Psalm 1: God - The Source of the Righteous

Today we begin our journey through the Psalms, but before we begin I would like to clarify my purpose. My intent is to find a deeper understanding of who God is; His traits, characteristics, and how He interacts with His creation, His kingdom, and ultimately, me. To that end, I will be concerning the content of these posts specifically to what each psalm can teach me about God. I will then apply that understanding to how it impacts my life and the way I should live in view of that. With that out of the way, let's get started with Psalm 1.



















I have a pomegranate tree in my front yard near my house. It is a beautiful tree and I love to see it when it is heavy with fruit, all ripening in the sun. Everyday when I see it, I look forward to the day when it's fruit ripens and is ready to be picked so that I can enjoy the sweet, red little seeds of the fruit. But can my tree produce it's delicious fruit on it's own? Absolutely not! It needs to be nourished. It must be sustained by something. It needs a source of life, a source of water. Without such a source, the tree could never bear fruit, let alone live.

In Psalm 1, the writer celebrates God as our source of righteousness. He says that he who delights in the law of the Lord is

 "like a tree
        planted by streams of water
    that yields its fruit in its season,
        and its leaf does not wither."

We must be careful lest we think that the tree is what is most important here. No, it is the stream that is important. It is the stream that is the source of life. It is the stream that empowers the tree to bear fruit. Without the stream, there is no fruit.

So it is with God. God is the source. He is the source of life, the source of blessing, the source of all things. Apart from God we cannot hope to bear fruit, nor be righteous. But to receive such blessing and righteousness we must be "planted by streams of water". We must know God and we must draw our source of strength and nourishment from Him. How do we know God, how do we allow God to nourish us? According to the psalmist, we do so by mediating on the law of the Lord. Through His word, God reveals Himself to us and shows us who He is. His words are nourishment to our souls, teaching and empowering us to "bear fruit."

But more than just leaving us His words, God is here with us. The psalmist tells us that

    "the LORD knows the way of the righteous"

The type of knowing that the psalmist speaks of here is more than just a general "knowing about", but rather, in the words of the ESV Bible, is meant as "knowing with affection and approval." God dwells intimately with us, so much so that He knows us completely. He makes Himself and His power available to us. 

God is our source. He is the being from whom flows every blessing and our strength to live righteously and bear fruit in our lives. He is also near to us and knows us completely. He makes himself available to us to be our source, all we must do is plant our tree near his stream.