I’m Blessed

We are starting a new series this morning titled “Summer in the Psalms.” 

A Psalm is a song or poem used in worship or prayer.  For those of us who are not song writers, we can use the Psalms as prayers and even worship to the Lord.

There are 150 Psalms in the bible and King David wrote 73of the 150 psalms, that’s nearly half. In the KJV and ESV the psalms are broken into 5 books.

1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150

The Book of Psalms gives us a more personal perspective of what the poet would have been experiencing when he wrote it.  Most Psalms have a description right after the title which tells you who wrotethe Psalms and whyit was written.

For example: In Psalms 3:

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

It’s one thing to read 2 Samuel 15 when David flees from Absalom his son who is trying to kill him, but with the psalms we get a better picture of what David was experiencing emotionally and spirituallyduring that time.

The other thing we can get from the Psalms is that David was considered a man after God’s own heart, and by reading the psalms that he wrote you will know why and how we too can become menand women after God’s own heart.

Now that we have a basic understanding of the Psalms, we will look at Ps 1 for today. You may be thinking, we are starting at Psalms 1 and he mentioned there are 150 psalms, are we going to go systematicallythrough them all? Just for the record, we are not.  This will only be a 5 or 6 week series in which we will highlight different Psalms. 

In Psalms 1 the writer (which is believed to be David) wishes to teach us the way to obtain blessings as well as to warn usof the sure destruction of sinners. Which implies it is not simply capturing the feelings and/or emotions from a person but also the Psalms are an inspiration from Godhimself as it points to the wayof salvation.

It is broken into two parts:

The first tells of the blessings of the righteousand how those blessings are obtained.  The second part tells of the ungodly and of their impending doom.

Psalms 1:1 Blessed

The very first word of Psalms starts off with the word blessed.

I feel like that word has been over abused in the church and it often comes with the implication that God wants you to have a new car, a bigger house, a million dollars, a new 54-million-dollar jet plane and so on. Maybe you heard a tv evangelist say something like “if you give 100 dollars over the next hour then God will bless you 100-fold. ($10,000) If that were the case lets give everything we own for that kind of return.  However, even Jesus did not guarantee a hundred-fold return on your gift.

Matthew 13:8-9

⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears, let him hear.”

Sadly, some people buy into what the televangelist is selling them and give everythingthey own with the hope of being blessed materially.  They were robbed not blessed.

We think having more things equals a blessed life.

While I do believe in giving, and I do believe that God will bless mebecause of my obedience, I do not put my hope in the substanceof the blessing but my hope is in the giverof the blessing.  My hope is in Christ, I am blessed because I have Him in my life.

What God considers blessing and what we consider blessing are two different things.

Blessed comes from the Hebrew word esher which basically means happiness.  It is used as a noun in this verse.  Which could very well-read “blessedness.”  Someone exemplifying a quality or state of being blessedor being happy.

We also find the word blessed in the new testament when Jesus is giving His sermon on the mount. 

Matthew 5:3-6

• ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• ⁴“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
• ⁵“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
• ⁶“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

From a human perspective, none of those conditions would indicate a blessed life.  But from a heavenly perspective we are blessed when we endure such things as being poor in spirit, mourning, being meek,

Meek- accepting and enduring God’s plan for our lives with patience and without resentment. 

being hungryand thirsty because there is a heavenly promise attached to each one of those seemingly difficult conditions.

We will inherit the kingdomof heaven, meaning we will be with God forever and He will rule and reign in His Kingdom. 

We will also be comforted, there will be no more pain, no more suffering, tears, heart ache, loss, discouragement, fear, we will be comforted by the good shepherd himself. 

We will be satisfied.  We pursue and keep striving on earth to find satisfaction, but Jesus says that we will be satisfied.  He will satisfy us.  We do not have to wait until we are in heaven to be satisfied in Him, we can be satisfied in Him even now. 

Therefore, my brothers and sisters we are truly blessed because we belong to Christ Jesus.  He is our eternal reward.

So in psalms 1:1

Blessed is the man
  who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
  nor stands in the way of sinners,
  nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

The state of being blesseddoes not come from having more substance, but rather staying awayfrom the counsel of the wicked.  His footsteps are ordered by the Word of God,and not by the crafty and wicked strategies of fleshly men.

Notice the regression of a man who is not “Blessed”

• First, he walks in the counsel of the wicked. He/she is influenced by those who do not love God nor follow His ways.
• Second, He stands in the wayof sinners. Meaning He/she is participating in the sin of the wicked and it has become a pattern of life for that person.
• Third, He begins to scoff at and mock God and those who life righteously.

The man or woman of God is blessed when He/she avoids such wickedness.

Your blessed when everyone else on the job is looking at perverted things and talking filthy and you decide to walk away and put on some worshipin your earbuds.  Your blessed because your hope is not in that substance but in maintaining an atmosphere in your life for the presence of God to dwell.

Your blessed when other ladies are gossiping about a certain individual and you choose not to be a part of that. You’re blessed because you don’t want to quench the Spirit of God who is alive in you nor do you want to hinder His workin your life by such negativity.

² but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

The other things that sets the “Blessed” apart from the wicked is that they delight in the law of the Lord.

• What place does the law of God have in your heart?

Delighting in the law does not sound like fun.  How many of you just want more laws to follow?  But the laws of God point us toward a life of true happiness.

• Who wants to be happy?

Though the Bible has some difficult parts to receive, we believe it is the inspired word of God. As we delight in His Word, we will have a better understanding of what is expected from us so that we can experience a life that is truly blessed and pleasurable, according to His design.

The blessed find fulfillment and satisfaction by meditating on His law day and night.  

³ He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water

In Hebrew Poetry a growing tree always represents success while a decayingtree represents failure.  It’s like the American dream, everyone wants to be happy and most people want to be successful.  Yet the key to both is not found in any earthly system, rather it is found right here in the book of Psalms.

David compares the “blessed” man to a growing tree which is planted by streams of waters.

It is through water in which a tree will get what it needs so that it can produce what it needs to produce such as fruit and oxygen, which are life sustaining things.

Which implies we are blessed and sustained when we stay near the water source and our lives can be a blessing to others and give life sustaining hope as long as our roots are being watered by the living waters that are found in Christ Jesus.

Jesus tells the woman at the well that He is the living water, and a few chapters later

John 7:37-38

³⁷“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

So, what the Psalmist is saying is that the man/woman of God is blessed because he/she is sustained and nourished by the living waterwhich is of God Himself. 

Everything that the “blessed” man needs to produce fruit in his life hinges upon being planted by the streams of living water.

The other thing that is implied is that the Blessed man is in the process. 

^3bthat yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

Though he might not see the fruit right away, he is blessed because he is planted by the living waters and in due season, he will experience a season of fruitfulness.  We can keep moving forward and keep holding on even if we don’t see the fruit because we know it is just a matter of time, because we are in the process.  We are blessed.

If we are being nourished by the living waterthat He offers, everythingwe do will prosper.  That’s what blessings look like at their finest.

However, not everyone will experience this blessed life that we are talking about.

⁴ The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Meaning everything that was said so far about blessings does not apply to wicked.  It is not so; they do not have the same reward.

They are the reverse of the righteous.

• They are led by the counsel of the wicked,
• They take their stand among sinners
• They mock and scoff at Righteousness and those who follow it
• They take no delight in the law of God
• They are not firmly planted trees that bear fruit but are worthless chaff(worthless part of the grain) that is carried away with the wind.
• Their lives do not produce fruit that will last
• They are not blessed but cursed. Nothing that they do on this earth shall last. Their money will perish with them, their fame will soon come to an end, their kingdoms will crumble. 

⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

When the wicked stand before the Lord their works will be consumed, their lack of character will be evident, it will not stand, they will be ashamed, they will hang their head down low, but it will be too late. 

There will be declared by God an irreversible sentence regarding their eternity.  They will be forever separated from the “Blessed” and the Blesser. Instead they will find their company amongst the wicked being tortured in hell along with satan and his demons.

Because they had nothing to do with the “Blessed while they were on earth, they will remain separated from them for all eternity.

Ultimately God will get the glory for the One who is able to bring about true Blessedness or true happiness in a person’s life. 

The world will eventually see that it really is a blessed life to live for Him. 

⁶ for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.

David concludes, that the Lord knows both the ways of the righteous and of the wicked. 

He sees it all.  There is nothing that is hidden from Him.  He sees when you willfully sin against Him.  He sees when you walk with integrity demonstrating the character of Christ. 

What a great way to start the book of Psalms. When we surrender to Christ as our Lord and we become His then we really do experience the most blessed life that is possible.  Though we may or may not have the riches of this world.  We are still blessed because everything that we have need of is found in Him.