Week 1: Day 5
Join Martin for the final reflection of the week - beginning our journey through the psalms with Psalm 1.
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither — whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Intro: Hello and welcome to the last Orbit in this first week. Each weekday we're giving you a short reflection from the Bible, to help you put God at the centre of your life. I'm Martin Saunders, and I lead the team at Satellites - a new event for teenagers launching this August.
Bible: On Fridays each week we're going to do something slightly different, and look at part of a Psalm - the amazing book of songs at the centre of the Bible. Today we're starting at the beginning, with Psalm 1. I'm going to read verses 1-4, but you might want to look at the whole thing later on.
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Thoughts: Like every great movie franchise in history, the story of the Bible offers two clear paths through life. You can be a Jedi, or you can join the Sith. You can root for the Avengers, or decide that actually, Thanos had some pretty good ideas. Darkness or light - good or evil. The choice is ours.
In this spiritual song or Psalm, the writer is very clearly drawing the division between goodies and baddies. The big line in the middle is the attitude that people take towards God - they either decide to follow him and give him a central place in their lives, or they choose instead to follow the path of what the Bible calls 'sin'. It's a weird old word, sin, but it basically means choosing those things that aren't good, or of God. Hurting other people; being really selfish; breaking and destroying rather than building up. We're familiar with the idea of evil in our world, even if we don't like the words very much.
Still - it's our choice whether we're with Harry Potter, or Lord Voldemort, so to speak. To help us decide, the writer of this Psalm explains the benefits and drawbacks involved. If we put God first, we're like "a tree planted by streams of water... whatever we do prospers." But by comparison, the wicked are "like chaff that the wind blows away." And if we read a bit more of the Bible, it seems that this is really a choice between living for today, or receiving the gift of eternal life. Doesn't feel like a tough choice to me.
The Psalm describes the 'blessed' person as someone "whose delight is in the law" or the way of God. And the key thing that they seem to do is "meditate on his law day and night". I don't think this means that God wants us to constantly read the Old Testament, but perhaps it is suggesting that we spend some time each day thinking about his goodness. Psychologists have proved that spending time each day reflecting on the things we're thankful for can make a massive difference to our well-being. What better thing to be thankful for than God's love for us, and his promise that we get to live forever.
Pray: Father God, I pray that you would help me to be grateful, and to reflect on everything good that I know about you. I thank you that you call me blessed because I follow you. I thank you that you promise to prosper me and look after me. Amen
Silence: There's now just a few moments of silence for you to pray, reflect on these ideas, or simply sit and be still.
Action: Every day on Orbit we give you a simple practical challenge to help you put this passage into action in your life. Here's today's:
I mentioned just now that psychologists talk about the value of counting the things that we are thankful for each day. Some people have embraced a practice called "three good things", where every day, they write down… well you get the idea. Today, write down three things that you are thankful for at the end of the day. Try to make at least one of them about more than just a momentary pleasure that you felt while eating a doughnut. See if at least one of them can be a good thing that you've realised about God and his love for you.
Outro: That's it for today's Orbit. Thanks so much for joining us - and well done especially if you did it every day this week. There will be a brand new presenter back on Monday with another series of reflections. I hope to see you in the Summer at Satellites!