A Reflection Upon Psalm One

Holy Napkin, by myself, November 2018. Acrylic on board

1  Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners *
 and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful.

2  But his delight is in the law of the Lord *
 and in his law will he exercise himself day and night.

3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the water-side *
 that will bring forth his fruit in due season.

4  His leaf also shall not wither *
 and look, whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper.

5  As for the ungodly, it is not so with them *
 but they are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth.

6  Therefore the ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judgement *
 neither the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

7  But the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous *
 and the way of the ungodly shall perish.

I heard a story about a man who had a vision. In this vision there were two wolves: one light and one dark. They were fighting fiercely with one another, darting in and out, in and out, in and out, looking for the weaknesses in each other. But since they were so well matched it was impossible to see who was going to win. The man looked up and saw someone else standing near him. He asked the man "Which wolf will win?"

The answer was "Whichever you feed".

Inside of us Christians are two people: one of them is the New Man, who is in Christ. He has made us part of His Body, brought us into the life of the Trinity. We are bathed in God's rays, in His love, and if we focus on Him, on His Love, His Light, His Wisdom, we will not be moved. It is a union without confusion, God and man together. Nothing can shake us, if we keep our focus on God. Notice that the Psalm does not say that the tree planted will not suffer harm, or that it will have a calm and tranquil life. In fact, trees grow best when they are pruned! The Psalm says that the tree will not wither and it shall prosper. The tree will hold down the soil around it, put our oxygen for others to breathe, absorb their carbon dioxide so the planet doesn't get fried, and will soak in whatever is given to it to create more life. Enemies are forgiven.

 The other man who lives within us is the Old Man, the wicked one that Christ came to save. Make no mistake about it, we all have him living within us. His chief mark is instability, to be blown this way and that by the wind, like chaff. Chaff is the useless huskings off of grain, fit for nothing but to be abandoned. It has no weight, no ability to withstand the forces of the world. To be evil is to be shaken by the slightest provocation. It is to not be in control of oneself. It is weakness, moral and existential. The judgment referred to does not say that God will smite the wicked, but that the wicked man will not be able to stand up in the first place. This is the man who is tired of the world, weary, sore, old, decrepit. Nothing can be forgiven or let go of because there is no strength to do so.

The Psalm does not refer to two separate humans, but to the same heart. We Christians have two people, two different psyches, living within us, and it is up to us which one gets fed, and which one will prosper within us. One will be able to stand up to the cruelties and Hell of the self and others, and one will not. It is up to us to make this choice. As one lives the other will die. It is not a comfortable process. No compromises are possible, nor are they preferable. We do not have the strength to do it on our own, because becoming more than human is not a human action. But God does not ask us to accomplish the change, He only asks us to choose, the seeming consequences of the winds blowing around us be damned. And each choice we make, no matter how insignificant, no matter the consequence, will lead to one of the two getting stronger.

The mark of excellence is the forgiveness of enemies, which Christ showed us by forgiving us as we tortured Him to death, rising from the dead and intentionally changing our options even when we denied Him, and then ascending into Heaven, further glorifying us at the Father's right hand when we couldn't understand what He had done. That's our standard.  That will keep us from being blown away by the slightest provocation. Our first enemy is our self. We have to forgive the Old Man, and ask for God's mercy upon him, so that we may die and come back as the New Man.  We are leading ourselves to destruction, and only by forgiving ourselves and letting Christ's mercy come into our souls can we let the chaff fall off the wheat and become something new, for God can change even tares into wheat, as St. John Chrysostom put so eloquently. The human heart is divided, and it is of vital importance that we forgive our self for our weakness, letting the Light in so God may save us. We are not here to condemn the Old Man, but to let allow him to be helped, healed, and divinized.

But none of this is possible if we don't make that choice in the first place. Psalm One makes it clear what the consequences of what each way is. With God's mercy the way of the righteous can be accomplished, for God never forgets those who do not give up. The way of the righteous is defined as faith in God's providence, for Abraham believed and God counted it as righteousness. Fall a thousand times, it matters not. God will not let those who are righteous fall away; even an eye twitch in His direction is not missed. But if we choose to not believe in God's mercy upon the Old Man, thus the world, then we will not be able to stand for anything. Anything and everything will move us, and we will rot in the Hell that we have already made. God will not stop us from choosing either one. But He does demand that we choose, one way or another.

Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy upon me, the sinner! The Thee be glory and praise, unto the ages of ages. Amen.