God’s Plan for Your Life: How Psalm One is a Blueprint for the Ideal Life

Goals motivate me. They get me out of bed in the morning (even if I’m a zombie when I rise!). They make me plan, plot, and hatch ideas. I’ll move mountains, if necessary, to see my goals take form. If you are like me, you know the feeling – the urgency – that wants to make your dreams reality.

But for those of us who like to dream, the most important question comes down to this: ‘what is the ultimate goal?’ Where are we heading in the grand arc of life? Are we prioritizing what is really important, in order to reach the goals that really matter?

Psalm 1 helps us answer this question. This Psalm – known as the ‘Psalm of Psalms’ – introduces us to the Book of Psalms, and it does so by holding up an ideal. That ideal is the ashrey-life.

Ashrey is a Hebrew term that, roughly stated, refers to joyful satisfaction and flourishing well-being.Sometimes it is translated ‘happy’ or ‘blessed,’ but these terms can’t carry with them all the connotations of ashrey. The ashrey-life is the ideal life – it is what God intends for humanity.

It is no coincidence that ashrey is the first word in the Psalms. If you want to attain the ashrey-life, you have come to the right place. The Psalms will guide you to it. And in Psalm 1, there are three truths that you need to know.

First, you must know that there are two distinct types of people in the world: the ‘righteous’ and the ‘wicked.’ The ‘righteous’ have a unique lifestyle, and they experience ashrey-life. The wicked, who live by a different set of values, don’t experience it. Such a black-and-white way of viewing humanity may seem simplistic, but it is fundamental for understanding the blessed life.That is why Psalm 1 presents the contrast so distinctly – there are the ‘righteous’ and the ‘wicked,’ those who are ‘blessed’ and the ‘sinners.’

Second, you must recognize how the ‘righteous’ are in possession of an ashrey-life. It comes as they follow a lifestyle of obedience to God’s torah. ‘Torah’ is a Hebrew word that refers to the ‘law,’ and it has strong connotations. Any Jew who hears torah will begin to think about the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy. Those books are the capital-‘T’ Torah, the heart of the Old Testament. In other words, Psalm 1 says that those who experience ashrey-life are those who ‘meditate day and night’ on the Torah, and they put it into practice.

But there is more here than meets the eye. The torah is not only the five books of Moses. The Book of Psalms is actually a five-fold division itself. Historically, there is not just one book of Psalms – there are five Books of the Psalms. (Book 1 – Psalms 1-41; Book 2 – Psalms 42-72; Book 3 – Psalms 73-89; Book 4 – Psalms 90-106; Book 5 – Psalms 107-150). These five books are filled with instruction and reflection on the ashrey-life. So here is an implicit truth: the Books of the Psalms will form a second Torah, a new ‘law’ for the righteous person to meditate on and apply.

Third, you must know that the righteous person – the one who lives out reflection and implementation of the torah, is the one who experiences true blessedness, the genuine ashrey-life. His end is radically different than the end of wicked people. Those people – because their lives are not founded on the torah, are characterized by instability. That instability climaxes at the most unfortunate time – when they are called to judgment.

The righteous person, guided by the torah, experiences the blessed life. Or, to put it another way, the Lord knows his way. Of course, the Lord has knowledge of everything, but here the idea is more complex: God is intimately involved in the righteous person’s life, guiding and directing his paths.There is a unique bond between the Lord and this righteous person.

Sometimes the way of the righteous doesn’t seem happy. There are periods of heartbreak. The Psalms express this – giving vent to discouragement and sorrows, climaxing in Psalm 88, ‘the saddest Psalm in the Bible.’ But for the righteous person, ashrey-life is still present, because the Lord knows his ways.

This, then, is the message of Psalm 1 – that true satisfaction and human flourishing are bound up in the law of the Lord.This Psalm is an invitation to read and reflect on the five Books of the Psalms. It calls each of us to examine: what goals am I really pursuing? Am I prioritizing the ashrey-life, and the torah that leads to it?