I’m going to start something new in Sunday School class this week. We’re going to memorize Psalm 1.\u00a0 What better way to keep God’s Word in our hearts than than to read it by day and meditate in it by night. Music makes that easier, so here is a hymn based on Psalm 1 written by Isaac Watts and included in “The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts”, printed in 1997 by Soli Deo Gloria Publications.<\/p>\n
BLESS’D is the man who shuns the place
\nWhere sinners love to meet;
\nWho fears to tread their wicked ways,
\nAnd hates the scoffer’s seat:<\/p>\nBut in the statutes of the Lord
\nHas placed his chief delight;
\nBy day he reads or hears the word,
\nAnd meditates by night.<\/p>\n[He, like a plant of gen’rous kind,
\nBy living waters set,
\nSafe from the storms and blasting wind,
\nEnjoys a peaceful state.]<\/p>\nGreen as the leaf, and ever fair,
\nShall his profession shine;
\nWhile fruits of holiness appear
\nLike clusters on the Vine.<\/p>\nNot so the impious and unjust;
\nWhat vain designs they form!
\nTheir hopes are blown away like dust,
\nOr chaff before the storm.<\/p>\nSinners in judgment shall not stand
\nAmongst the sons of grace,
\nWhen Christ, the Judge, at His right hand
\nAppoints his saints a place.<\/p>\nHis eye beholds the path they tread,
\nHis heart approves it well;
\nBut crooked ways of sinners lead
\nDown to the gates of hell.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHere’s the text of Psalm 1 (HCSB)<\/em>:<\/p>\n
How happy is the\u00a0man
\nwho does not follow the\u00a0advice of\u00a0the\u00a0wicked
\nor take the path of\u00a0sinners
\nor join a group of\u00a0mockers!
\nInstead, his delight is in\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u2019s instruction,
\nand he meditates on it day and\u00a0night.
\nHe is like a tree planted beside\u00a0streams of\u00a0water
\nthat bears its fruit in\u00a0season
\nand whose leaf does\u00a0not\u00a0wither.
\nWhatever he does prospers.<\/p>\nThe wicked are not like\u00a0this;
\ninstead, they are like\u00a0chaff that\u00a0the\u00a0wind blows\u00a0away.
\nTherefore the wicked will\u00a0not\u00a0survive the\u00a0judgment,
\nand sinners will not be in\u00a0the\u00a0community of\u00a0the\u00a0righteous.<\/p>\nFor the Lord watches over the\u00a0way of\u00a0the\u00a0righteous,
\nbut the way of\u00a0the\u00a0wicked leads\u00a0to\u00a0ruin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nand from the ESV:<\/p>\n
Blessed is the man
\nwho walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
\nnor stands in the way of sinners,
\nnor sits in the seat of scoffers;
\nbut his delight is in the law of the Lord,
\nand on His law he meditates day and night.<\/p>\nHe is like a tree
\nplanted by streams of water
\nthat yields its fruit in its season,
\nand its leaf does not wither.
\nIn all that he does, he prospers.
\nThe wicked are not so,
\nbut are like chaff that the wind drives away.<\/p>\nTherefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
\nnor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
\nfor the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
\nbut the way of the wicked will perish.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’m going to start something new in Sunday School class this week. We’re going to memorize Psalm 1.\u00a0 What better way to keep God’s Word in our hearts than than to read it by day and meditate in it by night. Music makes that easier, so here is a hymn based on Psalm 1 written… <\/p>\n