Psalm 1: Life's Most Basic Choice
9 Psalms to Live By • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsLife has one most basic choice with two options to choose from--choose the best one.
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Psalms are an acquired taste. Unless you like poetry. If you do, chances are you would have gravitated around the most poetic of the psalms. Like , , . Those that the KJV managed to turn into modern English poetry replete with rhyme and cadence. For Hebrew poetry lacks both rhyme and cadence. They are poetry of a different kind. The rest of the psalms, we struggle liking, much less understanding.
Yet despite this gap, why are the Psalms so alluring? So appealing? So captivating? Generation after generation of faithful believers turn to them to deepen their personal piety.
Perhaps it is because the psalms capture the full gamut of the faithful’s speech addressed to God. Perhaps it is because it captures God’s faithful response to every form of speech directed towards him—whether it be praise, complaint, rage, anger, sadness, desperation. It is all there for us to see and experience—our ongoing dialogue with our God who says every speech directed to me, however raw, however negative, I will hear and take it upon myself to act.
This ongoing dialogue with God involves all of life, all of human emotions. Which is why Calving calls the Psalms:
“The anatomy of all parts of the soul.” -John Calvin.
The anatomy of all parts of the soul. -John Calvin
“They touch every surface of life as well as the inner recesses of the heart.” -TT Ps. Vol. 1, p. 6.
The anatomy of all parts of the soul. -John Calvin
The world of the Psalms lie somewhere in the vicinity of your life.
fdfdf
Between seasons of stability and chaos.
Between seasons of chaos and surprises.
Where God appears with good news. Surprises you with his presence and care in ways you could never have imagined. The Psalms are a constant reminder that those that submit to God’s sovereignty are always in the palm of his hand. And they are never away from his presence.
But one must choose to enter this world of the Psalms.
in our open invitation to enter this world. To live in a world where you can have an open and ongoing dialogue with the maker of heaven and earth. invites you to make this choice. For it tells you that despite the many options we may have in life; despite the many shades of grey in your neck of the woods.
Despite a plethora of choices, life has one most basic choice with only two options to choose from. The Psalmist calls these two options: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. It is the same choice God put forth to our first mother and father encapsulated in the tree of the knowledge of good or evil.
And the Psalmist wishes that you would make the good choice, the best choice. The blessed choice.
What blessings come with this choice?
The blessings of self-imposed limits (Illustration: minesweeper game in my first DOS computer)
The blessings of pure delight (True freedom is to spend your days in what you delight in)
The blessings of being rooted (The analogy of a well nourished tree and that of a chaff is a study in contrast)
The blessings of being watched over (even in the darkest moments of your life. And the surprises that come your way when God meets you in ways you did not expect. )
Illustration: A ray of light in the dark corner of a parking lot weeping with no tears left, dad languishing for life in the ICU. A surprising peace descends on me as I gather myself, alone in the dark. Then I recall a dialogue I started with God a hear prior. A short prayer addressed to God. “Lord, when it comes, please prepare me.” A prayer I had forgotten I even said. But God did not forget. Two nights before the big earthquake in my life happened, God sends two dreams. One for each night. Where I was shown what was about to happen in vivid detail. It shocked me. When it happened,
What is your answer to God’s invitation? God wants you to choose the blessed life. The world of the Psalms.