God Has Something in Mind – Psalm 1

A text – Psalm 1

¹ Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers,
² but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law they meditate day and night.
³ They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season,
    and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.

⁴ The wicked are not so but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous,
⁶ for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.

A reflection:

It’s easy to think of examples that prove Psalm 1 to be wrong. Dead wrong. Even Job knew this and kept asking his friends why he was suffering while the wicked folks prospered. So as wonderful as it would be to see Psalm 1 be right, life doesn’t feel like that. Then why should we delight in and follow the law of the Lord?

Back in the 1940s the American monk Thomas Merton said, “A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. It ‘consents’ to His creative love. It expresses an idea which is in God’s mind. So the more a tree is like itself, the more it is like Him.” Theologians and mystics like Merton aren’t the only people who have considered that we humans are each an idea which began in God’s mind. Let’s try this on. God, our Creator, has the idea of you. Of me. God has hopes and plans for us. God creates us (molds us like a pot, if you read Monday’s gospel text and reflection), to become what God has in mind for us, being our own joyful gifted selves and delighting in God’s ways for us. The more we stick to those things, the more we “consent” to God’s creative love and be like what we were created to be, the more in unity with God we become, making our emerging self full and complete as intended. Not only that, as we go and grow along, our relationship with God deepens, so that whatever befalls us we can endure because we know we have help at our side, a helper who designed us to receive that help whenever we need it.

The wicked may prosper because much in this life is crooked, but they, by doing wicked deeds, cannot grow into what God has in mind for them. They don’t know they have a helper alongside them. They have only their own limited ideas of becoming a masterpiece of their own design. Now, since the Holy Spirit blows where it wills and talks to anyone it pleases, I believe now and then the wicked are touched by a word of regret, a word that says they are on the wrong road, a word that calls them back to their Maker, the one who has a preferred future for them. Wouldn’t it be good if they listened? If you and I listened?

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for having a future in mind for us. Help us to remember that you are hoping we stick to your path and that you encourage us to do so, no matter what everyone else is choosing to do. Help us listen to you. Amen.