Week 1 Psalm 1
The last verse of the psalm says: the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
It sounds pretty straightforward but I figure I could make it a bit simpler for myself. For instance:
“The way of righteous people leads to life
The way of evil people leads to death”
That seems like a clearer way to write up the basic principle. It’s nicely balanced. And it’s still a legitimate bible idea. But that’s not how David wrote it. He complicated – and unbalanced – it a bit by including the idea of the Watching-Lord:
The Lord watches over the way of the righteous
But the way of the wicked will perish.
I could link-up David’s ideas with mine:
The Lord watches over the way of the righteous
The way of righteous people leads to life
The Lord also watches over the way of wicked people
The way of the wicked will perish.
But whatever modifying I could do with it I’m still getting reminded that the psalms are both nice & simple and not so nice & simple.
I’m glad about their nice simplicities but don’t want to be fooled into thinking that’s all there are.
I think of the psalms as a primer…but they’re a primer for Living Like a Sage.
The psalms are both what they are on the surface and also a little more than that in the sub-surface.
Note: quote from Psalm 1:6 (NIV)