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.
-
Reading Psalm 1
in children's church
protected me during my young vulnerable teen days.
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 meant.
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
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.
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 was a happy teen who had great friends!
Recently,
I began to think about
The Power of the Words of God.
Bible scripture is
Powerful.
I realize that
my wise choices in friends
was
the result of
more
than just reading Psalm 1 at my church.
But...
I believe it played a part!
I sincerely believe that
one
of the many things
that helped me
s u c c e s s f u l l y
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.
Wisdom
is choosing well.
Choosing good friends
is very important to children, teens, and adults.
The Bible echoes this in
Proverbs chapter 27:19.
“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
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.”
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
In speaking to teens I say,
"Teens, don’t choose angry, sarcastic, harsh people as your friends."
Teens -
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.
Psalm 1 encourages us to :
Love the laws, commandments, and statutes
of God
that are found in the Bible.
The King James Version
- that choose to read in church 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. They are like an umbrella over me if I will stay close to God. |
Again, I say that
I believe that my choice of Psalm 1
had a wonderful impact
on my growing love for the word of God.
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.
-
You will be
pulling away
from what God wants for you.
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:
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.
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.
Notice the Love in these verses...
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
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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