My desire and prayer is to help the body of Messiah in their growth as believers. That is the purpose of these blogs. And I invite you to share any thoughts in the Comments below.

Scripture translations are my own, unless otherwise noted.

All of scripture is for the purpose of producing the Bride of Messiah, and Psalm 1 is at the top of the list. So, let’s delve into it. It shows a contrast between the righteous and the wicked. For our purposes, it is a contrast between two classes of believers: the spirit-led and the flesh-led. Sadly, most believers are flesh led—they are the wicked.

Yahushua (Jesus) said in his Sermon on the Mount, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matt. 7:13-14, NIV). It takes effort to be among the few. In Matt. 11:12 Yahushua said it is the forceful who lay hold of the kingdom.

Psalm 1:1 speaks of the blissful person. I am translating the Hebrew word esher as bliss, rather than blessed. The Word Study Dictionary of the Old Testament (Strong’s #835) defines it as “a person’s state of bliss.”

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines bliss as  complete happiness, with examples of enjoying eternal bliss in heaven, marital bliss, the sheer bliss of an afternoon at the spa.

Dictionary.com says this of bliss: supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment. Archaic.,  a cause of great joy or happiness.

In other words, bliss has the idea of emotional contentment. Can a person be emotionally content in the midst of suffering? Absolutely! When the presence of the Father is upon you, you are experiencing bliss regardless of circumstances. When Paul and Silas were stripped, beaten, severely flogged and thrown into prison with their feet in stocks, Acts 16:22-25, they were praying and singing hymns to Elohim (God).

Many times, when I feel tired and weak (which is most of the time—I am rapidly approaching 92), the Father’s presence comes upon me, comforting me, and I am in bliss. Even without feeling his presence—“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” Heb. 11:1.

Could Messiah have been experiencing bliss when the Father’s presence lifted off of him and he was in extreme agony with nails through his wrists and ankles? Heb. 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Yahushua, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the stake, scorning its shame.”

Psalm 1:1-2

1:1 Blissful is the person

Who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

Verse 1 can be paraphrased as: “Blissful is the person who does not follow his flesh nature, which is the nature of selfishness.”

Verse 2 says what he does to be in this state of bliss, of having the Father’s presence on him.

1:2 But in Torah of Yahuah is his delight,

And in his Torah he meditates day and night.

Torah is a Hebrew word usually translated as law. But it is more than law. It means instruction—instruction on how we are to live our lives. All of the Torah can be summed up in two laws: Love Yahuah your Elohim with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself, Matt. 22:37-40.

One may ask, “How does someone meditate on this instruction day and night?” In the flesh it is not possible, because the flesh is opposed to Elohim. It can only be done in the spirit.

Rom. 8:5-8. “For those who are after the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace,  because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward Elohim; for it does not subject itself to the law of Elohim, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please Elohim.”

In the spirit, in every waking moment, you are constantly aware of Yahuah’s presence, and you are endeavoring to please him in all you do, say and think.

Note: This is the instruction of Yahuah. Who and what is this Yahuah? He is the creator of this whole universe and you and me. Yes, he is our maker. We are the product of his creation. He created us for a reason, and his Torah is to help us achieve that reason. He gave us free will, either to love him above all else, which is living in the spirit, or to love ourselves above all else, which is living in the flesh. The rest of Psalm 1 gives more detail, and that, along with the nature of Yahuah, is for another blog.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. 

Comments welcome.