Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount spoke quite starkly about two ways (Matthew 7:13-14). The two ways ended in either destruction or life. In working through Psalm 1, I was struck by the contrast of the righteous and the wicked, of the outcome associated with those two ways. I wonder if Jesus had this Psalm in mind as he spoke to his disciples.

The Lord knows the way of the righteous. The one on that way will meditate on the law, the torah of the Lord. The “torah” used here is the teaching of the Lord. It encompasses instruction and doctrine, and may well include the prayers and praises included in the psalms. The law is the delight of those on the way of the righteous.

The way of the righteous avoids the counsel of the wicked, the way of sinners, and the seat of scoffers. Dale Ralph Davis makes the point that this really represents the “totality of evil”. The righteous want no part of their thinking (counsel), or behaving (way), or belonging (seat). The righteous man or woman “resists the vacuum-cleaner power-moves” that evil uses.

May we all stay on the way of the righteous, for the Lord knows it well.