Psalm 1:2 THe Delighted Believer

Psalm 1:2 www.christconversation.com

Brad Briegleb Christ Conversation 6/19/2016

Christ Conversation Sunday, June 19, 2016 Pselected Psalms for Pspiritual Pstrength: Psalm 1:2 - The Delighted Believer

Psalm 1:2 Delighting in and Meditating On the Law of the Lord “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Psalm 1:1-2 has been described as contrasting the negative and positive aspects of a blessed man’s character; he does not walk in the way of the ungodly, and he delights in the law of the Lord and takes pleasure in meditating continually on God’s truth.

Delight Defined: A high degree of pleasure or enjoyment; complete joy or rapture in something or someone. Delight is an emotion, a visceral response to a certain stimuli.

Delighting in the Lord (Psalm 37:4) is relatively easy to comprehend. But delighting in his law is something else all together. What does that mean, and how does a Christian delight in the Lord’s Law? Psalm 19: 7-11 as defining adjectives of delight in the law of the Lord: Note all the descriptive adjectives used: Perfect, reviving of the soul, sure, creating wisdom in the simple, right, causing rejoicing of the heart, pure, enlightening, clean, enduring, true, righteous, more desirable than gold, sweeter than the “drippings of the honeycomb.”

follow X or experience Y consequences. It is something that is done without thought or contemplation. It is without emotion.

(2) Grudging Respect: We may respect the law even though we don’t agree with it, and may even obey it even though we think a particular law foolish.

(3) Self-Righteous Expertise: To just study something might make you an expert in that something, like studying your favorite subject, such as history or engine repair, computer programming, or cooking. But when the something you study is a sacred subject, the danger is that you will become ever more “book-smart” and ever less righteous. As CS Lewis says, “The Law, like the sacrifice, can take on a cancerous life of its own and work against the thing for whose sake it existed.” Matthew 12: 9-14. You can become a Pharisee, fully knowledgeable in the nuances of the law but completely lacking in understanding its intent and compassion. You can know the letter of the law and lose any sense of its intent.

What delight in the Law of the Lord is:

The law the Psalmist was speaking to at that point was Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Later application broadened the term to include all of the New Testament, and today the general concept includes revelation of God’s character and will.

Ask yourself: Do you view God’s Word as sweeter than honey and more desirable than gold? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ What delighting in the Law of the Lord is not: (1) Mindless Obedience: Obedience of a law is something that may, or may not make sense, but we can understand what that means –

(1) In Your Innermost Being: Romans 7:22; Psalm 51:6.

(2) In Your Heart: Psalm 40:8.

(3) In Your Actions: Psalm 111:1-2.

(4) In Your Words: Psalm 119:45-48.

(5) In Your Daily Walk: Psalm 119:35.

(6) In Your Life: Psalm 119:92-93.

Delighting in God’s law means growing in our personal relationship with God. Delighting in the Lord means to find happiness, joy, pleasure not from society or the occupations of the wicked, but in the truth of God. A person seeking God seeks to know more about God, and delights in every chance they get to become more acquainted with God’s truth, and in having those truths impressed more and more upon their heart.

If part of our worship of God is to come to know and listen and obey him better, would we not delight in every opportunity to come to know him better? Why would we not delight in everything he has spoken!! _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Meditation Defined: To contemplate, muse over, reflect on something. The Hebrew word hagah means to moan, growl, utter (mutter), or speak low sounds as with sighing and low sounds made by the ancients when they were reflecting on a subject.

Meditating on the Law day and night: means not just to obey it, but to study, ponder, seek deeper understanding of it. In so doing we obey the command in Joshua 1:8 to meditate on the law day and night so as to fulfill everything in it.

To meditate on the law means to ponder it, endeavoring to understand its true meaning, with pleasure involved in the reflection on it. It is not something turned to occasionally or haphazardly, but something that is constantly on the believer’s mind, and he or she keeps it before them always, and has satisfaction in doing so.

Psalm 119: A long devotional on the Word of God. It is not just a methodical study, but a pouring out of the Psalmist’s heart. Each stanza starts with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. One commentator called Psalm 119 a “stitch by stitch devotional to loving the law of God.” The word “delight” appears in this Psalm 10 times.

(6) Have a positive attitude about reading it – it is God speaking directly to you. Even Leviticus reveals something about God’s character!

(7) Seek out other believer’s and their impression of a particular passage.

(8) Consult a commentary on how a particular passage has been viewed by scholars.

One commentator defined a believer’s meditating on God’s Word as “an unfailing subject of reflection to which his mind readily reverts regularly, and in which he finds realization and comfort amid the care and toils of life.”

Meditating on God’s Word is not a chore to be born, but a Sanctuary to be celebrated.

Delighting and meditating on the Law of God brings us into closer relationship with God, closer to a better understanding of his will and character, and closer to comprehending the depth of his love for each of us. _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

The effort of the Psalmist in Psalm 119 is not to say he is capable of doing all that the Law commands, but that he is aware that he can’t and hasn’t done that. His effort to understand God’s law does not arise from servile fear, but from heartfelt gratitude.

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Psalm 119:1-2; 142, 97-100. The Law provides guidance, wisdom, and above all else, reveals God’s truth, will, and character.

How to Meditate on God’s Law Day and Night: (1) Set aside time to read it.

(2) Make a habit of doing it.

(3) Day AND Night, meaning especially in the difficult times.

(4) Read it out loud.

(5) Journal your impressions and responses to it.