Sept 1
Psalm 1-2, Proverbs 1, Matthew 1
Psalm 1:1-2 NIV
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, [2] but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.
No one just “wakes up” and decides to blow up their life with sin.
Look at the slow sequence here:
WALK with the wicked…
STAND in the way of sinners…
SIT in the company of mockers…
We see it is an incremental journey to destruction when we try and do life our own way.
Look at the sequence of life for the righteous:
Psalm 1:2-3 NIV
…but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. [3] That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither- whatever they do prospers.
DELIGHT in the law of the LORD
MEDITATES day and night
TREE planted by water
FRUIT in season
NEVER withers
ALWAYS prospers
Pick your path!
Psalm 1:6 NIV
For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
The LORD watches over the person who walks through DOOR NUMBER 2!
This Psalm is literally the OFFER OF GOD to all of humanity.
Do life your way and you will be like chaff that the wind (life’s hardship, adversity, suffering, etc.) just blows away…
Or do life WITH ME, according to my word and wisdom and you’ll be an UNSHAKABLE tree that never ceases to bear fruit!
Psalm 2:1-3 NIV
Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? [2] The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, [3] "Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles."
The “nations” which represent ALL OF HUMANITY don’t exactly “enjoy” having to PICK between these two options…
We know this by watching the news…people want what they want…power, possessions, platforms, and positions of prominence and will go to any lengths to possess it no matter which path they take to get there or the amount of people it might impact along the way!
Let’s THROW OFF God’s word, lets REJECT God’s wisdom and IGNORE God’s will…
WE WILL CALL THE SHOTS DOWN HERE!
We see there is not just a REJECTION of God but a REBELLION and RAGE against the LORD in the hearts of man.
Psalm 2:4-6 NIV
The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. [5] He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, [6] "I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain."
Heaven’s response to earth’s rejection of the LORD?
Laughter!
Why?
Job helps us IMMENSLY here!
Job has suffered incalculable loss and heartache because of the devil’s affliction in his life…the whole book is a gut renching conversation between Job, his three friends and the LORD…
Who is to blame for this?
Why did it happen to him?
Should Job just curse God and die?
It is incredible that there is ALL THIS conversation at a horizontal level among friends and THEN the LORD SPEAKS from the STORM and puts JOB (representing all of humanity) on trial!
Job 38:1-21 NIV
Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: [2] "Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? [3] Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
[4] "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. [5] Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? [6] On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone- [7] while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
[8] "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, [9] when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, [10] when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, [11] when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'? [12] "Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, [13] that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?
[14] The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. [15] The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. [16] "Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? [17] Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
[18] Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. [19] "What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? [20] Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? [21] Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!
This is why the LORD can LAUGH in HEAVEN in the midst of HUMAN REBELLION and REJECTION!
WERE YOU THERE when there was NOTHING?
Psalm 2:4-6 NIV
The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. [5] He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, [6] "I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain."
You may TRY all you like to REJECT me but I AM GOD and YOU ARE NOT as much as you try and make yourselves out to be…
I have a KING who rules over all the RULERS on the earth that I HAVE HAND PICKED…
Who is this King?
Psalm 2:7-8 NIV
I will proclaim the LORD's decree: He said to me, "You are my son; today I have become your father. [8] Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
MY SON!
We read from our Matthew 1 passage that Jesus, the MESSIAH, GOD’s SON is IMMANUEL, GOD WITH US…the GOD-MAN who has come to save the world from SIN!
We see that sin with BOLD and VIVID clarity here in PSALM 2…the sin of flat out REJECTING and REBELLING agains GOD and the RAGE against his leadership over our lives and our world.
The part most of us skip in the Gospels (and for good reason sometimes if we are honest) are the genealogies…a bunch of names we can hardly pronounce!
But behind those names are the stories of the LONG and DIFFICULT road that God’s people have walked and endured by the FAITHFULNESS of GOD’s LEADERSHIP and LOVE alone…
Abraham…David…Exile…Jesus.
Even though sin takes us farther away than we intended to go…it keeps there longer than we wanted to stay…God’s LOVE and FAITHULNESS can reach us even there!
The LORD had a plan in and through ALL OF IT to fulfill his promises and purposes for his people Israel all along!
Psalm 2:9-11 NIV
You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery." [10] Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. [11] Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.
This SON that GOD has INSTALLED on his throne will reign and rule with justice. There is coming a GREAT DAY of reckoning and God’s word to all, now, is SERVE THE LORD with fear!
Celebrate the fact that even in our rebellion and sin we can REPENT and come under his LIFEGIVING leadership…now, by FAITH!
Psalm 2:12 NIV
Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
We can become FRIENDS instead of FOES!
We can be BLESSED under his covering and leadership by taking refuge in him instead of running in rebellion from him!
What a way to start the Psalms!
And to our PROVERBS passage in chapter 1…this part stuck out to me:
Proverbs 1:20-23 NIV
Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; [21] on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: [22] "How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? [23] Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.
“Wisdom” is personified as an actual person here…we meet WISDOM INCARNATE when JESUS CHRIST came in the flesh!
John 1:14 NIV
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Colossians 2:2-3 NIV
My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, [3] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
So picture JESUS in Proverbs when WISDOM is personified and pictured as a PERSON!
Proverbs 1:20-23 NIV
Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; [21] on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech: [22] "How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? [23] Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.
CALLING OUT!
In the PUBLIC SQUARE!
At the CITY GATES!
RESPOND to my voice!
LEARN MY WAYS!
FOLLOW MY TEACHINGS
This is remarkable!
God doesn’t want us to go our own way!
He wants us to be those PSALM 1 TREES that bear fruit and who’s leaves NEVER wither…
Proverbs 1:7 NIV
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
He is calling out to us…put your trust in me and my word!
Submit your lives to my life-giving leadership and you’ll find the life you could never get at apart from ME giving it to you!
Proverbs 1:32-33 NIV
For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; [33] but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."
We’re back at that choice again…choose who you will serve today.
Here’s an amazing promise regarding wisdom from the book of James.
James 4:7-8 NIV
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
We can submit to GOD…resist the devil and his attempts to keep us in rebellion against the Lord…
We can come near to God and experience his nearness, his cleansing and his purifying work in our lives…
James 1:5 NIV
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
We can cry out for wisdom and he’ll pour it out into our lives in the areas we need it the most.
What a promise!
One additional comment from our Matthew 1 passage:
Matthew 1:21 NIV
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
One of my spiritual fathers Hal Perkins always says…
Jesus wants to SAVE OUR LIFE…ALL THE TIME if we’ll let him!
Meaning, if we continue to submit our hearts, offer up our thoughts, and humbly look to Jesus in the everyday stuff of life…he’ll keep on saving us from careless choices, destructive habits and faulty thinking if we KEEP OUR EYES ON HIM!
There is the BIG SAVING from sin and eternal separation from him when we repent of our sins initially and then there is the DAILY SAVING that he wants to WALK WITH US each and everyday as learn to trust his WORD, love his WAYS and live out our lives according to his WISDOM…
The great promise:
Matthew 1:23 NIV
"The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us").
He’ll be WITH US every step of the way…AMEN!
