TLIC Family. Day 62. March 3: Blessed is the man.

THINK TOGETHER

Do you have a favorite worship song/church song? What is it?

READ TOGETHER

The Psalms are the hymnal of the Bible. They are God’s songbook. Look at the book of Psalms in your Bible. How many Psalms are there? Each psalm is a song. Many of them were written when David was the King of Israel, and many of them were written by King David himself. But all the psalms weren’t put together into one big songbook until the Exile. Do you remember what the Exile was? When the Jewish people were far from home, in Babylon, and they had no temple to worship God in, the psalms became very important to them so that they could still sing and remember God and his love for them. The Psalms, like our worship songs today, help to bring our hearts into the presence of God as we think about who he is and what he has done for us.

The order of the psalms in your Bible is not random. All the psalms are organized in a special way to help us think about God and his Messiah – the hero God promised. We know him as Jesus.

It’s very important to always, always, always read the psalms as songs about Jesus and not just about you or us. For example, let’s read Psalm 1:

Psalm 1. Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
² but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
⁴ The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
⁶ for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 1 describes the “blessed man.” The word “blessed” means happy. This happy man “delights” in God’s law – God’s word and God’s wisdom. He “meditates,” or thinks about God’s law all day long. He is like a strong and fruitful “tree” planted by a “stream of water.” Nothing can discourage him or make him forget God.

But who is this “blessed man”?

The mistake that most people make when reading the Psalms is that they try to make it first about themselves, instead of seeing Jesus first. But really Jesus is the “blessed man.” Jesus is the only person who totally loved God’s laws. He is the only person who thought about God all the time. He is the only one who never listened to the “wicked,” or “sinners,” and did what they said. Jesus is the one who is “planted like a tree” that “never withers.” Jesus is the only one who is “righteous” – who always does what is right.

But what about us? Are we in Psalm 1 too?

Well, we are actually the ones who are “wicked” and who listen to the wicked. We are the ones who are blown away like “chaff” in the wind. We are the one who “wither” and “perish.”

This is why we all need Jesus. Without him we would all just blow away from God. But with Jesus we too can be fruitful like him – kind, and sharing, and happy. With Jesus we can be a part of his strong tree that grows in God’s beautiful garden next to the river. Ahhh.

Because of Jesus I can be part of God’s strong tree of happiness.

With Jesus I can be happy and kind too, knowing that he was righteous for me.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Ask you children to find something that they can easily blow away and something that they can’t blow away. Talk about how these two things are different. Remind them that when we remember that we have Jesus’ love and goodness we are not easily blown away, but are strong and secure in his love.

And here’s a good night time song reminding us that Jesus is the strong one.

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus,

I know that without you I would just blow way from God. Thank you for being the strong and happy tree that now I can be a part of too.

Amen.

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