The Psalmist begins the Church’s book of praise by describing the man who is blessed and by contrasting him with the ungodly.
The blessed man is the man who hates sin and avoids the company of the ungodly. He has come to see the evil of sin as that is revealed in the Scriptures of truth and has come to know it in his own experience. He sees sin, not only in its effects upon men, but also as it is against God, an infinitely holy God. He recognises clearly the dishonour done to God by sin and has been brought to say with Joseph: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Besides, he has come to see that sin deserves eternal death, and that nothing can atone for sin but the blood of the divine Redeemer. He has himself looked by faith to the crucified One and has obtained life through His name. He has come, too, to know his need of the blood of sprinkling for daily living in this world. He understands the meaning of these words: “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
The blessed man avoids the way of the ungodly. He is still in the world and therefore necessarily on occasions comes in contact with the ungodly or else he must needs go out of the world. But in their thoughts, their ways, their talk he has no delight. He is like Lot, that just man, who in Sodom vexed his righteous soul from day to day with the filthy conversation of the ungodly. Let the blessed man have business to transact with the ungodly world, then having transacted it he does not stop to linger there. He knows his danger. He knows that his own heart is like tinder that could be set alight in a moment and burst into flame. He desires to be preserved from the way in which destroyers go, and looks to the Lord for his safe-keeping.
The blessed man delights in the law of the Lord and makes it his meditation. Others have their own source of pleasure, but this is his. He can say: Thy Word was found and I did eat it and it was unto me as the joy and rejoicing of my heart.
What others find no delight in, that is, in the Word of God, he finds special delight in. He says: “O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all that day.” He has found in the Bible what he could find nowhere else, that is, salvation for his soul. He has found Christ in it, the pearl of great price. Is it any wonder then that he values it and sets such store by it? The longing of his soul with regard to the Word of God is set out in these words: “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes.” He desires to be taught, to be led, to be quickened, to be revived. And the Lord is not a wilderness to him. He does not leave him with his desires. The Lord grants him his desire for teaching and keeping and over and above it all gives him His gracious presence to delight him and encourage him on his wilderness journey.
The blessed man flourishes, for he is like a tree planted by the rivers of water. He may himself be mourning over his unfruitfulness and yet all the while be bringing forth fruit and more fruit, yet unknown to himself. He may be grieving at heart over the little measure of his love to God and yet at the same time be loving God more and more. He may be complaining of his sinfulness and complaining more and more of it, and in the very midst of these complaints be growing more holy in heart and life day by day. He may be sad at heart because he is so little like Christ whose image he would desire to be conformed to perfectly, and all the while be putting on Christ more and more. It must be so with the blessed man for “the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.”
“Those that within the house of God
are planted by His grace,
They shall grow up, and flourish all
in our God’s holy place.”
But what of the end of the blessed man? He shall stand in the assembly of the just. Not so, the wicked. The ungodly are to be cut off. They are as the chaff which is driven away. They shall not prosper as the righteous shall prosper. Their end is to be burnt up. Upon the wicked the Lord “shall reign snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.” But the Lord shall bless His people with peace. “With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the King’s palace.” There they shall abide for evermore.