Week 17: Psalm 1:3-4

Psalm 1:3,4:  He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers.  The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

1. The Blessed Man, the one that spends all day and night meditating on the Word, is solid and prosperous.  A tree by water grows strong and lives long, which is worth noting; in fact, fact its leaf doesn't wither indicates the tree lives eternally.  How does one live forever?  He follows Jesus Christ, washing in His blood and submitting his life solely to Him.
2. Contrasting the Blessed Man is the Wicked Man.  Where the blessed have eternal life, the wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away.  Chaff is lightweight trash, discarded husks from corn or other crops.  This is not what we want to be, especially knowing that we can drink from the Spring of Life and live forever.  Even so, there are wicked--I'm thinking those that don't meditate on the Word and scoff at Christ--and they have a determined fate: eternity without God.

This has me thinking about how we even define a wicked person in modern times.  With David it was obvious.  He had enemies.  People that wanted to kill him and take his throne.  We, for the most part, don't have enemies, at least not people that want to harm us.  So who are our wicked?  Who are our enemies?  I suppose it's those that are not in Christ, even though we typically don't think this way.  And Jesus told us to love our enemies and to pray for them.  Interesting stuff.