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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\u2014whatever they do prospers. \xa0Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. \xa0For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. (Psalm 1)

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Today we enter into summer rhythms of our Wilderness Wanderings. \xa0A good place to start is right where we ended in Peter\u2019s letter last week: with the theme of vaccines against lawless ways and growth in God\u2019s good ways. \xa0

Psalm 1 also draws a contrast between two ways of life, as Peter did. \xa0There is the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. \xa0It is reminiscent of Moses and Joshua setting two ways before the people in days of old\u2014the way of life and the way of death\u2014with the injunction: \u201cnow choose life!\u201d

This question is set before us all throughout the Psalter as the wicked are contemplated and the righteous too. \xa0What separates them? \xa0Why do the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer? \xa0What does God mean by the \u201cway of life\u201d and \u201cfruitfulness,\u201d even and especially in times of hardship, sorrow, evil and enemies? \xa0In the Psalter we are confronted even with dark and painful expressions of faith in lament, like Psalm 88, that makes no turn back to God at all and yet somehow remains on the faithful path of the righteous.\xa0

The psalm paints fruitful trees by waters on the one hand, and chaff without substance or life on the other. \xa0Mind you\u2014this is not always or even often the way that things look. \xa0As noted above, the Psalms often speak of the prosperity of the wicked and the hardship of the righteous. \xa0So this Psalm does not describe our experience in the way it appears, but does describe reality as it really is\u2014a reality that can only be seen and experienced through the eyes of faith by the one who meditates on the scriptures.

The wicked gain much as they transgress boundaries of Sabbath, speed, and relationship. \xa0But don\u2019t be fooled: they aren\u2019t putting down roots, nor is their life bearing the kind fruit that generates stability or life in the kingdom of God. \xa0They are only as good as the next economic cycle or the fortunes of a particular political regime. \xa0Chaff in the wind. \xa0Substance, rootedness, generativity, and life are found only in God: a meditation on his way, an exclusive use of his means, a keeping of his boundaries.

The picture is that of a fruit tree planted by an irrigation ditch\u2014this is the literal meaning of the phrase \u201cstreams of water\u201d in Hebrew. \xa0Even though most of the holy land is pretty dry and arid most of the time and its streams intermittent with the rains\u2014a tree with access to an irrigation canal receives refreshing waters consistently, in all seasons, regardless of the storms and droughts of life.

So: Blessed is that one who is nourished upon and lives the law of the Lord: there is a rhythm to their lives like the seasonal rhythm of a cultivated, well cared-for tree. \xa0Rooted in God, we find the nutrients that enable us to live fruitfully, rhythmically, and fully this life we\u2019ve been given. \xa0Drinking from His waters of life build the muscles of our mind, heart, body, and soul to react in the attentive ways of righteousness and love, rather than in the greedy, lustful, cruel, prideful, self-righteous, or escapist ways that can otherwise become easily our default.

To that end, our devotional life is better thought of as a life devoted. \xa0It\u2019s not only Bible reading and prayer\u2014it is a life devoted to the love of the Lord and His ways. \xa0Blessed is that one who devotes all their life and living to him.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you.\xa0
May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.