Blessed Is the Man

God has poured out so many blessings upon us it would be literally impossible to count them all.  There are many blessings that are visible.  We could take the short cut on some of those and just be thankful for creation.  That, however, would really be a cop out.  What is it about creation that makes us feel really blest?  Do we include our family in creation?  Do we include or pets?  Some seem so indifferent to the multiple ways that we are blessed with creation that they just flippantly say, “Well, I’m thankful for creation”?   

What about other things we are thankful for?  How about the things that are intangible, are we thankful for them?  Can they be simply summed up as being thankful for intangibles?  Which intangible are we most thankful for? 

We can move to another category for things by which we are blessed.  How about spiritual blessings?  Do we find ourselves thinking of them at the top of our list of blessings?  Paul said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3)  How many spiritual blessings can we name and our thankful for? 

One that we need to not only be thankful for, but to actively participate in, is found in Psalm 1.  “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scorners; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.”  The psalms begin a paean of praise to God for His abundant blessings and will continue to do so for the next 150 psalms.  Those blessings include the visible, the intangible and the spiritual.  The psalmist reminds us right up front that those blessings begin with seeing and knowing God in His word and in following His leading and obeying that same word. 

A paraphrase of Psalm 1 is a good way to start our week on the blessings of the Word.

1.      Blessed is the man who puts his trust in Thee

The paths of sin he will not take, the scoffer’s seat will flee              Refrain

Refrain:   Yes, blessed is the man who puts his trust in God

                 He makes his way secure below, the streets of gold will trod                  

2.      He shall be a tree beside the rivers deep

His leaves will be forever green, his fruit eternal keep                      Refrain   

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