Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2: But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3: And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4: The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5: Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6: For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Introduction

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

As we begin this new year, 2026, I want us to stop and think about our lives and see if we made some progress. Many of you have been saved recently. After we get saved, God expects us to grow, to develop and to mature. 

So, which one area do you need to grow? Let me challenge you to work on this area of biblical meditation. Today and next Sunday both in the AM and PM service, I will talk about Biblical Meditation…

Psalm 1:1 opens with these words, “Blessed is the man...”. The Book of Psalms opens with the word “Blessed”.  Blessing or blessedness is a common theme in the book of Psalms. If you read this entire book of Psalms, you will encounter this word “bless”, or “blessed” more than 100 times. It’s either God blessing men or men blessing God.

Donne writes, “How abundantly is that word Blessed multiplied in the Book of Psalms! The book seems to be made out of that word, and the foundation raised upon that word, for it is the first word of the book.”

Let us take a moment to look at some of the uses of “bless” and “blessed” in the Psalms.

Psalm 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Psalm 5:12 For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

Psalm 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2: Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

Psalm 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

Psalm 146:5 Happy (Blessed) is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:

These are just five examples of how the word “bless” and “blessed” are used in the book of Psalm.

What is Blessedness?

The Hebrew word for “blessed” is “esher”. It is closely related to the word “happiness”. But this is not the word “happiness” as used in our modern language which depends on our circumstances or on happenings! “I’m happy if what happens is good. I’m not happy if what happens is bad.” But that is not what is promised in Psalm 1. It is true that a blessed person can feel happy, but his happiness is not based on happenings. A blessed person still experiences blessedness even in the midst of difficult situations and trying times because he or she has an inner strength which comes from the Lord.

The word “blessed” speaks of the inner contentment in the life. It denotes an abundance of blessings. Vine writes that “Basically, this word connotes the state of “prosperity” or “happiness” that comes when a superior bestows his favor (blessing) on one.” So, the word “blessed” in this Psalm speaks of the blessings from God given to mankind.

The blessedness in this Psalm speaks of a deep and abiding joy. It’s a joy that surpasses understanding. A sense of well-being that is not affected and removed by the circumstances of life. It’s a true happiness in the deep sense. It is a resting peaceful joy. Contrary to the lies of Satan, being a born-again Christian and living for God does not mean boring, unexciting, sad, and miserable life. In fact, David said to the Lord in Psalm 16:11, “…in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

Now, how do I experience this blessedness?

Our text says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

In these first two verses of this Psalm, the blessed person is described in terms of what he does not do and what he does. These two verses tell us that if a person wants to be blessed there are things he or she should do and should not do.

In the physical realm if you want to be a healthy person, you must not only eat healthy food, but you must also avoid poison. Now there are people who eat healthy food but don’t avoid poison and then there are others who avoid poison but don’t eat healthy food. You may be abstaining from smoking or drinking but if you just eat “cup of noodles” all the time you are not going to be healthy. It is not enough to avoid things that are positively harmful, you must also take in the things that are positively good and nourishing in the physical realm. On the other hand, you may eat the most healthy and nutritious kind of food (low fat, low cholesterol, low calorie, low carb diet) but if you smoke 10 packs of cigarettes a day, you will not be a healthy person. If you want to be healthy, you must not only eat healthy food, but you must also avoid poison.

Now what is true in the physical realm is also true in the spiritual realm. If you and I want to be blessed people, we must learn how to avoid things that are sinful and at the same time, pursue the things that are good. First, we must not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. The blessed person first does not listen to the counsel of the ungodly. The ungodly men have advice, and they are eager to give it. They are very active and aggressive in seeking to influence you as to the way of blessedness. They are not content until you have received and followed their advice. So, beware. As much as possible do not unnecessarily expose yourself to the counsels of the ungodly.

Proverbs 19:27 Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

Second, we must not stand in the way of sinners. The blessed man is not only one who refuses to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, but he refuses to stand in the way of sinners. Sinners have a way, a road, a path that they take again and again. And the way of sinner is hard. It’s a way of darkness, disaster, destruction, and death. So, refuse to stand where sinners stand. Do not stand in the way of sinner, meaning do not identify in the sinners’ sinful way of life. Do not identify with sinners in their sinful behavior. Do not do what sinners do.

Third, we must not sit in the seat of the scornful. The blessed person not only refuses to walk in the counsel of the ungodly and refuses to stand in the way of sinners, but he also refuses to sit in the seat of the scornful. The word “sit” implies a settled position, a comfortable position. The idea is becoming comfortable with sin. Do not fellowship to the point that you are comfortable with them. If you want to be blessed, you must refuse to sit and associate with those who mock and curse God. If you want to be miserable, make your best friends those who are scornful, critical, and disrespectful.

So, if you want to be blessed people, you must learn how to avoid things that are sinful but at the same time, pursue the things that are good. Then the Psalmist goes on to say in verse 2, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” The blessed person is not only known and marked by the counsels he refuses and rejects but also by the counsels he embraces and delights in. And according to this Psalm, the blessed person delights in the law of the LORD. The blessed person does not find pleasure in the wisdom and ways of the world, instead he or she finds pleasure in the Word and the ways of God. As Wiersbe so rightly puts it, “the “blessed” must first be separated and then saturated”. He must be separated from the world and then saturated with the Word. The more we delight in the Word, the less we will desire the world.

Now the question is, “How do we know whether we delight in God’s Word?” The answer is found in our text:

Psalm 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

We know that we delight in the Word of God, because we meditate on it day and night. Thomas Watson, “Grace breeds delight, delights breeds meditation.” Delight is an attitude that leads to an action—meditation. We demonstrate our delight in the law of the LORD by meditating on it! A blessed person finds pleasure in the Bible and consequently, he meditates on it. He delights so much in the Word of God that he meditates on it. The “meditating” is the result of the delighting. If you don’t delight in the Word of God, you won’t meditate on it. But if you delight in it, the proof of it, you will meditate on it day and night. We find this expressed also in Psalm 119:97, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” I love the law of God, therefore, I meditate on it all the day. The man who does not refuse the counsel of the ungodly, the way of sinner, and the seat of the scornful and does not delight and does not meditate is not a blessed man. The degree of our blessedness will be proportionate to the degree that we learn the holy exercise of meditation.

In this age of entertainment, it is not easy to meditate. With so much noise and activity and so many distractions, meditation seems to be impossible to do. In this age of entertainment, computer and information highway, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, Vlogging, Facebook, X, meditation seems to be outdated and obsolete. But, although times have changed, and meditations seems to be out-of-date, God has not changed, and the Word of God has not changed. The way of blessedness is still the same. It is to our lost if we in the 21st century failed to meditate. If we have become too busy to meditate, then we have become too busy to know the way of blessedness. Remember this, “No meditation, no blessedness”. This is like the law of gravity that you cannot ignore or defy. The law of gravity whether you like it or not is real and it is here to stay.

You may one day say you are tired of being governed by the law of gravity and decide to ignore the law of gravity, jump off from a four-story building and be like Superman. Whether you like it or not that law of gravity you ignore, and you are tired of, will still apply to you and cause you to hit the ground and wake up dead. You may not like this law of gravity, you may fight it, but the truth of the matter is, you are still bound under this law. The same is true with the way of blessedness. You may not like it, you may try other ways but there is no escaping it, there is no other way, the way of blessedness will not change. The way of blessedness is still delighting in and meditating on the Word of God.

Now, many religious groups practice meditation – Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Taoists, and Bahá'í (Khalil Green). But what is Meditation? Biblical meditation is not Eastern meditation where one empties his mind with a goal to become one with the cosmic universe. The goal is to empty one’s mind with the intention to connect with essential nature. In Eastern meditation, there are often mantras. A “mantra” is a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation.

This is the kind of mediation the hippies in the 60’s practiced. A good example of this is one of the members of the Beetles, George Harrison. Harrison composed the song “My Sweet Lord” where he used repetitive chanting of mantra in praise of the Hindu god Krishna.

Hare Krishna,

Hare Krishna

Krishna, Krishna,

Hare, Hare,

Hare Rama,

Hare Rama

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Those who practice eastern meditation use endless repetition of words or phrases to help them blank their minds out and to release oneself from conscious thinking. But that is not Biblical meditation. Biblical meditation is not emptying of one’s mind or thinking of nothing, as we shall see later. Biblical meditation is not mere lying back, listening to relaxing music, and thinking of beautiful things, like nature, flowers, ocean, beautiful birds, peace, and joy. Nothing wrong with these things but this is not what Psalm 1 is about. Biblical meditation is more than mere reading of the Bible or simply listening to a sermon. So, if Eastern meditation is not Biblical meditation, contemplating on lovely things is not Biblical Meditation, reading the Bible is not necessarily Biblical meditation, and listening to sermons is not necessarily Biblical meditation, so, what is it then?

What is Biblical Meditation?

Let’s look at the word “meditate”. Other words for meditate is “ponder”, “ruminate”, “contemplate”, “think about”. It means “to care for”, “to attend carefully”, “to give careful thought to”. You and I cannot read our Bible like we read the sports page. We may forget who won last year’s Superbowl, but we cannot afford to forget what God says. Meditation involves the mind, and your practice ought to be keep the Word of God in the forefront of your mind as much as possible. Webster defines the word “meditate”—“to focus one’s thoughts on, to reflect on, to muse, to mull over or to ponder over and calls for a definite focusing of one’s thoughts on something so as to understand it deeply. It means to engage in contemplation or reflection, focusing one's thoughts on some truth, reflecting and pondering that truth.”

The word “meditate” here literally means “to mutter”, or to repeat something to yourself. The idea is that in meditation we keep speaking the Word of God. This is different from Eastern meditation in that we don’t endless repeat meaningless words or phrase, but we repeat the very Word of God. Biblical meditation is to speak over and over the Word of God. There is a relationship between the mind and the mouth. We see this in the Scripture.

Psalm 77:11 I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. 12: I will meditate [mumbling] also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

Psalm 5:1 Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

The mouth and the mind are active and are closely related. The idea is that in meditation we keep speaking not empty words or phrases but the Word of God, and to whom do we speak God’s Word? To ourselves! Here is another difference between the Eastern meditation and Biblical meditation—in Eastern meditation, the goal in repeating a word or a phrase over and over again is to blank the minds out and to release oneself from conscious thinking. Whereas the goal of Biblical meditation in repeating the Word of God over and over again, is to fill the mind with God’s thoughts, which means the mind is active.

2 Peter 1:12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 13: Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

Before I close, let me point out that meditation is like a cow ruminating. It pictures a cow chewing her cud. Researching this, I found out that cows have one stomach with four different compartments, namely, the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, and the abomasum. Each compartment has different function. But reticulum is what will interest us most. It is here the food mixes with the cow’s saliva and produces cud. Cows burp up the cud into their mouths and chew it to help break it down more. When you see a cow that looks like she is chomping on bubble gum, really, she is chewing her cud. So, a cow eats grass as it grazes early in the morning. When the sun gets hot, it will lie under a tree, and bring up the grass from reticulum compartment into her mouth and begins to chew the cud. She chews the cud until she gets all the juice and nutrients from that cud. When she is finished, she puts it into another compartment of her stomach.

That’s what we do when we meditate, the Scripture we read this morning, the sermon we heard on Sunday, and the verses we have memorized, we bring it back and think about them over and over again until they have become part of us and permeate our thinking process. Christian meditation means to not just read the Bible or hear sermons, but to reflect upon, to chew the Word like a cow chews its cud, carefully and patiently, until they squeeze every last bit of nutrients out of the grass.

You may be saying “But I don’t know how to meditate.” I will dare say, everybody knows how to meditate. Have you ever worried? Someone has said, “If you know how to worry, then you know how to meditate.”

What is “worry”? Worry is when you take a negative idea and continue to think on it over and over. Just take those negative ideas and replace them with good and wholesome ideas such as the Word of God and you are exercising Biblical meditation. That’s what we are told by the apostle Paul in Philippians 4:6-9, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

This is what we call Christian meditation—it’s when you take a Truth from Scripture and think on it over and over. When you continually speak and think over God’s Word to yourself, the benefits will be a blessing promised in Psalm 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Closing Exhortations

God delights to bless His children. Whether you believe it or not, God wants to bless you and me. In fact, He does not just want to, He loves to! He takes pleasure in blessing us.

Psalm 35:27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

The Lord delights and takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. God’s heart is to pour us with His goodness. He delights in blessing us. As a loving earthly father whose pleasure is to shower His children with good things, so God our Heavenly Father wants us to experience the fullness of His greatness. O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him (Psalm 34:8).

Psalm 1 tells us. There is a way of blessedness, and it is only found God’s way. Those who refuse God’s way will seek it all their lives but will never find it. But those who seek blessedness God’s way will find it.

The Ultimate Proof

He wants us to be blessed, not cursed. This is why we read in John 3:16-17 these words, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

Here is the ultimate proof that God wants to bless us—God sent His only begotten Son to take upon Himself all our sins, along with our guilt and shame, so we could be made right with God. He freely gave us the gift of salvation, granted us His righteousness, freed us from eternal death, and assured us of an eternal life with Him.

Romans 8:32 says “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

Since God did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else?  Clearly, the Bible is filled with verses that affirm the truth that God wants to bless us.

Do you want God’s blessing in your life? If so, this is where you start. Don’t start at Psalm 1. Start at John 3:16 and acknowledge and believe in Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God who was sent to suffer and die for your sins and to be your only Saviour. God delights to bless, but we must be “blessable.” And to be “blessable” we must begin here. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom 10:9-13)

Then after being saved, strive to be the blessed person of Psalm chapter one.

AMEN!