPLIFIED)

We have seen in verse 1 of this Psalm how this person is blessed because he doesn’t associate with ungodly counselors, sinners, and scoffer.

We have seen the characteristics of each of these and find that these types of people we don’t need to associate with to help us in our spiritual walk.

Now the psalmist uses the word “but” to introduce a contrast between what this man doesn’t and what he does do.

The psalmist “changes direction” from the broad way leading to destruction, to the narrow way that leads to eternal life, the highway of holiness, the ancient paths.

Now he presents the marked contrast that accrues to those who choose to avoid the ways of the wicked, sinners and scoffers.

There are two words in verse 2 that we are going to focus on. The first word is “delights” and the second word is “meditates.”

What is delight?

What does delight look like?

How does one obtain “delight” or begin to delight?

How is delight maintained, nursed and nourished?

Delight comes from the Hebrew word “hapes, chapes”. It pictures that which is bent toward and thus is a beautiful figure of the godly man or woman who is ever leaning toward the law of God, not referring to the Ten Commandment, but to the law as representative of God’s Word.

And given that God’s Word is His “love letter” to fallen, rebellious mankind, the blessed man seeks this letter as a young man or woman would devour a love letter from the one they are courting or being courted by.

Sentence by sentence. Phase by phrase. Word by word. Reading the letter without interruption, even unaware of surrounding distraction. Reading and re-reading.

Such a picture is one of sheer delight of the beloved at having received a love letter from God Who is the essence of love. And so the blessed man and woman inclines toward the word.

Delight is an attitude that leads to an action, meditate. Delight is a good attitude and James says that every good thing and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights in Whom there is no variation or shifting of shadow.

Before we were saved by grace through faith, we were hostile toward God and His Word. Clearly, salvation is necessary for one to delight and ultimately that delight is planted in our hearts by the Father of lights.

But this good gift like all gifts can be squandered and abused to the point in that it begins to fade into only a dim memory of times when we truly delights in the Word like a newborn baby.

Time and effects of sin have a way of slowly eroding one’s delight if we are not vigilant to watch over our heart with all diligence.

Ray Pritchard writes that the word “delight” means to take great pleasure in. It has the idea of a consuming passion that controls your life. Everyone “delights” in something.

Some people delight in food. Others delight in a job or a hobby or a career. Some delight in particular friendship. Many people delight in money or the things money can buy. Many delight in evil pleasures and wrong desires.

Mark this well: Your “delight” determines your direction. What do you delight in? What gets your motor running” What gets you excite in the morning and keeps you awake at night? What do you daydream about?

Tell me the answers to those questions and I will tell you something crucial about who you are/

To delight is to be so excited about something that you just can’t wait. Watch a young man who has fallen in love for the first time. Ask his friends and they will say, “He’s not the same guy he used to be.” They mean he has radically changed. He doesn’t want to hang around with them anymore. All he does is talk about “that girl.” Just look at him. He got this goofy grin on his face. He’s in love. Now apply that principle to the Word of God. We are to delight in God’s Word as a lover delights in a letter from his beloved.

Steve Cole asks the question, What does it mean to delight in God’s Word? The word is used in the Old Testament of a man delighting in a woman. That tells us something. Have you noticed that when a young man delights in a woman, he rearranges his priorities so that suddenly he has plenty of time to spend with her? And he doesn’t do it because he has to; he wants to! Nothing interferes with his time with the object of his delight.

Now let me ask, Do you delight in God’s Word in that sense? Do you make time to spend in the Word because you delight in it? Or has it become a duty? It is easy to fall into the duty mentality toward the Word: “A chapter a day keeps the devil away!” Besides, it alleviates your guilt to read it. So you grind through a chapter and check it off on your list, but you didn’t commune with the living God or apply His Word where you need to change.

The Bible is God’s love letter to you. You’re reading the counsel of a loving, all wise Heavenly Father as to how you should live. His commandments are for your blessing and good. It should be no more of a duty to spend time in God’s Word that it is for a young man to spend time with an attractive woman. The way to true happiness is to delight in God’s Word.

William Heslop writes that he is blessed because his delight is in the law of the lord.

He not only reads the Bible, he delights in it.
He not only studies the holy word, he enjoys it.
He not only reviews the truth, he relishes and revels in it.

John Piper writes that the deepest mark of this happy person in Psalm 1 is that he delights in the Word of God. Bible reading and Bible memory are not a burden to him, but a pleasure.. This is what we want. What sadness when Bible reading is just a drudgery. Something is wrong.

What shall we do? We struggle with Bible reading and memory and mediation because we don’t find pleasure in it. We have other things we want to get more. TV or breakfast or newspaper or computer. Our hearts incline to other things and do not incline to the Word. And so it is not a delight.

Did the psalmist ever struggle with this? Yes they did. Take heart. We all do. How shall this be changed? The answer is found through prayer. We must pray for God’s enabling to help us delight in His Word.

F. B. Meyer writes that it is not enough to read the Bible as a duty, we must come to it with delight. This is possible if you eschew light and foolish literature which cloys the appetite. Read the Book in happy fellowship with its Author, meditate until it is assimilated. Better one verse digested that a whole chapter bolted.
Here are some passages of Scripture on “delight.” Look them up for yourself and keep in mind what we have learned about the word “delight.”

Psalm 22:8
Psalm 35:27
Psalm 36:8
Psalm 37:4
Psalm 37:23
Psalm 112:1
Proverbs 3:12
Isaiah 42:1
Isaiah 62:4
Micah 7:18
Malachi 2:17

Richard De Haan gives us an illustration of how delight can be dulled and end up as drudgery.
The first morning I heard the mockingbird practicing his bagfull of imitations outside my window, I was thrilled by the beauty of his songs. Gradually, however, I began to take his early morning songster for granted. One day as I awoke, it dawned on me that I no long appreciated my regular visitor. It wasn’t the mockingbird’s fault. He was still there. His beautiful song hadn’t changed, but I was no longer listening for it.

As believers in Christ, we may have a similar experience hearing God speak to us in His Word. When we are first saved, the Scriptures, with their soul stirring instruction and vital spiritual food, are deeply satisfying. As time goes on, however, we routinely read those same portions over and over in a manner that no longer speaks to us. Our spiritual senses grow dull and lethargic, and God’s exhilarating Word becomes commonplace to us. But then, what joy we feel when a passage reveals the exciting truth, and once again we “hear” the Lord!

Then let me love my Bible more
And take a fresh delight
By day to read these wonders o'er
And meditate by night.
-- Isaac Watts

I scanned the Scriptures thoughtlessly--
My haste had closed my ear;
Then prayerfully I read once more--
This time my heart could hear.
--Gustafson

Are you reading the Scriptures out of a tired sense of duty?
Or do you still possess the delight and fresh expectancy you had when you first believed?

Today, when you read God's Word, listen closely for His voice

Not only does this person delight in God’ Word, he meditates on it.

Meditates, from the Hebrew word “hagah” strictly speaking means to utter a sound and hence it is employed of inward utterance, of the word a man speaks to himself and also of giving open and loud expression to the thoughts.

So in Hebrew thought, to meditate upon the Scripture is to quietly repeat them in a soft, droning sound, while abandoning outside distractions.

Meditation of the idea of digesting something thoroughly, of ruminating on it, of chewing the cud of God’s Word of Truth, of considering a verse by pondering it from various angles.

As stated, the original Hebrew idea is to mumble under one’s breath. I get the picture of one “brooding” over God’s Word, almost like a mother hen sitting on her eggs until they hatch! Have you ever been to the “Wailing Wall” in Jerusalem and seen the men facing the wall rocking back and forth muttering or chanting. That’s a picture of meditating, but only a partial pictures because without the Holy Spirit our Teacher, such mumbling becomes a rote, mechanical exercise.

Mediation is to our inner person what digestion is to our body and this if you make the Word a part of your life, hearing and heeding, you will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Watch your thoughts: they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Author Unknown

When you truly delight in the Word, you have a desire to spend time in it and to meditate on it.

In the following verses from Psalm 119, observe the association between “delight” and “meditation”:

Verse 15: I will meditate on Thy precepts, and regard Thy ways.
Verse 16: I shall delight in Thy statutes, I shall not forget Thy word.

Verse 23: Even though princes sit and talk against me, Thy servant meditates on Thy statures.
Verse 24: Thy testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.

Verse 47: And I shall delight in Thy commandments, Which I love.
Verse 48: And I shall lift up my hands to Thy commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Thy statutes.

Wiersbe writes that we saturate ourselves with the Word by meditating on it. When we meditate on the Word, we allow the Spirit of God within us to “digest” the Word of spiritual nourishment for us.

God desires to bless us, but we must meet His conditions for receiving blessings. By staying separate from the world and keeping saturated in the Word, we may expect God's blessings. Resolve to meditate on the Word of God and obey it. He will make you a blessing to others.

Ray Pritchard writes that if we are serious about this, we will find the time to mediate. And we will have some sort of regular reading program. Perhaps we’ll read through the Bible in a year. Or perhaps we’ll use one of many Bible study guides that are available. And certainly we will try to memorize Scripture. This has become something of a lost art today. In an earlier generation, it was commonplace for Christians to emphasize Scripture memory. Today we have more or less relegated that practice to the Awana program. That’s a pity because when we hide the Word of God in our hearts, we are protected from sin and given strength to obey God. I know that many people, men, especially, like to say, “I just can’t memorize. I’m too busy. My brain is too tired. I can barely remember my phone number.” Women seem to do better at this, bit we men have thousand excuses. The truth is, we lack motivation. Suppose that Bill Gates came into the sanctuary with 50-gallon drum filled with crisp $100 bills. And suppose he offered $100 for each verse anyone memorized by next Sunday. That would change things, wouldn’t it? I’m sure we’ve got men who would figure out a way to memorize 100 verses by next Sunday because they need the money. But God’s Word is more precious than gold or silver. If we delight in the Word, we will find a way to read it, to meditate on it, and even to memorize it.

A. T. Pierson says that meditation is simply thought prolonged and directed to a single object. Your mystic chambers where thoughts abide are the secret workshop of an unseen Sculptor chiseling living forms for a deathless future. Personality and influence are modeled here. Hence, the biblical injunction, “Keep thy heart with a diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.”

J. I. Packer says that meditation is the practice of turning each truth we learn about God into matter for reflection before God, leading to prayer and praise to God.
Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and way and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God.

Steven Cole explains the value of meditation in the context of Psalm 1 noting that as we saw in verse 1, the mind is the first bastion we must defend. Whatever shapes your thinking will shape your life. The only way for a person to reject the counsels of the ungodly which bombards him from every side is to be continually meditating on, thing about, chewing on in his mind, the Word if God and how is applies to life.

That’s our responsibility: to delight in and meditate on the Word of God. Do you do it”

Matthew Henry wisely comments, We may judge of our spiritual state by asking, “What is the law of God to us? What account do we make of it? What place has it in use?

To the extent that you build your life on God and His Word, you will have true happiness.

A. W. Tozer had this to say about the value of meditating on God’s Word:

Read it much, read it often, brood over it, think over it, meditate over it, meditate on the Word of God day and night. When you are awake at night, think of a helpful verse. When you get up in the morning, no matter how you feel think of a verse and make the Word of God the important element in your day. The Holy Ghost wrote the Word, and if you make much of the Word, He will make much of you. It is through the Word that He reveals Himself. Between those covers is a living Book. God wrote it and it is still vital and effective and alive. God is in this Book, and if you want to find Him, go into this Book.

John Piper writes that meditation in Hebrew means basically to speak or to mutter. When this is done in the heart it is called musing or meditation. Here is where I plead with you to get involved in the Fighter Verse memory program or some other pattern of Bible memorization. Unless you memorized Scripture you will not meditate on it day and night. But, oh, the benefits and delights of knowing communion with God hour by hour in His Word. If you have ever wondered, what is hour by hour walking in fellowship with the living God? The answer is: it is His speaking to you by His Word through your memory and meditation and illumination and application and your speaking to Him words of thanks and praise and admiration and desire and seeking for help and guidance and understanding. The Word is the basis for your hearing from Him and for His hearing you. The depth and solidity and certainty of your walk with God and your communion with God will rise and fall with whether God’s own written Word is the warp and woof of the fabric of your fellowship. So I urge you to memorize Scripture, and meditate on it day and night. It will change your life in many good ways.

Henry Blackaby gives a somewhat more “mystical” definition of meditation writing that meditations means “to think deeply and continuously about something.” For a Christian, this means remaining in the presence of God and pondering each truth He reveals about Himself until it becomes real and personal in your life. This takes time.

Bring the fruit of your meditation and offer it to the Lord for His blessing. Ask the Holy Spirit to apply the Word to your heart and enable you to live today in conformity to it.

Let the words of my mouth,
And the meditation of my heart,
Be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord.
My strength, and my Redeemer
Psalm 19:14

Some last minute thoughts about meditation:

God feeds the birds, but He doesn’t’ throw the food into their nests.

Saturation with the Scriptures is the secret to satisfaction in your soul.

Ongoing Meditation
October 22, 1997 My Daily Bread
By David C, Egner

Meditation on God’s Word doesn’t’ have to end with your devotional time is over. You can continue the blessing by taking Scriptures with you throughout the day.

Some people memorize a passage or write it on a card so they can have it available to read when they get a few moments. An engineer uses his coffee breaks to continue his reflection God’s Word. Homemakers attach versed to the refrigerator or bathroom mirror. Truckers put portions of the Bible on their dashboard.

Leslie B. Flynn tells of a brilliant college student who volunteered to word at a church camp and ended up as the designated potato peeler. A friend who admired her intelligence said, “It’s too bad you had to end up peeling potatoes.” She replied, “I don’t have to think about potatoes while I am peeling them. So I think about my Bible verse for the day.”

The psalmist indicated that he didn’t read God’s Word and then forget it. He meditated on it all day (Psalm 119: 97) And when the Word of God is in our minds from morning to night, we will be more likely to obey it and far less likely to violate it.

That’s the value of ongoing meditation.

We must read Scripture every day
And meditate on what God said
To fight temptation from the world
And live a life that’s Spirit led. Sper

Reading the Bible without meditating on it is like eating without chewing.

Thinking About It.
March 20, 2003 My Daily Bread
By Dave Brannon

According to one little boy, “Thinking is when you mouth stays shut and your head keeps talking to itself.”

The way your head talks to itself tells a lot about how we are doing morally and spiritually. To guard our mind and keep out the influences that hinder our walk with God is to use our mind in the way He desires.

The Bible gives us clear guidelines, spelling out the kings of things we should think about. For example, Psalm 1:2 and Psalm 119:97 tells us to meditate on God’s Word day and night. That should be our first priority in the thinking department.

But we have a life to live, and we can’t spend all of our waking moments meditating on Scripture. Yet even when we are thinking about the mundane aspects of life, we need guidance. Paul told us that we should think about thing that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8) In our daily activities, those words should govern what is on our mind.

When our head “talks to itself,” it needs to say, “Keep the impure and ungodly thoughts out of here!” When we are thinking that way, we will know what to do, how to behave, where to go, and what to say.

Let us think about what is good,
What is right and pure and true;
May God’s Word control our thoughts
In everything we do. FITZHUGH

Right thinking leads to right living!

What Is Reality?
October 10,2000 My Daily Bread
By Mark De Haan

The cartoon depicted a frustrated father changing a flat tire in the rain. His two children we peering out the car window. In response to their complaining, he said, “Don’t you understand? This is life. This is what is happening. We can’t switch to another channel!”

Television and reality, does the former distort the latter? After 10 years of research, media analyst Kenneth Curtis measured TV’ impact on society. He concluded that the omnipresent, flickering screen constantly tries to tell us what behavior and attitudes are desirable. He described the effect of TV as a subtle process that has become a significant force in defining reality.

It is true, we had better be careful about what we watch. The networks are not committed to portraying Christian values. Many things that are presented as acceptable are in fact dangerous. Further more, watching TV makes us passive observers rather than active participants in solving life’s problems. The violence, sex, and materialism on TV can make us insensitive to our calling as Christians to be salt and light in a sinful world.

Only as we meditate on God’s Word can we have the right perspective. To avoid a distorted view of life, we must allow God’s truth to define reality.

Our thoughts are shaped by what we see,
And thoughts affect our soul;
So if we’d profit from TV,
We must be in control DJD

Has this study on Verse 2 of Psalm 1 been a blessing to you?

I would like to hear your comments.

DAN WILSON
Ephesians 4 Teacher
ephesians4teacher@gmail.com