The very blessed man
[Psalms 1]
Among the church humors, there is the Satan's Beatitudes. Among the Satan’s Beatitudes, there are three words that caught my attention:
First blessing: ‘Blessed are those who don’t go to church on the pretext of being tired and busy,
because they will be my most reliable workers.’
Second blessing: ‘Blessed are those who find fault with the pastor’s mistakes or falust,
because they won’t be able to receive grace even though they hear his sermons.
Seventh blessing: ‘Blessed are those who are so busy that they cannot read the bible and pray,
because they will easily fall into my temptations and finally will be my ridicule’
(Internet).
When I think of these three blessings of Satan, I think this humor is very much applied to our Christians these days. Especially as I read Satan's seventh blessing, I am ashamed and embarrassed to think about how many of us Christians are being ridiculed by the people in this world. Why are we being ridiculed by them? I think one of the reasons is because we aren’t bearing the fruit of the Word of God. In other words, we are being ridiculed the the people in this world because we aren’t living a life that personifies the Word. In the flood of the Word, only our heads grew. So we may have a lot of information about His Word, but there is no transformation in our lives. This is our present reality as Christians. For the transformation of our lives, we must to back to the basic. We must go back to the Word of God.
In Psalms 1, God is telling us who the blessed man is. To be more precise in the original Hebrew language, God is telling us who is the very blessed man is (v. 1). We must learn the God’s teaching humbly and by obeying it we must live a life personifying the Word of God. In other words, we must pursue the transformation of our lives and become those who are very blessed in the sight of God. Then who is the very blessed person in the sight of God? I would like to think of two things and receive the lessons from God.
First, the very blessed man stays far away from sin.
Look at Psalms 1:1 – “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!” We can see from this Scripture that the very blessed person stays far away from a small sin to a great sin. Here, the small sin means walking in the counsel of the wicked. The very blessed man doesn’t even look at the wicked man's counsel, nor is he interested in it. He never lays down his feet even on the path of the sinners (v. 1), at the crossroads of the way of the righteous (v. 6) and the path of the sinners before him.
Now many of us Christians fall into the wicked’s counsel, giving the him not only our eyes and ears but also our hearts. Although we shouldn’t put our feet on the path of the sinners at all, we already put our feet on that path and are memorizing the Lord’s Prayer “And lead us not into temptation.” Then we rationalize our choice and circumstance. And now we are no longer surprised. The reason is because we are so accustomed to walking on that small path of sin. Here, we are forgetting something. It is that when we keep on walking on the small path of sin, we will fall into a greater sin later on. What is the greater sin here? It is standing in the path of sinners. At first, we were ‘walking’ in the counsel of the wicked. But later on, we are ‘standing’ in the path of sinners. Have you ever experienced the reality that without knowing you are already standing in the path of sinners? But the very blessed man doesn’t stand on the path of the sinners, because he doesn’t follow the path of the wicked, the way of small sins. Rather he walks the path of the righteous, which God watches over (v. 6). Moreover, the very blessed man doesn’t sit in the seat of mockers (v. 1). The arrogant seat here is the seat of the wicked who despise God. Those who are close to sins, walk in the counsel of the wicked and without his knowledge he stands in the way of sinners and eventually he sits in the seat of mockers who despise God. But the very blessed man stays far away from all these sins (from small to great).
We should ponder this saying: ‘We cannot ignore the progression from small to great in avoiding sin’ (Park, Yun-sun). We must beware of this progressiveness of sin. We must cut off the root of the small sins. The reason is because if we take the small sin lightly and follow the wicked man's counsel in curiosity, we will eventually be in the point of sitting in the seat of mockers. Knowing this danger, we shouldn’t get close to even the small sins. To do that, we need to draw close to the Word of God. It is one of two things: whether we are close to the Word of God to stay far away from sin, or close to sin to stay far away from His Word.
Second and last, the very blessed man stays close to the Word of God.
Look at Psalms 1:2 – “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” The very blessed man stays far away from sin by staying close to the Word of God. He delights in the law of the Lord so he meditates day and night (v. 2). He loves God so he hears His voice. So he praises God that ‘There is no joy than hearing the Lord’s voice.’ The soul of the very blessed man is joyful and satisfied when he hears His voice that he enjoys meditating His word day and night. There he is very blessed man. Then what are the blessings that he receives? There are three things at least:
(1) The blessing that the very blessed man receives is the fruitful faith.
Look at Psalms 1:3a – “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season ….” This blessing is in stark contrast to the wicked in verse 1. Although the wicked are morally or personally fruitless, the very blessed man bears fruit morally and personally (Park). Also, the very blessed man is not only living a life that personifies the Word gradually, but also being sanctified as a person who bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit. That’s why he is the very blessed man.
(2) The blessing that the very blessed man receives is the vital faith.
Look at Psalms 1:3b – “…whose leaf does not wither.” This blessing also contrasts with the sinner in verse 1. Although the sinner doesn’t reach the goal, the very blessed man has the vitality, the goal faith, he must be the very blessed man.
(3) The blessing that the very blessed man receives the blessing of prosperity.
Look at Psalms 1:3c – “… Whatever he does prospers.” The very blessed person enjoys the blessing of prosperity because God is with him whatever he does. What a blessed life this is. Even in the midst of pain and suffering, he enjoys the blessing of prosperity because God is with him. Look at Job in the Bible. He stays far away from sin even in his extreme pain and suffering by being close to the Word of God as he has endured and persevered (Job 1:22; 2:10). As a result, he experienced God's presence by seeing God with his eyes whom he had heard of Him by the hearing of the ear (42:5). He also received more of God's blessings than the first (v. 12). Like this, the very blessed man bears the fruit of faith and lives a life of vital faith despite pain and suffering. Therefore, he enjoys the blessing of experiencing God causing all things to work together for good to him who loved God (Rom. 8:28). The wicked, however, are “like chaff that the wind blows away” (Ps. 1:4) cannot enjoy the blessing of the very blessed righteous enjoys. In fact, the wicked will not stand in the judgment but will perish (vv. 5, 6).
The very blessed man stays far away from sin. The very blessed man stays close to the Word of God. I hope and pray that we could be that very blessed man or woman.
Being a very blessed man in Jesus Christ by the grace of God,
James Kim
(With great longing desire to heard the voice of God, ‘The very blessed James’)