Read
BOOK I
(Psalms 1–41)
The Way to Happiness
1God blesses those people
who refuse evil advice
and won't follow sinners
or join in sneering at God.
2Instead, they find happiness
in the Teaching of the Lord,
and they think about it
day and night.
3 They are like trees
growing beside a stream,
trees that produce
fruit in season
and always have leaves.
Those people succeed
in everything they do.
4That isn't true of those
who are evil—
they are like straw
blown by the wind.
5Sinners won't have an excuse
on the day of judgment,
and they won't have a place
with the people of God.
6The Lord protects everyone
who follows him,
but the wicked follow a road
that leads to ruin.
Reflect
The truth behind this psalm is that what you DO depends on what you ARE, and what you ARE depends on WHAT YOU FEED YOUR MIND ON.
- Get your defences up! Verse 1 isn’t suggesting we should cut ourselves off from sinners, or have nothing to do with them, but that we shouldn’t allow them to mold our characters. We are not to walk as they do (that is, go along with their standards), stand where they do (follow their example), or sit in their seat (adopt their point of view). We must be on our guard all the time against the pressure to conform.
- Get your Bible out! If you resist the influences of society around you, you must have something to put in their place. Look at verse 2. To take time with the Bible will mold your thinking God’s way (v 3).
Figure out what influences affect you most. Persuasive advertising? The Joneses? Avant-garde movies? Business pressures? Are they good influences?
What priority does the Bible have in your life?
Respond
Lord Jesus Christ, I give you control over my thinking and living. Please help me as I try to live this out. In your name, Amen.
Tony Capon
Born in England, Tony served in the British Army in Germany 1945-48, then graduated from Cambridge University and Oak Hill Theological College London. He served as an Anglican priest in London and in 1956, Tony and his wife emigrated to Canada. There he served as Associate and President of Scripture Union. Later, as SU Co-ordinator for the Americas, he travelled widely in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean promoting the work of SU. From 1975 to 1978 he served as Director of Development at Wycliffe College, Toronto, and from 1978 to 1991 as Principal of Montreal Diocesan Theological College. He has just celebrated his 90th birthday!