A Sigh of Relief at the Sight of Jesus
The floor of the heatless metal building is covered with green turf. Batting cage nets hang from the ceiling, and all the baseball gear is moved to the corners of the room. In a building constructed for batting practice, men of all ages gather each week to practice following Jesus together.
The teaching focus of this particular Wednesday night gathering was Psalm 1.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 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. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
I think everyone, if given a moment to think, knows what kind of person they want to be. There is an image of a perfect person they aspire to become, and it is usually not the one that stares back at you in the mirror. If I could sum it up in two words, the ideal person we aspire to would be more and better. You want to be more patient, a better mom or dad, more kind, a better husband or wife, more intentional, and a better Christian. But the truth is, there always appears to be a gap between reality and hope. It can be frustrating. Maybe you know what I’m talking about.
I grew up aspiring to be the man in Psalm 1. It was a staple passage in our youth group. The thought of being a man immovable, as a sturdy, fruit-bearing tree by a river, gave me a tangible goal. While the ominous pictures of the wicked and their fate provided the anti-goal.
Many men that night read the Psalm in the same way as I understood it in my youth. The only problem was that the aspirations of my younger self and the men in that room always ran into the brick wall of reality. No matter how hard we try, we cannot achieve the status of the blessed man of Psalm 1, at least, not on our own.
At First, the Blessed Man Isn’t Me
In Psalm 1, we are introduced to the ambiguous blessed man. Psalm 1 begins with a beatitude, conferring a blessing on this man who lives out what is written. This blessed man is resolute. He does not allow the influence of the wicked to derail his direction. His way is not tainted by the sins of those around him; instead, he delights in the Word of God. There is always life to be found in this man; anyone who comes close reaps the benefits of the fruit of his life and work. The Lord knows this man intimately, and he will never perish. Who would not want to be like him?
But we can’t stop here because there’s more to his story.
Psalms 1 and 2 are meant to go together like a book-matched walnut table. If you read them together, you’ll see that these two Psalms are describing the same person. However, it is not you or me. At least not at first. The blessed man of Psalm 1 is one and the same as the Anointed One, the King, and the Son of Psalm 2. Commentor Peter Lombard writes, “The subject matter of this psalm is the same as that found within the whole book, namely the whole Christ” (quoted in Bruce K. Waltke, James M. Houston, and Erika Moore, The Psalms as Christian Worship, 119). I am not the hero figure of Psalm 1—Jesus is.
The gospel teaches me that I have no righteousness of my own, no Edenesque peace with God by nature, and no personal blessedness to cling to. Before I have any hope of being like the man of Psalm 1, I have to take refuge in the God-man who fulfilled the Psalm, Jesus Christ. Through his life, death, and resurrection, he has achieved the more and better I aspire to. As we take refuge in Jesus, we are planted in him and will produce fruit that looks like his. Why? Because it is his fruit—our branches on the vine of Christ will be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:11). We will walk in the counsel of the wise, stand in the company of the blessed, and sit in the congregation of the righteous. Our delight will be transformed into Jesus’s delight, as we one day will be transformed into his likeness, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). What a relief.
When It Clicks
You could hear the moment it clicked for the men that night. At first, it was the “ah” of realization. That turned into the breathy sigh of relief. The first two Psalms are not in the Bible to provide us with a goal to achieve. Instead, they point us to the Anointed One, the King, and the Son who already achieved the blessed life described in the text. Jesus has so perfectly completed this portrait of the blessed man that there’s no need for us to add our crayon-like attempts to draw ourselves into the picture. (We can’t keep it inside the lines, anyway.) Jesus, in all his perfection, is both the more and the better we’re looking for. We are safe in him as our refuge and hope.
The men’s sigh of relief—is similar to what I imagine the two on the road to Emmaus felt after Jesus explained how he was the fulfillment of the old covenant hope. Jesus is the more and the better man. He is everything we were meant to be—and more! And the first two Psalms provide us with a picture of Jesus as the blessed man, the Anointed King, the Son of God, and the pathway for our safety—as we take refuge in him. Thankfully, that’s not where the story ends for us.
Being Blessed in the Blessed Man
The first verse of Psalm 1 tells us, “Blessed is the man,” and the last line of Psalm 2 tells us, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” There is a blessing involved for those who take refuge in Jesus. Through Christ, we have now entered the “congregation of the righteous.” And we carry with us the blessed status of sons and daughters of God.
As we read Psalm 1 and 2 afresh, in the greater context of the whole Bible, another passage might come to mind: Matthew 5. Here, Jesus pronounces blessings on certain kinds of people; the poor in spirit, the hungry and thirsty, those who mourn, and the meek and merciful. These beatitudes have a different flavor than the beatitude found in the first Psalm, but they do give us a window into the heart of the refuge seekers in the beatitude at the end of the second Psalm. These people are aware of their need for a refuge, for safety and security. They are aware in the most fundamental way that they are not enough. Yet, amazingly, Jesus promises blessing. In Christ, and by his Spirit, we have been given a new path to walk. Jesus himself is with us as we walk this new path and pursue this blessed life in him.
I can never be a blessed man until I take refuge in the man of Calvary. Only then do I share in his blessedness. Jesus is the blessed man; in him alone, I receive every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Rather than starting each day striving under the anxiety of achievement, I can start every day with a sigh of relief. Jesus lived the life of blessing so that I might enjoy the blessing through my union with him. The blessed man, Jesus, makes sinners righteous, weak people stable, and needy people satisfied. What a relief.