Bible Devotion on
Psalm 1

This Bible devotion on Psalm 1 will bring more
godly wisdom and godly protection
into your life.

To begin, I want to take you back to my childhood. My parents took me to Sunday morning church every week.
(I am very grateful to my parents for that gift.)

For a season, when I was in elementary school, my parents also took me to Sunday night church. It is my experiences during that time that I will highlight today.

My Part in
Children's Church

My routine on Sunday nights was to arrive at church, and go directly to the classroom for my age group.

Each Sunday night, one of the elementary school classes would be chosen to put on a children’s church service for the rest of the elementary school children. The children in that class were in charge of the children’s service that night. One child would volunteer to pick out the songs that we would sing. One child would volunteer to lead the singing. One child would choose a scripture and read it during the service. One child would read an uplifting message. 

Every time my age group was assigned to put on children’s church, I quickly volunteered to read the scripture. And every time we put on children’s church, I read the same scripture. It was Psalm 1.

I have only a few memories of that time. The main memory I have is standing up before the group and reading Psalm 1.

I do remember why I picked it every time. It was because it was easy to
find – since it was the first Psalm AND it was rather short!  As I remember back to how I felt as I read the words, I do remember feeling that the words were strong and powerful.

I also remember that I had no idea what all those words in the psalm mean. Each time when I would read Psalm One at my church, I would say:

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so;
but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous:
but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

Psalm 1

I did not understand what most of the words meant. I only knew that it meant that God was telling us that it was good to be godly, and God was warning us that there are bad consequences to being ungodly.

Several years ago, I was rereading Psalm 1. As I was reading and pondering that Psalm, I began to think back to my Sunday night experiences reading Psalm 1.

In the New Century Version -  Psalm 1:1-2 says,

“Happy are those who don’t listen to the wicked,
who don’t go where sinners go, who don’t do what evil people do.”

I wish I had had the New Century Version to read when I was young. It is a lot easier to understand than the King James Version. In the New Century Version, it is easy to see that one of the main ideas presented here is the idea of choosing your friends wisely.

As I was pondering my times of reading aloud Psalm 1 in children’s church, I realized that when I read Psalm 1. I was reading about carefully choosing your friends AND I realized that later in my teen years, I did chose my friends - wisely.  

I never chose to hang out with teens who were drinking or doing drugs. And I never chose friends who were rebellious to their parents. The fact is that  I was an easy teenager for my parents to raise. Someone might call me a “Goody Goody” type person because I never got into any kind of trouble.

I began to think about the power of the words of God. Bible scripture is powerful. I realize that my wise choices in friends were the result of more   than just reading Psalm 1 at my church. But I sincerely believe that one of the many things that helped me successfully get through my teen years was choosing as a child to read and promote the reading of Psalm 1.

I believe that in some supernatural way, my steady choice of reading Psalm 1 led -  to part of the wisdom and protection that I enjoyed in my teen years. I believe this is true even though I didn’t understand all the words that  I was reading.

Choosing good friends is very important to children, teens, and adults.  The Bible echoes this in Proverbs chapter 27.

“A mirror reflects a man’s face, but what he is really like,
is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.”
Proverbs 27:19 TLB

Here the Bible tells us that what kind of friends we choose tells people what kind of person we are AND what kind of person we want to be.  

Psalm 16:3 in the New Century Version says,

“As for the godly people in the world, 
they are the wonderful ones I enjoy.”

In that same verse, the Message Bible talks about godly people and says,

“What splendid friends they make.”

I’ll also throw this verse in especially for the teens –

“Keep away from angry, short-tempered men,
lest you learn to be like them and endanger your soul.”
Proverbs 22:24-25 TLB

Teens, don’t choose angry, sarcastic, harsh people as your friends.

Remember that your friends will either inspire you to obey God or tempt you to disobey God. Be careful to choose good friends. Even us adults need to be careful about our choice of friends.

It is true that no one is going to follow God’s laws perfectly, but friends who are seeking to please God will encourage us to do right, and friends who are seeking to disrespect God’s laws will bring peer pressure to tempt us to do wrong.

Next, I want to highlight another important concept found in Psalm 1.

The Next Concept is:

Loving the laws, commandments, and statutes of God
that are found in the Bible.

The King James Version -  that I stood up and read as a child -  says in verse 2, “His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

That verse means that we are blessed and we are wise  if we choose to love and delight in the law of God and if we think about the Bible -  both day and night.

I have grown to love God’s laws and his commandments. That love began to grow when I was young.

As I was growing up, I never remember viewing God’s laws and commandments as something to ignore, or something to treat with disrespect. I didn’t live my life trying to see how much I could get away with.

I saw God’s laws and God’s rules as God’s loving protection.

Again, I believe that my choice of Psalm 1 had a wonderful  impact on my growing love for the word of God.  

Psalm 119 is one of my favorite Psalms. The whole psalm is about respecting and growing to love God’s laws. The Psalm begins by telling us that Happy and blessed are those who seek to obey God.

I’m going to skip to verse 16 in the Amplified Bible.

Verse 16 says, “I will delight myself in your statutes; I will not forget Your word.”

Verse 17 b “I will observe Your word [hearing, receiving, loving and obeying it.]”
Verse 35 “Make me go in the path of Your commandments, for in them do I delight.”

Verse 113b “Your law  do I love.”

Verse 145 “I cried with my whole heart;  hear me. O Lord:   I will keep Your statutes  [I will hear, receive, love, and obey them.] ”

Verse 165 “Great peace have they who love your law.”

Verse 174 b “Your law is my delight.”

Psalm 119 is full of verses like these. There are also many verses like this in other places in the Bible.

For example,

“I delight to do your will. O my God: yes.
Your law is within my heart.”
Psalm 40: 8 AMP

To all of you reading this – children, teens, and adults – think about this:

You will have difficulty obeying God if you do not grow to love God’s laws.

If you are not growing in your love of God’s laws -  and his whole Bible,  - then you will be struggling with opposition to God and opposition to his will. That will greatly affect your thoughts and your behavior and the consequences that you face in life because of your actions.

So I urge you to begin or continue in your journey to delight in God’s laws.

I encourage you to:

• Think with delight about obeying God.
• Spend time with people who delight in God and who delight in the Bible.
• Develop a joyous relationship with Father God.

God is our loving heavenly Father. It is true that he gives us unconditional love. But as a loving father, he warns us that if we ignore his laws, commandments, and statutes, we will face many more problems and difficulties  - than if we had decided to delight in his word.

God’s word is powerful. Speaking God’s word is powerful. Speaking God’s word out loud changes us in many ways  including supernatural ways.

Heavenly Father,

I thank you for giving me my Bible. I thank you for the wisdom inside my Bible. I thank you for the protection and guidance that you have put in my Bible  - to help me in my daily life. 

Lord, I am asking that you would help me to grow in my love for my Bible. I am asking that you would remind me to read my Bible. I am asking that you would grow a hunger in me for your wisdom and your ways of living.

Today I am choosing to increase my delight in enjoying you and your word.

Lord, I realize that you have been drawing me toward a closer relationship with you. Thank you for drawing me. I will move closer to you.
Amen      

Copyright © 2013 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

"Great blessings belong to those who don't listen to evil advice,
who don't live like sinners, and
who don't join those who make fun of God.
Instead they love the Lord's teachings and
think about them day and night." 
Verses 1-2 in the ERV

Teen Bible Devotion

I encourage adults to share this Bible devotion with teenagers
and even children.

Bible Devotion Copyright © 2013 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

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