Psalm Devotional
Choose This Day
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Like Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” Psalm 1 lays before us two paths, that of the righteous and that of the wicked.
Psalm 1 was purposefully placed at the door of the psalter when the psalter took its final form. It is classified as a “Torah” psalm because it calls the believer to a life of obedience according to God’s ordered wisdom. Psalm 1 sets the tone for the entire psalter.
The psalm opens with a blessing. It is important to know that this blessing is not limited to a particular gender. The psalmist informs us that a life ordered according to God’s divine law brings blessing to both male and female.
The second part of verse 1 sets forth the nature of the blessed person by expressing what he does not do. This is accomplished by means of a triplet that reveals a progressive staircase of evil. The blessed man does not “walk in the counsel of the wicked” (does not conform to the thoughts of the world), does not “stand in the way of sinners” (does not act like the world) and does not “sit in the seat of mockers” (does not join those who mock God). The blessed man, be he walking, standing, or sitting, does not conform his mind or actions to those of the godless.
