Blessed: How Can We Live with God’s Blessing on Our Life?
You may hear many people say they are blessed. Others desire to be blessed. How do we live with God’s blessing?
Much misconception surrounds the idea of being blessed by the Lord. However, Psalm 1 offers clear teaching regarding the life God blesses.
Live with God’s Blessing: The Blessed Person Avoids Evil
Verse 1 clearly indicates three ways the blessed person avoids evil. First, the blessed person “does not walk in step with the wicked.” Walking is active, indicating personal involvement. A blessed person actively avoids wickedness.
Second, the blessed person does not “stand in the way that sinners take.” Standing is a middle ground between walking and sitting. While walking requires activity, standing reveals compromise. The person who stands in the way of sinners accepts wrongful actions without participating or avoiding.
Third, the blessed person does not “sit in the company of mockers.” A truly blessed person avoids doing evil as well as being closely associated with evil. We are called to reach every person for Christ, but we are not called to be close friends with those who live in sinful rebellion.
The Blessed Person Delights in God’s Word
In contrast with avoiding evil, the blessed person participates in positive actions. To be blessed, we are to “delight” in God’s Word. We find joy in spiritual truth and desire to focus our time and attention to godly principles.
Further, the emphasis to “meditate on his law day and night” reveals the importance of daily, ongoing study. In the time this psalm was written, the majority of Jewish culture was illiterate. Instead, they would listen to reading from the Torah, discuss it, and memorize it. This focus on meditating is much more than a daily devotional time. Meditating involves reflection and application of the Bible to all of life.
The Blessed Person Is Productive
Verse three notes another important aspect of the blessed life: productivity. We read, “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.”
God does the blessing, but the result of His blessing is a fruitful life of spiritual impact. We cannot always sit and wait for God to work, but are also called to put our faith into action through our words and work.
The Blessed Person Endures
The wicked are blown away like chaff (v. 4), but the blessed person experiences a different outcome: “For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.” When we live for God, God watches closely over our lives.
We don’t earn His blessing, but we are blessed because of our focus on the Lord and His ways. Further, our blessing is not limited to this life, but includes eternity. Those who know the Lord and live according to His ways will be blessed by Him now and dwell with Him forever beyond this life.
God’s ways are much different than the world’s methods of success. When we place our trust in His hands, He will guide us along a path that may seem at odds with our culture, yet leads to true success—the blessing of God.
Go Deeper
