God’s Way of Wisdom
When you think of a 'blessed life,' what come to mind? Is it getting the job promotion or having a prayer answered exactly the way you wanted? We tend to connect positive circumstances to being "blessed" by God. But Psalm 1 tells us a different story. It tells us that we can experience true "blessedness"—regardless of our circumstances—by simply knowing and trusting God.
In this week’s episode, we’re meditating on some of the wisdom psalms and learning from them how we can grow in wisdom ourselves. The wisdom that is described in the Psalms is this: trusting and delighting in God and his Word. We’ll talk about wisdom as a whole and also deep dive into three wisdom psalms to see what they can teach us about delighting in God as well as where we can see Christ in these psalms. We pray this episode encourages you to pursue the true wisdom and blessedness that is found in being like a tree planted by a stream, rooted and drinking deeply of the steadfast character and knowledge of God.
WISDOM PSALMS OVERVIEW
The wisdom psalms are characterized by their teaching posture, and the way they usher the reader toward reflection. Many of them include teaching on what is “true wisdom,” on God’s law, and on the righteous and the wicked.
The book of Psalms starts by laying a foundation for the way of wisdom—which we’ll see is found in simply delighting in God and his Word.
This true wisdom and blessedness that Psalm 1 describes doesn’t come from our circumstances (in fact it often can come through our very difficult and unwanted circumstances). It comes in knowing who God is as declared in his Word—a God of unchanging goodness, unending sovereignty, and unwavering holiness. It comes in being (like Psalm 1 describes) like a tree planted by a stream, rooted and drinking deeply of the steadfast character and knowledge of God.
It’s only when we truly see our state—despondent, dark, dead—that we see the breadth of beauty that is the gospel. The gospel has the power to bring us from death to life; the Spirit breathes life into our empty lungs and offers us, through Christ, life forever with God.
We can celebrate that salvation has come! It has come in Christ, who was with God in heaven (looking down, as the psalm says, and seeing the children of man who had turned away), who chose to enter in to a human frame, who lived obediently to the Father, died on a cross for sinners, and rose again to secure our eternity with him.
“Nothing can compare with the blessedness, the fruitfulness, the flourishing, the prospering, the delightfulness, of a life saturated with the Word of God.” - Dane Ortlund
The wisdom psalms usher us toward trust and toward delighting in God’s Word, but most beautifully they point us to wisdom embodied: Christ himself.
In Psalm 1, Christ is the ultimate picture of the blessed man. He is the righteous one we can look to as an example for how to walk in obedience, to reject temptation, and to delight in the law of the Lord. He is the one who models the fact that true blessedness comes from walking (even through trial and difficulty) in relationship with God. He is the living water (John 7), a river by whom we can plant ourselves so that we can be trees that flourish and yield fruit in season. It is in relationship with him that we find true prospering, true blessedness.
In Psalm 14 we see that none is righteous apart from Christ, and that true wisdom comes with understanding the depths of our sin, the ways we have fallen short of God’s glory… and in trusting that we are fully justified by the abundant grace of God, the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3).
In Psalm 119, we are reminded of the beauty and importance of God’s Word, and we can rejoice knowing that we can have an intimate relationship with the Word—the Word made flesh (John 1:14). We know that every word of Scripture took on hands and feet in the person of Jesus, and that in him we can experience true flourishing.
Friend, may you seek the wisdom that is found in simply trusting God and believing his Word. May you ask boldly for wisdom from the Lord, because he delights in giving it to his beloved people. May you rest in the One who is true wisdom itself, and in whom true wisdom is found—Jesus Christ. May you hunger for God’s Word and come to love it more and more. And as you continue to seek God in his Word, may you come to more deeply know him and love him.
RESOURCES
In the Lord I Take Refuge: 150 Daily Devotions Through the Psalms
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
When you think of a 'blessed life,' what specific things come to mind?
If your home, your job, your health, your church, or your family were taken away tonight, would you still think you could live a life of "blessedness"?
What might it look like to experience this true “blessedness” that Psalm 1 describes?
In what ways do you feel the tension between your own brokenness and the brokenness of our world and the hope that you experience in the gospel?
The way of wisdom is delighting in and trusting God and his Word. In what areas of your life are you struggling to delight in God and his Word?
Spend a moment confessing that to the Lord, and ask him to give you a greater hunger for it and deeper trust in it.
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IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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