Dear Reader,

In a world thick with darkness—where the loudest voices counsel compromise, the crowd rewards the cynic, and the broad road leads only to loss—Psalm 1 still issues its quiet, counter-cultural call. It echoes the same truth spoken by the prophets and fulfilled in Christ: that those who delight in the Lord’s instruction, meditating on it day and night, become like trees planted by streams of living water, bearing fruit in season while the chaff is driven away. This is not a summons to withdraw from the world, but to live as light within it—rooted in the Word, sustained by the One who knows the way of the righteous, and unmoved by the wind that scatters everything else. May these lines draw you back to the only stream that never runs dry.

— The Poet

Psalm 1 (Amplified)

Blessed—happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable—is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked [following their advice and example],

nor stand in the path of sinners,

nor sit down to rest in the seat of scoffers and mockers.

But his complete delight and desire are in the law of the Lord,

and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.

And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in its season;

its leaf does not wither;

and in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity].

Not so the wicked [those who live in rebellion against God].

They are like chaff [worthless, dead, without substance] which the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand [and be justified] in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous [those who are upright and in right standing with God].

For the Lord knows and fully approves the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish [and come to destruction].

Sonnet

Blessed is the one who will not walk the road

Where wicked counsel leads the heart astray,

Nor stand with sinners in their dark abode,

Nor sit with scoffers in their idle play.

Instead, the law of God becomes delight,

A quiet fire that burns both day and night;

Like trees beside a river, deep and bright,

Whose leaves stay green and fruit arrives in light.

In every season such a life will thrive,

While all it touches prospers and grows strong.

The wicked are not so—mere chaff they live,

Scattered by wind and gone before too long.

The Lord sustains the path the righteous keep;

The way of sinners ends in dust and sleep.