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Darlene Zschech Devotion: Psalm 1:1-3

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Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

1. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers
2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night.
3. He is like a tree planted by the streams of water which yield its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3 (Message)

1.    How well God must like you.You don’t hang out at sin’s saloon, you don’t slink along dead-end road and you don’t go to smart mouth college.
2.    Instead you thrill to Yaweh’s Word, you chew on scripture day and night.
3.    You are a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, never dropping a leaf and always in blossom.

Psalm 1:1 says ‘Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of the sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.’ So Psalm 1:1 means you will be blessed in life if you do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly – it is so easy.It is a bit of a no-brainer.People come into my office all the time, ending up in trouble, at the other end of their destiny and when I start to dig, they have been walking in the counsel of the ungodly.So, that answers itself…Don’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly.

The other thing… schemes, don’t walk in the schemes of the ungodly. Schemes… if something is in secret, run.If someone says to you, ‘I’ve got this deal and it is really good, you only need to invest $2000, it is guaranteed 100%, 100 times you will get your money back in about 2 weeks… if you send 7 letters, to 7 people… then at the end, send it to 7 people but don’t tell anybody else, it’s not illegal, but don’t tell anybody.’Do you know how many thousands of people fall for this all the time, wicked schemes… anything done in secret, run.If someone gives you a word and they say, don’t tell anybody, run.OK.Everything in God is always out in the light.It is always wonderfully out in the light.It is accountable, you are able to talk, its free.Schemes – if it is a secret it is usually a problem.

‘Or stand in the way of sinners’. What it means is standing the same way as sinners.So you are in Church… hallelujah, pray, I love you Lord, you are awesome, you’re awesome.Then you go out of Church… go clubbing, dancing and drinking, making foolish decisions and getting yourself into wrong conversations, standing in the way of sinners.And then you go, ‘O why isn’t my life really moving ahead?’.

Psalm 1:1. Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of a mocker.Now when I think of that, I think of the two old men on the Muppets.I can’t help it, I grew up with the Muppets.Alright, it is a critical spirit, it is people that want to tear down to build themselves up.Don’t stand the same way as mockers, it is the weakest form of promotion that there is.The lowest level of promotion is scoffing and mocking.

Going out after Church and going ‘O man, they should have done better than that.’ That is called the opposite of blessing.You are sitting in the same seat as scoffers and mockers… run from it, run, run.You will not be blessed if you sit in the same seat as ungodly men, as scoffers and mockers, and as sinners, you will not be blessed.It is simple, there is no mystery here.

Now let’s get to verse 2 because we will finish on a positive note.

‘But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night’. Here is the key word in verse 2.He meditates.He meditates day and night.Listen to this… it means he dwells on, he ponders, he contemplates, he pictures.I find it very easy to do that to the Word of God, do you?He pictures.He conceives, he starts to think creatively.If you are asking God for great ideas then do Psalm 1 verse 2.He meditates day and night.Also it means to plan.So if you are asking ‘how can God direct my steps?’ meditate on the Word and He arranges your thoughts and then you find your plans are His plans because you have put Him first and as we seek first, and as our first priority, getting back to knowing God, and all the other priorities come into line.

And verse 3 is very simple. ‘He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf doesn’t wither and whatever he does prospers.’OK, he yields in season.I think that is one of the key phrases in verse 3.Can I just say this because I know there is a lot of you who have been serving God for a long time, and you are sort of waiting for your season.

There is nothing less palatable than fruit picked before its time. If you pick fruit off a tree that’s not ripe, what does it taste like?Either it tastes bitter or nothing.It has no taste, it has no flavour.And that is the great reminder in Psalm 1 verse 3… to do all those things and run from sin and run from secrecy and run from bad habits and run from bad stance, and run from bad language and run from those things that will align you with everything that does not represent the hand of God on your life.

In season, which means in God’s time, when you are ready, the fruit of your life will be sweet, it will flavour everything it comes into contact with. Even when you are trying to pick fruit off a tree that’s not ripe, it’s hard to get off.You always have to strive and struggle when you are trying to operate out of God’s time.When you are trying to do your thing and your dream out of God’s time, there is no flow on it.But when it is in season, like when you go and pick an orange off a tree and it is in your hand, it almost falls off, it is heavy, its weighty because it is full of juice, you open it and you can smell it before you crack it open.And then you crack it open and it is beautiful and the juice is dripping everywhere and you put it in your mouth and man, that is good.That is what fruit in season is like.And that is when your season is right.There will be an ease, there will be a flavour that does good things.It won’t have a bitterness and a tartness or a tastelessness and often in ministry, people who have gone out before their due season, just leave a trail of bitter, disillusioned people behind them and that is not the will of God.

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