Mediation on Psalm 1

I was reading and meditating on Psalm 1 over the last couple of weeks.

Psalm 1:1-6 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!  (2)  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.  (3)  And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.  (4)  The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.  (5)  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.  (6)  For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.

Tonight it kind of hit me that verses 3-6 are a picture of things to come.  Verse 3 says that whatever a righteous person does will prosper.  This is not a proof text for the Name it and Claim it gospel.  We are not promised prosperity if we follow Christ.  Just the opposite, in 2 Tim 3:12 and other passages we are promised persecutions and trials.  Jesus even told us that we are blessed if we are persecuted for righteousness sake (Mt 5:10-12).

Verse 3 can be a picture of our final reward in Heaven.  We will be like a tree planted by streams of water.  As John Gill writes

…here such an one is compared to a tree “planted”; not to one that grows of itself, a wild tree, a tree of the wood; but to one that is removed from its native place and soil, and planted elsewhere; and so designs such who are broken off of the wild olive tree, and are grafted into the good olive tree; who are planted in Christ Jesus, and in the church, the house of the Lord…

As we can see a future reward for God’s elect we can also see a future punishment for the wicked in verses 4-6.  We see a word picture here of chaff.  If we think of Jesus’ parable of the wheat and tares we see a picture of the chaff being burned in the final judgement when all of our actions will be laid bare and Christ will judge us.