Are You In Pursuit of Happiness? Psalm 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

but his delight is in the law of the LORD

and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1 is the gateway to all the Psalms. It is the text to which all the other Psalms are the exposition. This Psalm shows divergent ways and gives us two portraits, one of the wise man and one of the wicked. "Blessed" means supremely happy or fulfilled. The Hebrew word is plural which means lots of blessings are in store for this man. 

Notice the progression of temptation in a downward spiral: "walks not" "nor stands" "nor sits".  With each, the time spent lengthens just a little until the tempted person gives in and sits down. The wise man doesn't even give temptation a chance. 

But the wise man "delights" in the law of the LORD.  C.S. Lewis says "delight" is "ravished by moral beauty." Notice one other thing: "on his law he meditates day and night." The truly blessed person "studies" the Word of God in the morning and again at night, and he thinks about it throughout the day. 

He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in season

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Let's look at that wise man. The imagery makes it easy to understand. He is like a tree that is planted, rooted, nourished and fruitful. And he doesn't die! He is successful in everything he does. But the wicked fellow is like chaff. In ancient times, threshing floors were on hilltops to catch the best breezes. Grain would be crushed by animals or by threshing instruments and then thrown high into the air where the wind would blow the chaff away. The chaff would either be scattered or burned up. The good grain would fall to the floor to be gathered up. 

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous,

for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish. 

There are two kinds of people and two kinds of outcomes. The wicked will never be with the LORD or with the righteous. They will perish, but the righteous will live. 

There has only ever been one righteous man who never gave in to temptation and that was Jesus. But all of those who confess their sin and trust in Him have eternal life because God has taken away all their sins and given them the same righteousness as Christ.