From Rootedness to Eternity in Psalm 1
The "narrow way" of righteousness leads to abundant life
An excerpt from a piece of mine published at Theopolis. You can read the whole thing for free there.
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If the velocity of wickedness is from walking to sitting to disintegration, the trajectory of righteousness is its opposite.
Verse 3 is the structural climax of the psalm. It describes the blooming bounty of the one who meditates on God’s Law: a life of spiritual stability and fruitfulness. Delighting in and mediating on the Word leads to true human flourishing, as God defines it. It also introduces the “trajectory” of righteousness, which follows an opposite path from that of wickedness.
Verse 3 starts in a “narrow” place: He is like a tree planted by streams of water. The man who delights in and meditates on God’s law is “seated” in one location: by the streams of God’s Word. This is equivalent to Jesus’ narrow gate: the life of righteousness seems like the rejection of a world of pleasures and powers.
But in verses 5 and 6, we see where this commitment leads. The man who is “seated” at the Word is able to “stand” in the judgment and in the congregation of the righteous. This recalls both how the righteous of Israel “stood” in times of judgment when their wicked brothers fell (e.g., Joshua 7:16-26)4 and how they would come to stand and worship God (Nehemiah 8:1-8). Righteousness leads not only to familiarity with God’s Word but also to community with the entire congregation of God’s people. John says the same:
If we say we have fellowship with [God] while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:6–7
The righteousness of faith—of confessing God truly, owning our sin honestly, and committing to his Word sincerely—leads us to fellowship with one another. Righteousness widens our social world.
But it also does more. Psalm 1 says, “the Lord knows the way of the righteous.” The righteous not only “stand” with their brothers and sisters; they walk a “way” that is smiled on by God himself. Their path is infinite because it is lived under the light of the infinite God.
Thank you, the article is so very encouraging to seek righteousness. I know because of Christ we are righteous and again because of Christ we can do so much, we can “stand” and we can “walk”. I really like the last two paragraphs. I happen to have read Prov 11 today and making a connection now to the (dare I say) “rewards” of righteousness. Praise the Lord.