Dave's Diary

Today we begin a new 6-week “Season in the Psalms”. Each day there’ll be two Psalms to read. The first (on which the devotional thought will be based) will be the daily Psalm from our Bible Reading Plan, and the second will be the Psalm for the coming Sunday.

Daily Reading: Psalm 1 and Psalm 23

“¹ Blessed is the one…
² … whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on His law day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2)

This sentence is the positive heart of Psalm 1. Leaving aside all the ways the Psalmist says the “blessed one” does not behave, and all the promises he or she will receive, the heart of the Psalm is that the one who is truly blessed delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. As Philippians 4:8-9 promises in the New Testament, here in the Old Testament Psalm 1 promises that filling our minds and our hearts with the Word of God will mediate wonderful blessings to us.

So, as this 6-week season unfolds, I invite you today to begin the journey of meditating on and even memorising the Psalms we will be delving into in our Sunday Sermons. This way they will truly become food to your soul, and a source of tremendous blessing. This week it’s Psalm 23, and today I invite you to memorise and meditate on v.1-2:

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.“

Commit those lines to memory now. Then throughout the day repeat them to yourself whenever you have a quiet moment. When you’re preparing food, driving, walking up a corridor or down the street, visiting the loo, etc. these lines should constantly be on repeat in your mind. At the same time, open your heart and allow the Holy Spirit to start ministering to you through your meditation on the Word. Simply repeat and ponder on these lines, like a sheep chewing the cud, or a tree slowly soaking up the fresh water by which it is planted.

And as we do so throughout this season, we’ll discover ourselves receiving the blessings promised in Psalm 1. Here we go …

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.“

Lord, be a Shepherd to me today. Please provide for me, please nourish me, please refresh me with the living water of Your Spirit and Your Word. Amen.