Background There are two halves to Psalm 1. There are only 6 verses- the first three are the fate of the blessed, the second 3 are the fate of the wicked. In this one Psalm we have a distillation of a main theme in the Bible and in our relationship with God. In the end it is about justice and fairness and both halves of this can be problematic. Yesterday, we thought about blessed always “prosper”. Today, we read the wicked will be destroyed. Are the wicked destroyed? What is “destruction” in God’s (not our) eyes? Does the idea in John of living in the light versus living in darkness help us rethink about prospering and destruction?
Reading Psalm 1: 4-6
Focus Verse Psalm 1:6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Reflection: We want justice! We want the ‘bad guys’ to suffer and the ‘good guys’ to ride off into the sunset. Many of the Psalmists will lift their fists to the sky demanding justice, or praise God for his punishment of the wicked. This is an honest feeling and God hears it. But how does he respond? What did Jesus say? Was the suffering of the wicked something he gloated over or even wanted? The critical thing is that the Psalmist take this urge for justice and gives it to God, the recognition being it is God’s job. Are you wishing for justice? Does it eat at you to see someone ‘getting away with it’? If you pray that to God, what do you think he says back?