16th August 2026

Experiencing the Psalms 4 – 16/08/26 (Psalms 1, 15, and 133)

We’ve been looking at the Psalms and our next group, the three that we’ve just had read to us, are all basically about WISDOM, the wisdom of centering our lives on God’s word, the wisdom of living the way children of God should, and the wisdom of living in Christian unity.

Psalm 1, verse 1"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers " What an amazing way to start the whole book of Psalms. Whether walking, standing or sitting, it says Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, so much so that he meditates on it day and night.

By placing this one first, the person, or people, who put together the Book of Psalms are suggesting that the whole Psalter is, a bit like Proverbs, basically a book of wisdom, containing instruction for God's faithful.

God gave the same instruction to Joshua just after Moses died: "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." (Joshua 1:8)

Take the very first word, for example. "Blessed" There are apparently two Hebrew verbs that mean "to bless", one is used more to refer to God's undeserved blessing, the other, this one, expresses more the idea of the natural blessing that comes from a life lived for God.

Being "prosperous and successful" isn’t prospering in the sense of getting rich, it’s prospering in the sense of accomplishing satisfactorily what is intended.

This psalm then goes on to make an beautiful poetic comparison between a fruit-bearing tree planted by the water, and chaff.

It’s not difficult for us at the moment, when the fields and road verges are all brown and thirsty, much like the arid climate of Israel, to picture a vigorous fruit tree planted next to a water course, full of green leaves and abundant fruit, no matter how hot and dry the summer. So long as the water keeps flowing, the water of God's word, and his ongoing care, the tree will be healthy.

Psalm 92 paints a similar word picture:
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green....

But “not so the wicked” going back to psalm 1. “They are like chaff
that the wind blows away."

Chaff is a paper-thin membrane that surrounds a grain of wheat and needs to be removed for the grain to be usable.  Very briefly, what they would do was to roll something over the grain to break off the chaff and then, on a breezy day, they’d throw it all up in the air so that the useless chaff was blown away to one side, and could then be burned.

This was called “winnowing”, a word used several times in the Bible as a symbol of judgment.  The classic example is John the Baptist, talking about the coming of the Messiah, who said "His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Luke 3:17)

Finally, the author says in verse 6, the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, he will protect and guard them, he’s saying, but the way of the wicked will perish."

Moving on now to Psalm 15 which talks about the wisdom of righteousness. 

The Bible has a lot to say about righteousness and righteous living. Why? Because in our world, today as much as it was when it was written, there are far too many people who live for themselves, shade the truth, and cut corners where they can, but still call themselves Christians.

So David’s asks this pertinent question. "LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?" (15:1)

The answer is, someone who is conscientiously trying to live as God requires.

There are other psalms that explore sin, grace and forgiveness, but this psalm isn’t talking about that, it’s talking about the lifestyle of those who claim to be a believers. 

It’s an important question that’s also asked in Psalm 24 "Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?  Who may stand in his holy place?"

So, do we want to live in close proximity to God? If so, what do we have to do?

Jesus put it pretty bluntly when he said: "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. On the other hand, he says, He who does not love me will not obey my teaching." (John 14:23-24a)

David doesn't give us an exhaustive list of rights and wrongs, but rather he earmarks some characteristics of a person who is seeking to please God, and he says that it boils down to moral integrity, a rare quality today.

"He whose walk is blameless verse 2, and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart."

You’ve all heard the expression “Hark at the pot calling the kettle black”.  I’m no saint, so I’m not going to stand here and preach fire and brimstone about slander, backbiting, gossiping, telling secrets, and so on.

David is saying that apart from being wrong, and apart from being unwise, these are among the things that separate us from each other, and more importantly they separate us from God. And that’s something we can’t afford. We live in a society that says “anything goes”, when actually the opposite is true.

And that leads us on to our final psalm, n° 133, which talks of the wisdom and the beauty of unity. It’s another psalm "of David" and is called "a song of ascents," so it would have traditionally been sung as people approached Jerusalem, going up for a feast. 

Unity is a subject that is quite close to our hearts in this church, for reasons that I don’t need to go into this morning.  But it’s not just important in the local church, it’s also important in the church in general with all its doctrinal and denominational differences, and even beyond that, it’s important in the world we live in today.

"A new command I give you, Jesus said, Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)

"Make every effort said Paul to the Ephesians, to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called -- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4:3-6)

Unity is “good” and it’s “pleasant”, David says, and of course he’s right.

But it’s more than that, he says, as he paints two beautiful pictures using examples that the Israelites would have easily understood.

It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. 

Kings and priests were anointed with oil, and it became, a symbol of prosperity and blessing. An honoured guest would be anointed with oil as an act of generous hospitality. Psalm 23 says, for example, "You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows" (Psalm 23:5).

In Jesus' day, putting oil on a guest's head was considered the act of a gracious host. But in this Psalm 133, this wasn't just ordinary olive oil. It was "precious" oil, probably perfumed and very expensive."

And it wasn't just "a little dab”. This oil is poured until it begins to run off the hair and down onto the beard, and then even onto the recipient's clothes. 

And the second example is perhaps even more graphic.
It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.
Mount Hermon is a high, snow-covered mountain on the border between Syria and Lebanon, the highest mountain in the lands of the Bible, (9,230 feet, 2,814 meters). The dews there are massive and on many mornings it looks as if there has been heavy rain, when there hasn’t." 

Mount Zion, on the other hand, is a poetic term for the city of Jerusalem which doesn’t get anything like so much dew, perhaps hardly any, I don’t know.

For there, David concludes, the LORD bestows his blessing, even life for evermore." Wat more can we aspire to?