You know how sometimes a phrase or a verse will come up over and over again, and you just know that there is something that the Lord is trying to impress upon you? Well, that's what is going on with me right now. He continues to bring up Psalm 1 in ways that I would never expect to see it. It appears in a movie we watched (Flywheel), it shows up handwritten in a greeting card, Dr. Al Reichman uses it as the basis for last week's message. So I thought I would look more closely at it, and this is what I realized in the first verse, and I felt like I needed to share it.
So many people are wondering about where to find happiness. And I am not going to tell you that all the answers are to be found in this verse. But I can tell you that if we don't heed this verse, we WILL NOT find happiness. Psalm 1:1 says, in the NASB, "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!" Let's look at the Hebrew, though.
אַשְׁרֵי הָאִישׁ - Ashrei ha-ish - Commonly translated as "Blessed is the man," the Hebrew for "bless," ברך isn't found in this section. Ashrei is from the word אֶשֶׁר esher which means happiness. Therefore, ashrei ha-ish is "Happy is the man."
אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָלַךְ בַּעֲצַת רְשָׁעִים - asher lo halach ba-atzat r'shanim - who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
וּבְדֶרֶךְ חַטָּאִים לֹא עָמָד - u'v'derech chatah'im lo amad - and in the way of the sinners did not stand
וּבְמוֹשַׁב לֵצִים לֹא יָשָׁב - u'v'moshav lay-tzim lo yashav - and in the seat of the scornful did not sit
As Dr. Reichman pointed out this past Shabbat, there is clearly a progression in this first verse. It moves from הלך, to walk, to עמד, to stand, and ends up with ישב, to sit. If we can say, as in the first section, happy is the person who doesn't do these things, then the converse is also true, unhappy is the person who does these things. And the unfortunate fact is that the more unhappy one gets, the more likely they are to engage in these activities, creating a cycle of unhappiness. It would therefore be impossible to find true happiness while in the midst of the cycle. Getting out of the cycle doesn't guarantee happiness, however, remaining there DOES, in fact, guarantee UNhappiness. And who wants to live in THAT place?
There is a reason that Rabbi Sha'ul teaches us that we are to WALK in the newness of life (Romans 6:4), and STAND by faith in His grace (Romans 5:2, 11:20). In this, we will find happiness.
So many people are wondering about where to find happiness. And I am not going to tell you that all the answers are to be found in this verse. But I can tell you that if we don't heed this verse, we WILL NOT find happiness. Psalm 1:1 says, in the NASB, "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!" Let's look at the Hebrew, though.
אַשְׁרֵי הָאִישׁ - Ashrei ha-ish - Commonly translated as "Blessed is the man," the Hebrew for "bless," ברך isn't found in this section. Ashrei is from the word אֶשֶׁר esher which means happiness. Therefore, ashrei ha-ish is "Happy is the man."
אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָלַךְ בַּעֲצַת רְשָׁעִים - asher lo halach ba-atzat r'shanim - who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
וּבְדֶרֶךְ חַטָּאִים לֹא עָמָד - u'v'derech chatah'im lo amad - and in the way of the sinners did not stand
וּבְמוֹשַׁב לֵצִים לֹא יָשָׁב - u'v'moshav lay-tzim lo yashav - and in the seat of the scornful did not sit
As Dr. Reichman pointed out this past Shabbat, there is clearly a progression in this first verse. It moves from הלך, to walk, to עמד, to stand, and ends up with ישב, to sit. If we can say, as in the first section, happy is the person who doesn't do these things, then the converse is also true, unhappy is the person who does these things. And the unfortunate fact is that the more unhappy one gets, the more likely they are to engage in these activities, creating a cycle of unhappiness. It would therefore be impossible to find true happiness while in the midst of the cycle. Getting out of the cycle doesn't guarantee happiness, however, remaining there DOES, in fact, guarantee UNhappiness. And who wants to live in THAT place?
There is a reason that Rabbi Sha'ul teaches us that we are to WALK in the newness of life (Romans 6:4), and STAND by faith in His grace (Romans 5:2, 11:20). In this, we will find happiness.
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