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PSALM 1:2 “BUT HIS DELIGHT IS IN THE LAW OF THE LORD, AND IN HIS LAW DOTH HE MEDITATE DAY AND NIGHT.” (KJV, NKJV, NIV, NASB, RSV)
“But they delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on his laws and thinking about ways to follow him more closely.” (TLB)
Hey! We already memorized a verse and talked about delight in Book 2. I think it was Chapter 34, Psalm 37:4, my wife, Cheryl’s favorite verse. “Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart.” That isn’t Cheryl in the left picture above, but I can certainly imagine her running through the field, hands lifted high praising Jesus. Probably what she is doing in heaven now. I can’t wait to see that!
More likely, that is me as a kid in the picture in the middle. I like to think of me as a happy kid, taking great joy from reading the Bible like him. Unfortunately, that isn’t me. And honestly, I was more of a moody, self-centered kid who occasionally fought with my little brothers than I was that joyous. Now my brother Dan has lots of photos of him that happy. I just wanted to win at everything and be the best. Not a lot of delight in that.
Most of us, I’m sure, would readily admit that we spend a lot of our lives seeking after joy and, more often than not, come up short of finding it. Even as Christians, we aren’t always the happiest people on earth. That really shouldn’t be.
Maybe it was because David had so much time out in fields, nothing to do but tend sheep, under the stars at night, somehow enjoying the presence of God. He sure wrote a lot of songs/Psalms about that. He seems like the kind of person who would be considered an authority on delight.
We don’t know how David came to know God so intimately, but we know that he did. His heart was tuned to God. So much so that, in Acts 13:22 Paul testified that God found David, “a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.” It’s kind of funny. In 1 Samuel 13:14, when Samuel is telling Saul that God has rejected him, he explains his kingdom would not continue because, “The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart” and God knew that man was not King Saul.
Psalm 1:1 taught us three things that were definite characteristics of a blessed man: he didn’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly, he didn’t stand where sinners stand and he didn’t sit scornfully. That is good guidance for what NOT to do. Here in verse two, we learn what the blessed man will do: “delight in the law of the Lord.”
I have read the law. I took law classes at the Academy. I have to admit, I can’t say I have ever delighted in the law. It is a lot of reading and most laws rely on established precedents and cases in the past. Boring. I can’t say I enjoy reading God’s laws He passed to Moses and the Israelites that much either. I follow them, I believe in them, but I do not take great joy in meditating on them. Surely, we are talking about something more than just the law of Moses.
You know me…I rarely rely on any verse from the Living Bible. It is commonly a paraphrased version of the cannon Scriptures and sometimes doesn’t really capture the doctrine being taught. However, in this example, I think they may have struck onto a more real truth in the way that we treat Psalm 1:2. “But they delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on his laws and thinking about ways to follow him more closely.”
The blessed man doesn’t just relish in the ten commandments, or all the scores of Jewish laws of the Old Testament, nor even Jesus’ own “new commandment I give unto you.” I see the blessed man as one who delights in what the laws mean, delights in the giver of those laws, delights in seeking to please the Lord and follow Him more closely. When we focus on Jesus day and night, the worries and pressures of the world just kind of fade away in comparison. When we delight in the giver of the law in every avenue of our lives and when we meditate on Him and His words, day and night, we can certainly find the delight this Psalm talks about.
As I grew up as a kid, I had an experience every year, during the summer months which provided strong contrast to the rest of the year. Like so many other kids before me, and still doing so today, I loved going to Bethel Youth Camp. In the scorching hot July summer days, despite sleeping in the hot dorms (they are air conditioned now!) and sweating through all the activities in the summer afternoons, there was the richest blessings of the evening services in the tabernacle.
We came to the tabernacle every evening expecting the Holy Spirit to move on us, through the singing, the preaching and through a lot of time seeking His face at the altar. Without fail, the Lord always met us there. Just like we sought, He filled us with His Holy Spirit and made us different than we were the rest of the year. I delighted in that!
During those days, I can see how we delighted in the presence of the Lord, we lived faithfully by some of those “laws” we may have disregarded back home and earnestly sought to please Him meditate on His ways and learn ways to follow Him more closely. I think that is probably what David was writing about at the beginning of the Psalms.
Oh, how blessed we felt as we returned home with great testimonies of how we had “caught on fire” for Jesus. We all had the same testimonies about how quickly that fire seemed to dim in us as we returned to our homes, schools and the same way of living…pledging to live for Him and never lose that fire!
For a brief time, that moody, self-centered kid learned that it was possible to delight in the Lord all day long and dwell on His truths and presence all day and all night. One would think that, as we grow older and have more time living the Christ-centered life, we would learn how to more successfully live that Psalm 1:2 “delight” all the time. Of course, you know…sometimes we do, and sometimes we don’t. That doesn’t change the secret though. If we can delight in the Lord instead of the next TV show, the next athletic competition, the next video game or entertainment…we might find the blessedness of true joy, true delight.
It is amazing how quickly we can let the world’s dictates of how we are supposed to live, respond to one another and share love drive out God’s way. There are still occasions where I can find myself meditating on the Lord, day and night, as the Psalmist recommends. Frankly, that is the only way I truly find the Lord’s joy. And in the midst of that joy that comes all too infrequently, I find the Lord is right there, ready to comfort any sorrows, heal any pains, speak to me “friend to friend,” like He promises in the Scriptures to do.
If you’ve never had that relationship with Him, I encourage you to seek it. He wants it with you too. If it has been a long time since you remember delighting in Him all day and all night, put the world on hold and spend lots of quality time with Him. He is waiting for you there. It isn’t the silly, all-too-temporary joy that occasionally comes from some excitement or some casual relationship. It is the honest, “one-on-one” friendship that can only come from Him. You need that kind of delight! Give it a try.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Questions to consider: Why do we find it so easy to meditate on the things of the world and leave Jesus out of the picture? How long has it been since you remember feeling the utter joy that Jesus brings to those who love Him? Is it possible to love Jesus and draw closer to Him than anyone else you have ever known? If you have felt this joy from Him, what could possibly make us ever want anything else? Have you yet experienced that close comfort from Him when confronted with the loss of a loved one or some severe failure in your life? What did Jesus mean when He said He would be a “Friend who stick closer than a brother?”
Scriptures to study: Psalm 37:4 Proverbs 18:24, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Deuteronomy 31:6 “…the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) Psalm 119:47 “I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love.” Romans 7:22 “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.”
Song to Remember: Psalms 1:1-3 Blessed is the man | Scripture Songs for Kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZIGHwdYUEw
 
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