Blessed is the man whose footsteps are ordered by the Word of God for he shall find both peace and prosperity.
Those who are without God are being hurried to a terrible doom.
Psalm 1
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 1 – The Two Ways and the Two Ends
Like a signpost, this psalm points the road to blessedness. The psalm begins with the same message as the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5. Beneath the lintel of benediction we pass into the temple of praise.
Blessedness is obtainable in two ways: negatively, we may avoid the society of the irreligious; positively, we must enter the company of prophets and kings, of psalmists and historians, and especially of God Himself, speaking in Scripture. Do not simply read the Bible; meditate upon it. Better one verse really masticated than a whole chapter bolted.
The rewards are, to be planted by rivers, to bear fruit, and to prosper. See Genesis 39:3-4; 49:22. How blessed it is, also, to realize that God knows and loves! See Psalm 56:8. The sinner begins with ungodliness, goes on to scorning, and ends as chaff, Matthew 13:30. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 1:3—His leaf also shall not Wither.
“If a man abide not in me,” said our Lord (John 15:6), “he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered.” The same thought is here. Thrust down your rootlets to the oozy river bed, and there is no doubt about your continuing earnest, patient, God filled. The sun of temptation may strike you with sword-like beams, but you will have a source of supply which they cannot exhaust. The secret of an unwithering beauty is in the Word of God, delighted in and meditated upon day and night. And what is the Word of God, but the life of God translated into human speech?
Wean yourself from all beside, and learn to feed on God. Withdraw your rootlets from men and things, and let them travel to the river of God, which is full of water. Close other doors, and open those that lead out on to the terrace, whence you may behold the far-spread landscape of what He is, and says, and is willing to be to us all.
Note that word meditate (Psalm 1:2). The root must lie in contact with the stream, and the soul most steep itself in the Word of God. We must give the truth time to enter and pervade our souls. We must have retreats, shut away from the rush of life, up and down the glades of which we may tread. These retreats are oftener found within the soul; than without. Just as the temple of old, there was Solomon’s porch, where Jesus walked, so in the temple within there are closes and cloisters, where we may commune with our heart, and be still. —Our Daily Homily