Page 22 - Psalms Ebook

righteous man. The theme of Psalm 1 can be summarized in these
words. The righteous man is the man who delights himself in the
Lord at all times. No matter what is going on in life he delights himself
in the Lord at all times. There are other sections of Scripture that look
almost exactly like Psalm 1. If you want an inspired commentary on
Psalm 1, read Joshua 1:8. Read Jeremiah chapter 17:5 - 8. Psalm 112 is
also quite similar. In fact, it starts with the word blessed and ends with
the word perish. Psalm 26 is very much like the first Psalm.

What I would like to do now is give you three wonderful truths. Simple
observations about this Psalm that sets us up for the whole book.

1: “How blessed is the man.” That is a wonderful word, blessed.
Psalm 1 begins and the whole book of Psalms begins, the same way the
Sermon on the Mount begins. Blessed, blessed. Do you realize this? In
the Hebrew language there is no word for blessed. They do not have a
word for blessed in the Hebrew language. It is plural. They only have a
word for blessednesses, blessednesses. It is plural, and we do not know
how to translate it so we just put the word “how” there. How blessed.
Because we can not say, oh, the blessednesses of, oh, the happinesses of,
oh, the joys’ of. It is plural, and it is because there is no such thing as a
blessing. God gives His blessings in bunches, and you cannot be just
blessed it’s just not enough. You are coming to a new book, coming to
the book of Psalms, and you are only one word deep into the book and
God says: Happinesses, blessednesses, joys, contentments, fulfillments.
He begins the book by showing the overwhelming fullness of what He is
going to promise in this book.

It is not that God puts a song in your heart. It is songs, fresh, alive,
vibrant. Songs of praise. The Hebrew calls it the plural of intensity, and
you can see why, because it is intense and overwhelming. You open the
book of Psalms and God says here is My plan for you. I want to fill you
to the brim with joy so you will be flowing over on all sides, at all times,
no matter what comes into your life.

I used to think that this was a conditional Psalm. Happy shall you be
if........but there is no if’s here. It is not conditional. He is not saying,
you will be blessed if you do this, that and the other thing. He is saying
the righteous man is blessed. He is describing the nature of the blessed
man. He is not saying how to get that way. The man who delights in the
Lord, the man who delights in the Word of God is overflowing with
blessing at all times. That is how the book begins. Again, you are one
word deep. Right away. You say, how does the book of Psalms begin?