The Lutheran Seminary of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Tuesday, 12 May 2015 "God Pause Daily Devotion" Scripture: Psalm 1

The Lutheran Seminary of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Tuesday, 12 May 2015 "God Pause Daily Devotion" Scripture: Psalm 1:1 How blessed are those

who reject the advice of the wicked,

don’t stand on the way of sinners

or sit where scoffers sit!

2 Their delight

is in Adonai’s Torah;

on his Torah they meditate

day and night.

3 They are like trees planted by streams —

they bear their fruit in season,

their leaves never wither,

everything they do succeeds.

4 Not so the wicked,

who are like chaff driven by the wind.

5 For this reason the wicked

won’t stand up to the judgment,

nor will sinners

at the gathering of the righteous.

6 For Adonai watches over

the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked

is doomed.[Complete Jewish Bible]
In the late 1950's I was in a college quartet that sang a piece based on Psalm 1. I confess I never liked that piece because the message seemed so simplistic, so "either/or." You were either "righteous" or "wicked" with no "in between." That negative attitude shadowed my feelings about this psalm for years.
In later years my feelings have changed, especially when I have read the way Walter C. Bouzard, Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Wartburg College, describes Psalm 1 as a "positive picture of the joys and pitfalls of our lifetime journeys." He goes on to say, "Taken as a whole, the psalm serves as an invitation to the entire psalter, holding before the community of faith—and not just the individual—the hope and promise that blessings will come from delighting in the instruction of the Lord."
How do you view your life journey? Is it "either/or with no in between,' or is it an exciting journey walking with your community of faith and "delighting in the instruction of the Lord?"
Grant us, O God, to be open to your instruction as we daily walk our life journeys. Amen.
Kenneth N. Melby
Psalm 1:1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
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