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• Psalm 1 opens with the word “Blessed”—literally, happy. The Psalmist offers a vision of life as a tree—rooted, nourished, fruitful—set against the world’s competing vision of life as a race—relentless forward progress, competition, and comparison.
  
  
• If life is a race, then falling behind feels inevitable—and resentment toward God and others grows. But if life is a tree, the goal is not forward motion but strength in the present—growing deeper roots, wider branches, and steadier fruit in every season.
  
  
• The “happy of God” is available to us. It’s not easy, but it is simple. Psalm 1 shows how to receive it:
  
  
  1. The company you keep matters – Crowds and chaotic voices can immobilize you. Choosing God-centered company means leaving behind the “chorus of chaos” and its shallow measures of worth.
     
     
  2. The story you treasure matters – “The law” here means God’s instruction, His story. The happy of God grows in those who are immersed in His words—meditating on them until they shape our desires and direction.
     
     
  3. The One who keeps your company matters most – Verse 6 promises: “The Lord watches over the way of the righteous.” God sees, knows, and safeguards His people. Jesus Himself endured ultimate loneliness at the cross so our loneliness would have limits, and our connection to God would be limitless.
     
     

From this passage we see that blessing comes as: 1) rejecting the race paradigm for the tree paradigm, 2) rooting ourselves in God’s instruction and story, and 3) resting in the God who knows, keeps, and cultivates His people.

Pray
 Father, rescue me from the false paradigm of life as a race. Make me a tree—rooted in Your Word, surrounded by Your people, and kept in Your care. Thank You that Jesus endured the loneliest place so I could know the deepest connection. Let me find my happiness in You alone. Amen.