Psalm 1: Blessings of a Strong Inner Life

March 2025

We all need opportunities to get away from the cares of daily life and to focus. We know community, family, spiritual life, and rest are important. Each life phase has challenges and adulting can be hard. How do we remember prayer, word time, meditation, and contemplation when we have so many competing concerns? Has inner life become another chore on our to-do-list? It can feel that way to me. Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm. It fits well with a study in the book of James. It discusses the topics of cynicism, delighting in God, abiding, and being fruitful versus being dried out. It is my favorite psalm!

First, the psalmist discusses things the spiritual, or blessed, person avoids...

Psalm 1:1. Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.

The spiritual person avoids the counsel of the wicked. This means not listening to the worldly way of life and worldly advice. The world tells us to build wealth, live comfortably, pursue your interests, and not let anyone disrespect you. This sounds good at first, but breaks down if it becomes our core reason for living. Building wealth is a poor priority when placed higher than loving others, such as family or your community, when you work so much you are not involved in the lives of your kids. Living comfortably is nice, but not when it means you avoid the messy lives of others. How can you love your neighbor if you avoid your neighbor? Pursuing your interests is enriching, until it interferes with more meaningful things. Our car, board game collection, or hours on the golf course can detract from us investing ourselves in things that last. The world advocates for a way of life based on false, but compelling lies.

The Bible helps us identify themes of the wicked. 1 John 2:16 summaries them for us: "For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, comes not from the Father but from the world." Worldly wisdom plays off our pursuit of pleasure, with things like drugs, sex, foods, experiences, and comfort. It counsels us to seek what others have through jealousy, envy, coveting, and fantasies. We want what we see in the lives of the rich, famous, and put-together. The counsel of the wicked is based in self-focus and pride. We deserve the best, to be respected, to never be troubled by others, and to be acknowledged for our greatness. This is not the emphasis of biblical wisdom.

Mocking, or scoffing, is another aspect of worldly wisdom. These cynical, critical, haughty, negative perspectives disregard God's commands and advice. The mocker claims to be a realist and to have things figured out. Spirituality is too good to be true. God's offers are surely shams to the eyes of the scoffer. Biblical wisdom knows the darkness in our world and how little we should trust in others, but it also contains authentic hope.

Midlife is a phase of life that hits many people in our situation. This could means having kids, being in the middle of your career, being married, or being divorced. Midlife is frequently associated with a period of unhappiness. "Midlife crisis" was coined in 1965. Studies in the U.S. show people in their forties report the lowest amount of happiness. Not an encouraging read for me at the age of forty-two! Many of us are transitioning from youthful idealism to adult cynicism. In some ways, these trends sweep us up as much as anyone else.

Discuss: Shouldn't it be different for Christians? How does midlife disappointment apply and not apply to us?

We have the same uncontrollable circumstances: kids health, kids development, our health, acts of nature. But we also have a sovereign God looking out for us. We're tempted to compare our past to our present. We can't run or do sports as well as we used to in the past. But we will surpass our peak in heaven. Our mistakes may be catching up to us: financial decisions, sorrows, heartbreaks. But God forgives and redeems all things. We now know what it is to lose parents, friends, siblings, family. But we will see many of them later in the afterlife. We are not spared all things, but everything is tempered when we believe in God.

The psalmist has discussed what to avoid, now the author exhorts us towards the things we should embrace.

Psalm 1:2-3. [blessed is the one] whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 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.

The spiritual person embraces delight and God's power. "Delighting in the law" is strange to me. Is this celebrating the rules? Or reflecting on the boring parts of Deuteronomy? No, this is delighting in God's perspectives and ways of doing things. The worldly advice is to pursue ourselves and our interests. God is others centered and provokes us to care about others. He is merciful, kind, thoughtful, and generous. His policies seek to redeem humanity.

One of the reasons this psalm is my favorite is the illustration of the tree by the stream. This is an arid climate, so the tree by the stream is in strong contrast to the tree in the desert. One tree is fighting for every scrap of moisture: a life of scarcity, anxiety, and limited energy. The other tree is abundant, with extravagant room for growth, near limitless energy. It is fruitful and strong. This contrast paints a compelling picture to be the tree by the stream. The tree is us and the stream is God's power or a drawing on a strong relationship with God. The desert tree is the tree of living under our own power. The psalmist uses this illustration to present three benefits of a strong inner life.

(1) A strong inner life yields fruit. The tree by the stream is fruitful. It gives to others and makes a difference. Just one tree can multiply to hundreds given enough time and enough fruit. One tree can change the landscape from a field to a forest. This is the sort of outward impact a strong inner life can empower in us. Midlife is a time of crisis. It is a crisis of meaning, of period of realizing limits. We're often discouraged about making a difference because it is "too late" or we are "past our prime." A tree by the stream will be fruitful. This is a promise. Note, it has seasons, so fruit may not be constant, but periods of fruitfulness are guaranteed.

(2) A strong inner life does not wither. The tree by the stream is resilient, enduring, and has deep reserves. Midlife is a time of being run down, used up, emptied out, beaten down, and even feeling crushed. How wonderful it would be to weather anything. We want to endure and have extra energy when life throws things at us. A strong inner life gives us internal reserves beyond the natural.

(3) A strong inner life prospers. The tree by the stream is successful. It accomplishes its goals. It is enriched. While midlife may feel like failure, disappointment, and betrayal, these things are temporary setbacks to the person who knows God. The spiritual person will have relationships perfected, a body restored, circumstances corrected, and prosperity. I would give almost anything to know that I'll succeed in my goals and my dreams. The psalmist suggests the thing we do is draw near to God. We don't need to hedge our resources, fight for every accomplishment, or ensure we are acknowledged. The spiritual person will have purpose, endurance, and success.

Discuss: How is going to the stream first different than doing things on our own? What benefits are there to a strong inner life?

Psalm 1:4-6. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

The wicked do not endure. They are like chaff, dried out and blown away. This is a complete contrast to the tree by the river. The wicked do not stand in the judgment. Here's where our status in the New Testament is different than the original audience. Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins and save us from our own wickedness. For believers who ask him for forgiveness, we will never face God's judgment, no matter how wicked we've been or how faithlessly we followed him. For us, this judgment is feeling guilty, unworthy, or being unsuccessful. We may feel cast out from God and his people in our hearts, but God loves us just as much as before. If we let our spiritual lives flounder, we may feel bad and numb. But the stream is still there, waiting for us to turn back to it.

There are two extremes to approaching inner life and both are poisonous:

(1) The Passive Approach: This is where inner life is whenever I get around to it. I'm forgiven and have all of eternity to relate to God, so it is a low priority. The immediate concerns of this world push out time for inner life. I may not be passive in everything, but I am unstructured and careless when it comes to prayer, reading the Bible, getting thoughtfully together with other Christians, or serving. I have good intentions but execute them infrequently.

(2) The Legalistic Approach: My inner life is a burden or a scheduled task. I have it on my to-do list, like some sort of cosmic homework. When I miss my goals, I chide or reprimand myself. I know what's right and vow to pursue it. God says he won't be displeased with me, but I feel like he is if I fail. Alternatively, when I am doing well I feel I deserve the blessings coming to me for my good work. I get more done than other people and sometimes am proud about it. Most of the time, I feel burned out and wonder how to fit in one more spinning plate.

Both of these approaches can lead to the desert tree scenario. Inner life gets forgotten under the passive approach. It's hard to be a healthy tree when one is only watered once a month. The legalistic approach seems better at first, more productive. But over a long enough period, it burns us out and we are unmotivated. Worse, we may feel like we've tried our best and it is not worth it.

Discuss: I do not like keeping a prayer list since it feels too formal and controlling. I often skip reading the Bible because I feel pressure to get the tasks of the day started. My missed days stack up and I feel bad about it. What would you say to me?

The Lord watches over the way of the righteous. He understands our lives and sees everything we are going through. Jesus lived on earth and knows betrayal, lack of resources, hardships, being tired, and experiencing persecution. He is understanding and sympathetic. Jesus and the psalmist know the way of the world is a dead end. It will catch up to us someday. It is not worthwhile. We should embrace God's ways, with all the advantages. Our live can be like a tree by a stream. Choose this life today.