Two Perceptions of Reality
Psalms For The Bride
Psalm 1 – God’s blessing on the Godly
For the bride of Christ there are only two options for living in this world: the supernatural and the natural. One life resides in the kingdom of God and the other in the kingdom of Satan. As Jesus said, one enters through the wide gate and the other through the narrow gate. Israel was a unique a separate nation of people surrounded by other people, and they were not to be contaminated by them. The bride of Christ is the same; we are in the world but not to be “of the world” (John 17:11-17).
Psalm 1 addresses both the life of the righteous and the life of the ungodly. Since this series addresses the wisdom, direction, understanding and instruction for life that the Holy Spirit included in the Psalms for the righteous, our focus will be on how they impact the bride of Christ today. Therefore, here in Psalm 1 we’ll focus on verses 1-3.
Ps 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Note that the blessed (happy) man—the bride—doesn’t do certain things, does do certain things and reaps the benefits of all that he sows. It’s an invitation that comes with a promise if… we don’t walk with, follow the counsel of, stand alongside of or sit with the scornful. Remember, blessedness is not deserved; it’s a gift from God. Let’s look at each of these admonitions
Walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly – Our world view, our ethics and morals are not to be dictated by the ungodly in the world around us. We are not to follow their counsel (advice or purpose). We belong to our bridegroom and we are to focus on His counsel.
Standeth in the way of sinners – Our identity or our lifestyle is not to be determined by those who reject our bridegroom. Their lifestyle is one of rebellion and disobedience and ours is to be one of submission and obedience. We are not to be submissive and inactive in response to their actions.
Sitteth in the seat of the scornful – How we judge others in this world is not to be determined by the same perspective of those in the world. And that means that we are not to “learn” from them. As the bride of Christ we are to are to judge with the love of Christ. We are to recognize but not tolerate sin, separating the sin from the sinner. One who is scornful is a “mocker,” a fool who doesn’t respond to instruction and is constantly stirring up strife. Sound like the world today? We are not to sit or relax with them.
When you put these three admonitions together there is a very clear message for the bride. If we heed their wisdom we will begin to walk with them and become established as a part of them. If we follow the wrong counsel we will stand with the wrong people and finally sit with them. Like Jesus’ letters to His bride in Revelation warn us, it’s a slippery slope that begins very gradually but becomes steeper very quickly.
As Jesus’ bride we are faced with a “media-centered” world view that isn’t to become ours. We are engaged in a battle with the world’s view that is directly opposed to our perception of reality. It is a battle that continually tries to indoctrinate us into its modern, scientific, natural view, and the danger if we allow it to impact us is that we will begin to close out the presence of our bridegroom.
The world wants us to set aside our faith in the gifts of the Spirit… “they only belong to the apostolic age, they’re not for today.” What happens is that we begin to limit what God can and cannot do. Philosopher Carl Becker summed up the world’s counsel, its view:
What is man that the electron should be mindful of him! Man is but a foundling in the cosmos, abandoned by the forces that created him. Unparented, unassisted and undirected by omniscient or benevolent authority, he must fend for himself, and with the aid of his own limited find his way about in an indifferent universe.
What a sad commentary, what a hopeless perspective of reality when compared to that of the bride, who has been redeemed from all that hopelessness.
Ps 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Rather than an attitude of despair we are to delight in the Word of God. And that results in our meditating on it day and night. The world’s reality leads to negative attitudes and reactions while the reality of the righteous leads to delight in God and the right attitudes and reactions. Whatever we delight in we are going to focus on; a song, a person, a book, etc. Whatever we enjoy we are going to think about and pursue. For the bride of Christ our focus is to be on the words of the bridegroom. His word is the way to being blessed, now and for always. It was Buyan’s Pilgrim who ran away from the City of Destruction shouting, “Life, life, eternal life.” That is the reality of our perspective in this world, a reality we are to share.
Just a word here about “meditation.” That word has been stolen from us by the world and its meaning has been perverted. To meditate in the world is to empty your mind and open yourself up to your own thoughts and the thoughts of evil spirits. For us it’s just the opposite. We are not to “empty” our minds, we are to “fill” them with the Word of God. The Hebrew word for meditate is hāĝah, which means to utter sounds or to speak, it’s synonymous with “to remember” or “call to mind.” This is what God meant for Israel when spoke to Joshua:
Josh 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Our bridegroom has told us the same thing:
John 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Note the common message here, to Israel and to the bride. To receive the blessings we have to take action based upon what the word tells us. And note here—as I have said many times—the truth will “not” make you free. It’s the truth that you “know” that will make you free; the revealed word. And the only way you are going to accomplish that is to “meditate on it day and night” and “continue in it.” The tense used here is imperfect and it means that meditation is to become a “constant” practice; keep on meditating. That results in walking in the counsel of God and not in the counsel of the wicked.
C.S. Lewis said, The law’s beauty, sweetness or preciousness arose from the contrast of the surrounding Paganism, we may soon find occasion to recover it. Christians increasingly live on a spiritual island.
And that island we live on is the only solid ground in a very shaky world.
Ps 1:3 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.
While the promises of the New Covenant that go with the land are only for Israel, because we have been “grafted into the olive tree” (Rom 11:17) we share in the spiritual blessings that are part of the new covenant. We have been “planted” by God, and that word also means tended. He hasn’t put us here and left us alone, He tends to us every minute of every day.
As the bride meditates on the word of God she is going to be continually watered to ensure that she produces good fruit, and she will never grow weak; we will be “evergreen.” If we have a spiritual perspective and stay in the Word—abiding in a continual relationship with our bridegroom—we will be fruitful in “His” season. This is a lesson that we all need to learn—again and again. Everything about our relationship with Jesus—our walk—is based upon his timing. He has promised us that in the times He calls upon us to wait—the dry times—if we will continue in His Word we won’t wither; we won’t faint. In fact we’ll experience just the opposite; we’ll prosper. Our fruit—winning people to Christ, His character in us, our service and good works, our praise to Him—will always stay fresh.
The green foliage is an emblem of faith, which converts the water of life of the divine word into sap and strength, and the fruit, an emblem of works, which gradually ripen and scatter their blessings around; a tree that has lost its leaves, does not bring its fruit to maturity. (Keil & Delitzsch)
If we continue to abide in Christ we are guaranteed that we are going to prosper—not as the world defines it—but as God defines it. We will have a full and fruitful spiritual life just like that tree. Yes, He may well bless us materially in the natural, but that isn’t the true blessing, the true blessing is a spirit filled life. Like a tree, the bride is alive, beautiful, fruitful, useful and enduring. And the reason is that her “root system” is deep and it is continually fed by the river. The river is often used in Scripture as a picture of God’s provision of spiritual blessing and help.
The word prosper carries the meaning “to push forward” or “to break out.” As the bride of Christ in this chaotic world are to break out and come to “full spiritual maturity.” Our prosperity is measured in terms of eternity, not in the temporal things of this world. It’s measured by
How we stand for Christ
How we resist sin
How we rest in Christ and allow the Word to work in our life
How we reign with Christ here on earth
Consider the challenge:
Luke 9:25-26 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.
Consider the answer:
2 Cor 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
That is what our “spiritual reality” is all about.
PS – Speaking of gates. Do you know why Jesus said: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God (Mark 10:25)?
He was addressing the riches of this world and He referenced a gate in Jerusalem; it was wide but had a narrow gate in the center. At night the wide gate was closed and the only way in was through the narrow gate. That meant that if a man with a camel—loaded down with goods—wanted to enter after the wide gate was closed he would have to unload the camel first because it wouldn’t fit through the narrow gate.
Good food for thought. Perhaps we need to put a little less emphasis on what we can’t take with us and a little more on what we can. Just a thought!