Blessed is the man who reads the Bible
Psalm 1:1-4, and 6. December 9, 2022 - Friday, 2nd Week of Advent
Some said that there are only two kinds of people in the world: the wise, who know they are fools, and the fools who think they are wise; saints, who know they are sinners and sinners who think they are saints. The first psalm of the book of Psalms also speaks about two kinds of people: the ones who delight in the law of the Lord and those who do not.
The psalmist tells us that we should avoid the wicked, the sinners, and the scoffers. The wicked are those who sin on purpose. Their hearts are bent on evil. The sinners are those who sin unintentionally. Their conscience is not well formed, and they cannot distinguish between good and evil. Finally, the scoffers are people who laugh at God’s law. For them, there is no value in meditating upon God’s precepts. We should not only avoid their company but also their advice and their way of life. If we do that, we are blessed.
The one who puts his heart into meditating upon the law of the Lord is blessed. The word "meditate" means to whisper God’s law with reverence. The psalmist advises us to pronounce the law of the Lord loudly. The sense of the blessing is similar to the blessings recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (5:2-11). Meditating upon the law of the Lord will satisfy our inner thirst. Our situation is compared to a tree planted between two streams that merge into one river. In such a place, there is no shortage of water. We are protected from spiritual drought. We flourish and become successful.
The situation of the wicked is different. They are like chaff. Chaff is the dry outer covering of seeds. Thus, the wicked are without spiritual seeds. Saint Paul speaks about the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22-23). Such fruit cannot be found in the wicked. Therefore, they have no chance to stand during the time of judgement. Jesus said many times that at the end of the age “the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace” (Matt 13:49-50; Matt 25:32).