Two Trees, Two Destinies: Psalm 1

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.

Picture two paths diverging at dawn. One path is crowded—voices calling, laughter echoing, the easy camaraderie of those who have abandoned restraint. The other path is quieter, less traveled, sometimes lonely.

The progression is subtle: walking, standing, sitting. First you walk alongside them—just passing through, you tell yourself. Then you stop to stand with them—not participating, just observing. Then you sit down—you've arrived, you belong, you're home among mockers.

Blessed is the one who never starts that progression.

But whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

Delight. Not duty, not drudgery. The blessed one finds pleasure in God's word the way others find pleasure in entertainment or gossip. Day and night—waking thoughts, sleeping dreams, constant companion.

Meditation in Hebrew suggests mumbling, repeating, turning over. The word is never far from the lips, never absent from the mind.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

A tree. Roots reaching down to underground streams. While other vegetation withers in drought, this tree stays green. Its leaves don't curl and brown. Its fruit comes reliably, season after season.

Planted—not wild, not accidental. Deliberately positioned near water. The blessed person has chosen their location wisely.

Whatever they do prospers. Not everything feels successful. Not every venture profits immediately. But there is a deep prosperity, a rootedness, a fruitfulness that outlasts temporary setbacks.

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Chaff. The worthless husk separated from wheat at threshing. Light, empty, blown away by the slightest breeze. No roots, no substance, no permanence.

The contrast could not be sharper. Tree versus chaff. Planted versus blown. Fruitful versus empty.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Judgment is coming. The wicked who seemed so successful, so carefree, so enviable—they will not stand. Their apparent prosperity was chaff-prosperity: impressive until the wind came.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Two ways, two destinations. The Lord knows—intimately watches over—the path of the righteous. But the wicked's path has no such guardian. It leads where all unguarded paths lead: destruction.

The gateway psalm. The choice set before every reader. Which path? Which tree? Which destiny?