Psalm 1
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall 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 ungodly shall perish.
Three things are notable about this blessed man:
1. His company. He walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.
2. His reading and thinking. His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3. His fruitfulness. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper.
The river is the Holy Spirit; the planting, the deep abiding life in which, not occasionally but habitually, we absorb Him. The fruit is not once in a while, but continual and appropriate to each changing season.
His life is also prosperous and his spirit fresh, like the unfading leaf. Such a life must be happy. Indeed, happiness is a matter of spiritual conditions. Put a sunbeam in a cellar and it must be bright. Put a nightingale in the darkest midnight, and it must sing.
Days of Heaven on Earth. Psalm 1 added (NKJV), old English updated – JBW
Simpson (born in 1843) was used of the Lord to found the Christian and Missionary Alliance. http://www.cmalliance.org/about/history/simpson