In this 10-day devotional, we will begin to unpack the book of Psalms. The Psalms are rich in emotion, struggle and heart and can teach us a lot about what it means to relate to God from a place of raw, unashamed faith. Each series will delve into 10 of the Psalms, sharing daily lessons, daily inspiration and daily encouragement.
Read Psalm 1
Highlight verse: Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. (Psalm 1:2 CSB)
Hello and welcome to the Psalm series one devotional. My prayer is that as you complete this plan you will have wrestled with the emotion, rawness and reality of each psalm and found a mountain of inspiration to propel you into your days ahead.
So, let’s get started…
Psalm 1 outlines 2 very clear approaches to life – the way of righteousness and the way of wickedness. Let’s break these two terms down…
Righteousness can be described as living in an upright manner, morally speaking. This can look like abiding by the law, doing what is considered ‘right’ in any and every situation or simply being kind and loving towards others. We are told that the person who does not follow the ways of the wicked (the righteous) will be happy! And how many of us are searching for happiness?!
Wickedness is characterised as the exact opposite – evil or morally bad in principal or practice. Think of the individual who breaks the law, cheats on their taxes or speaks/acts unkindly to those around them.
Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.
(Psalm 1:2 CSB)
It may seem obvious to avoid the advice or influence of the wicked, but the very fact that the first psalm spells out to us the benefit of avoiding such people and pursuing the way of righteousness tells me that we all have the capacity to be lured away from the right path to the wrong one.
So, what are we to do?
I believe that the solution is packed into verse two for us – meditating on the Lord’s instruction. Day and night. This doesn’t have to look like a full 2-hour Bible study twice a day but can look like mulling over a verse or principle of the kingdom at various points in the day and looking at how it can be firmly integrated into your life.
Action: Set an alarm for first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Attach to that alarm a scripture/kingdom principle that inspires you. When the alert goes off, spend 5 minutes or so figuring out how you can develop this verse/principle practically in your life.
