Day 12

Psalm1 prt2

Consider again v2 This blessedness is attainable by the poor, the forgotten and the obscure, not just by those whose names figure in history, and are trumpeted by fame. The righteous person is not afraid to take the road less-travelled, because he knows it leads to blessing, happiness, and eternal life. (The narrow gate.) The righteous can have the confidence of Psalm16:11. God has a path, and it is a good road to take.

Throughout the Psalms, the phrase ‘law of the LORD’ is used to describe God’s entire word, not only the “commandment” portion in the first five books of the Bible. The righteous man is delighted with the word of God!

What makes you happy? What gets you excited? This is a good way to see what is important to you. If personal pleasure is the only thing that makes you happy, then you are a selfish, self-centred person. If being with your family or friends delights you, that can be better, but it still falls short. The righteous person finds ‘his delight… in the law of the LORD.’

You can measure your ‘delight’ for the word of God by how much you hunger for it without being compelled by guilt. The righteous man ponders the word of God. He does not just hear it and forget it, he thinks about it. Christians should meditate on God’s word!

I began my late adolescence dabbling in various religions. In eastern meditation, the goal is to empty the mind. I now know this is dangerous, because an empty mind may present an open invitation to deception or a demonic spirit. But in Christian meditation, the goal is to fill your mind with the word of God. This can be done by carefully thinking about each word and phrase, and applying it to one’s self and praying it back to the Lord. Meditation chews the cud, and gets the sweetness, nutrition and fruitfulness of the Word into the heart and life: Many lack this because they only read and do not meditate. It is not only reading that does us good; but the soul inwardly feeding on it, and digesting it.