The Lord Is Near 2026 is now available for purchase on Believer’s Bookself Canada Website Learn more →
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper … For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 1:1–3, 6 NKJV
Jesus, the Son of Man, is here presented in His personal holiness and integrity, and then in His rewards, as the “tree planted by the rivers of water” (cf. Jer. 17:7–8). These rewards awaited Jesus in His resurrection, and will still await Him in His kingdom, or the “judgment,” and there the righteous will share His rewards and the wicked be no more.
This psalm is very soothing to the soul. It is the godly man in the care and leading of God, whom we see before us. No other intrudes to disturb the rest and security of the righteous one; but on he goes, in his proper undistracted path, to his reward.
And it is gracious to see this book, which is the great depository of the exercises of the soul, open with so tender and soothing a picture as this, the godly man’s portion in the favor of the Lord, finding his happiness there. And our souls should ever move on in the like happiness.
The Israel of the last days, the godly remnant, will have their place here also (Gal. 6:16; Rom. 11:12, 15).
Father, how precious unto Thee
Is Thy beloved Son,
In whom Thou dost perfection see,
Thy holy, blessed One!
When He in flesh the desert passed,
He loved to do Thy will;
His food it was, through to the last,
Thy pleasure to fulfill.