The first step to blessing, as we saw a fortnight ago in Psalm1, is to “repent”. The second is to “believe”.
Read Psalms 1:1
Delight
Re-read verse 2
• What do you think it means to “delight in the law of the LORD”?
At first sight this may seem a little weird. Perhaps it conjures up an image of people who are obsessive about rules, and take delight in pointing out how others fail them. The worst caricature of a Christian, in fact. But that is to miss the point.
The “law” refers to the Old Testament books of the law—the first five books of our Bible—which are the story of God’s
dealing with mankind, and His choosing and blessing of the people of Israel. The “rules” of godly living (eg: the ten commandments) are about our grateful and dutiful response to the God who saves us.
And notice how personal it is: “his law” as well as “the law”. It is the expression of the character and purposes of a personal God who relates to me personally.
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TIME OUT… Read Exodus 20:1
Verse 2 is the key to understanding the commandments. They are not rules to live by to find the blessing of God. They are the way to please the God who has already blessed you.
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APPLY
The first readers would delight in the way God had rescued them from Egypt so they could live His way as His people.
Now, we are to delight in the gospel of Christ—at the way He has rescued us from sin and death, so we can enjoy living His way as His people for ever.
• Think about what you take most delight in. How does the gospel compare?
• How can you delight more in who Jesus is, and in living for Him?
One answer to that is coming up now…!
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Meditate
• What do you think it might mean to meditate on God’s law “day and night”?
• How is that different from the person of v 1?
The gospel is to be what drives us. Not the advice of others or the way the world works. Not what our friends think, nor even what we think. The gospel is what delivers to us the blessing of God—true happiness. It is the thing that we must come back to all the time when we are deciding what to think or how to live.
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APPLY
Talk to God about the gospel. Delight in Him; delight in what He has done for you. And ask God to prompt you to think about the gospel constantly, day and night, so that it would remove any other influence that would rob your blessing.
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This devotional is taken from Explore—a daily Bible-reading devotional from the good book company which enables you to engage with Scripture and which will encourage, equip and inspire you to live for Christ. Explore features contributions from pastors such as Dr Timothy Keller, Mike McKinley and Tim Chester.
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