My dad used to send me out trick-or-treating for Halloween, and then whenever he saw me eating some of my stash, he’d tell me I was going to get worms in my stomach. Go figure…
Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; 21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: (Proverbs 1:20-21 ESV)
Every culture teaches its own wisdom either for good or for evil, either freely or for pay. Parents come first to mind within the culture of homes. The American culture generally abounds with offers of wisdom for pay: secrets of obtaining wealth, secrets of losing weight, secrets of building confidence, and so forth. Then there are cultures of evil, which often require initiation rites to test the novice’s loyalty, to exact a payment, or to acquire incriminating evidence to hold over the initiate’s head as a threat if the person decides later to leave. Think fraternities or Oliver Twist or gangs. Movies provide many examples of cultures of crime that exact payment of one sort or another from initiates. God’s culture is different than all these.
Within the Psalter and the Bible as a whole, God claims to be the creator, owner, and ruler of everything. The Psalter offers a culture of wisdom, God’s wisdom, for those desiring to join his team, as it were, or to place themselves under his protection. Psalm 1 teaches wisdom in much the same way as Proverbs 1:20-21, quoted above. There we learn that God’s wisdom exacts no initiation fee from the novice, it is offered to everyone, it is not secretive or hidden, it seeks to give to all, and it presents itself in places where it is likely to be found. In other words, in the body of psalms, God shares his wisdom freely with all. Psalm 1 states in the clearest language possible the simple wisdom of God, the beginning and end of all things human, and how to survive the final judgment.
Think of a mountain high in heaven and picture a spring of clear, cold, fresh, pure water bubbling up from God as its source. The water from the spring forms a stream which flows down the mountain giving water to everything it meets. This is the position of Psalm 1 at the head of the Psalter. It lays the foundation of the psalms and tells the final outcome. Everyone seeking God’s wisdom, the wisdom that leads to a prosperous and fruitful life, should begin here.
These are the principles of Psalm 1:
- God exists and is all-powerful.
- God is good and his path leads to blessing.
- God is just and does not reward those who go against him.
Psalm 1 breathes out Proverbs 1:7–
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (ESV)
Psalm 1 is an invitation to enter into the presence of God, to drink deeply from his waters of instruction, and to travel the flow of his river to its final destination of happiness forever. God gives to all who come to him.
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