0013 Psalm 1 Analysis

Who is shaping the way you think right now… and do you even realize it?

In this episode, we break down Psalm 1 (NKJV) in a way that feels uncomfortably relevant to today’s world. This isn’t just a passage about sin—it’s about influence.

The Bible gives us a progression most people overlook:

Walk. Stand. Sit.

It’s subtle… but it’s powerful.

What starts as casual exposure can slowly turn into agreement—and eventually identity.

We unpack:

• The real meaning behind “walk, stand, and sit” (and why there are three stages)
• How influence shapes your thoughts, decisions, and future—often without you noticing
• What it actually looks like to meditate on the Word in a practical, everyday way
• Why Psalm 1 compares your life to a tree—and what it means to be rooted vs. drifting
• How this applies in 2026 (yes… including social media, news, and digital influence)

This episode will challenge you to evaluate:
👉 What voices are you allowing into your life?
👉 What are you becoming because of them?
👉 And are you planted… or just being blown around?

Because according to Scripture, your life is moving in the direction of your influences.

The good news?
You can change your direction—starting today.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:20

We have received some really good feedback on the first couple episodes on our podcast here. And I am so excited to dive into our next topic here because, you know, on this passage's podcast, our whole goal was to just go through scripture and read scripture for what it is, but dissect it for what we just gloss over, what we don't even realize that we're reading. And so today I'm excited because we're going to dive into Psalm one. But before we start, I want you to quietly ask yourself this. Who is shaping the way you think right now? And do you even realize it? Because Psalms one is about something most people underestimate. It's just not just about sin, it's about influence. And a lot of the times we don't realize what is influencing us in our lives. So before we dive in it here, Eric, did you have any opening thoughts before we dive in and read Psalm 1?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Well, I'm I'm thinking of Jesus. He said, I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will have to give an accounting. That's pretty strong language. Have to give an accounting. Not may have to give an accounting for every careless or useless word they speak. And David said, of course, familiar, your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. That's where we hide the word and we can then meditate upon the word. And that's going to be tied right into the Psalm 1 as we dig into it and hopefully be a blessing to the good people that are listening.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Absolutely. Well, we'll dive into Psalm 1, verse 1. I'm going to read it all the way through, but then we are going to take it apart because I've never taken it apart the way that you have. And as soon as I started reading it and actually understanding it, I was like, wow, you list out so much information and such a short little paragraph. So let me read it here. This is Psalms 1. This is from the New King James Version. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chafe in the wind, the dr which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Good Lord.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

A chunk there, but man, when we dive into it, we're about to talk a lot, aren't we?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Little over 130 words, and it's just riveting. So it starts off in the first five words. Blessed is the man who. So we're about to hear you got my attention, David. Blessed is the man. So and what does this mean? Blessed. This is not a blessing over the kids' soccer team or Thanksgiving dinner, you know, where it's sort of a superficial blessing quite often. But this is the kind of blessing that Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount. Uh, it is um it's it in it's something that invites the presence of God. It suggests someone that is worthy of admiration because of their habits, their activities, their devotion. Um, and and it it provokes a certain sense of peace and security that comes back. And that's what Jesus was talking about a thousand years later, and this is what David is talking about in this uh particular psalm. So it should get us our get our attention. Uh and so right now we're about to enter into what in English class we call compare and contrast. Okay, we're gonna compare and then contrast uh this individual to the others that you just read about a moment ago. So um, after that opening blessing, we are given three specific instructions about who might lead us astray that would say, no blessing for you. Oh okay. Well I want to know those things. Yeah, so yeah. How do we do that? So walk and and here you just mentioned a minute ago, walks, stands, and sits. My my first analytical mind goes, how come you can't just give us one verb?

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

You know, but then but then my faith says, so slow down, Eric. Um, there's a reason that there's three verbs here. And because it's a sequence, it's a growing uh level of involvement with people that are mm-mm, God's not happy with those people. So, so this is where uh this is the reason for that. So um any good good, any thoughts on that so far?

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Uh well, I'm excited because when it talks about walks, stands, or sits, and we started to dive deep in that, I was like, okay, everyone needs to hear this because we just don't understand how simple but yet how thought-provoking God is and how he puts us in there so quickly.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Just slides it right in. And I've been I've been thinking about, especially you have young children, and I'm thinking about uh maybe things that as a mom you got to go through. It's like, mom, you know, those those are good people. You know, you're like, I don't want you hanging out with certain right. Does that ever happen to you? Oh, yes. Okay, there you go. So what does it mean to walk? Uh that's to walk not in the counsel of the ungodly. What does that mean? Well, imagine the cool kids over there, and your daughter or your son is looking over to them, a a teenager drawn to a small pool of people who are and and maybe attempting to adopt their habits, their culture, their lifestyle, their clothing, their way of life, which is contrary to what you've been teaching around your dinner table. Okay, so here we have uh a contrast, cultural contrast. And so they're attempting maybe thinking about walking with those people. It's not really fully adopting it, but that's where the word walking comes in. Okay, now what about stand? Okay, or stands in the way of sinners and are in the path of sinners, either one. So this takes the idea further. Now you're aligning with those people, adopting, not just watching. Now you're adopting. You're you want to go shopping for those clothes, the type of clothing, their lifestyle, their way of life, their habits, their culture. And so now that's that's where we're standing with them. And then finally, to sit. Um in the Bible, to sit is you'll notice in Matthew 5, the very the first in the opening line of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus sat down. And you think, okay, so what? Was he just resting a little bit because it's a long speech? No, it's not just that. When a rabbi would sit down, or when people would sit down, it indicated buy-in. I'm here for the long haul. I'm here to, in his case, to instruct, uh, to teach, to bring to form disciples. Or when people, in this case, uh are s are sitting in the way of uh the seat of the scornful, you're talking about somebody who is buying in. Okay, this is this is somebody who is submitted in league with an idea. So to sit with the scornful, uh, I'll just finish this one thing, and it means that these people are openly rejecting a godly lifestyle and the righteousness which eventually Jesus would abdicate.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

So that just makes me think, though, when we think walk, stand, or sit, when I think about walking with somebody, I think about, okay, you know, we're gonna go somewhere. Maybe you're walking on a campus or something, or you're walking through a store, whatnot, you're gonna veer off, kind of look at your own stuff, see what you need, grab what you need, whatnot. So you're like, okay, I'm walking with somebody, but you know that you can always kind of veer off that path. You don't have to walk with them for life, right? And then we talk about standing. Standing, I feel is more intimate because standing is, hey, uh, yeah, we're not just walking and talking. Like we've decided that this is a big enough conversation to stand here and talk to each other one-on-one, looking at each other, having conversations that's a little more intimate. And then sitting is like, okay, I've decided to stay here. This is important enough to have a longer conversation to be more intimate with you. So you can kind of see, or what it seems to me is you can see the growth here of when you first meet someone that's probably not the best. You're just having those little conversations going here and there. Then you stand with them, you get involved in their life, you see how they're doing, then you sit with them and you're sitting with them through all the moments in their life. You know everything about them. And before you know it, you're not this blessed man anymore because you're not following what he's telling you to do.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Exactly. So I look at the grammar here. So blessed is the man who, and I'm waiting for tell me more about how to get blessed. But first, David gives us three contrasts.

unknown 9:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Don't do this, don't do that, don't do this third thing. And here comes the transition word, but. Okay, I I love these one words, like the word nevertheless, the word however, and the word but when I see those, I know we're about to go into a transition. And you you might think, Eric, I don't want to work that hard, you know. I just want to read the Bible, pray, and go to work, you know, and just get it over. And I'm just telling you who who I am. I I and I'm not trying to be too analytical about God's word. I'm saying my faith tells me there's a reason these words are in there. There's a word, a reason that this the language is constructed the way it is. And I just release these monumental waves of faith. And I believe the Lord is saying, just give him what he wants. You know, he's he's trying to uncover why we wrote this this way. Uh just give it to him because I'm just knocking on the door of the of the throne room of heaven, just saying, Come on, let me in. I gotta, I gotta understand. So just for the word but, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. Oh, he's not doing the walking, sitting, standing, and sitting, but he is delighted instead in the law of the Lord. And of course, that's referring to the Mosaic Law. And in his law, he meditates day and night. Oh, meditates, in other words, he says, How can I apply these principles? Okay, the Lord loves that because it means we're trying to become a disciple. So imagine I'm thinking of a man in an in an easy chair with an open Bible. He refuses to walk with ungodly people or align with unbelievers or come into agreement with some scornful TV analyst or social media sites. You know, it just avoids that stuff. And then so by contrast, here we go. Now we're talking about what he'll be like. So he shall be like what?

SPEAKER_02 11:40

You should be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

So imagine just there, a tree planted, it's it's being fed. And of course, I'm thinking of out of your belly shall become um living water, and that's the Holy Spirit that'll flow out of people. This is what Jesus was talking about. I don't think anybody understood him at the moment when he was saying all this, but he said it anyway. And so here's David saying he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. And what else does he do?

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Uh, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Okay. This leaf shall not wither. What's a leaf? What's the purpose of a leaf?

SPEAKER_02 12:20

A leaf is on a tree to gain photosynthesis to feed the tree.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Oh, look at you. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

This is only because we talked about this.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

I'm not that smart. And creates the oxygen for the environment. It does, but it it takes in carbon dioxide and it takes in sunlight. And through some magical chemical process, which you just said, that big old word, photosynthesis, it converts that stuff, sunlight and CO2, and it turns it into something valuable for the tree, so that the leaf, the leaf won't wither, the fruit comes out in season, the water is flowing by the roots, this tree is in good shape. And how did it get that way? And who is it? It's like, and this man is like this tree. Okay, that's a simile, not a not a metaphor. And so he he's he's this guy is is is getting all the benefits like it like that tree would. And then last, then it goes, and whatsoever he does shall prosper.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

Prosper.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Does that mean 20% shall prosper? No.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

No, no, no. Whatever he does. Oh, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Oh, whatever. Whatsoever. I mean, I like these thorough words that come out. They're they're just the Lord doesn't play.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

No.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

He's saying we're gonna have to give account for every word. That's how we started this podcast. We started, he's had we're gonna have to give an account. And that means I would like to understand how the Lord thinks, how he operates, how he teaches his principles. Uh that makes that that's a joy for me. So whatsoever he does shall prosper. Now, here comes here comes a um a uh The other side.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

The other side. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

So here's a contrast. So tell me what the contrast is. The ungodly what?

SPEAKER_02 14:18

The ungodly are not so, but are like the chafe, which the wind drives away.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

That's like weeds and and stuff, you know, the stuff that has no roots. It just blows away. It's unrooted. They just these people and these individuals are just flowing from one idea to another. There's no happiness there, there's no joy, there's no sense of peace, there's no sense of purpose or accomplishment. I'm I'm not judging them. I feel sorry for them. I pity them. Well, that's really it does not have to be that way, is what I'm wanted to say. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Yeah, that's really the world's standard, though. The world standard is hey, take counsel in what makes you feel good. Sit with the people who say that you're doing the right things and get back at them when they do something wrong to you. That's what the world says. So everything that's even in this first verse goes directly against what the world uh says to do.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

So here comes the conclusion. Whenever you see the word therefore, here we go. That's a transition term. So I'm ready now to have this brought to a conclusion. So therefore, tell me the consequence.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Okay, they're on the outside looking in. Okay. And and is the Lord aware of all this?

SPEAKER_02 15:46

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Oh dear.

unknown 15:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

I tell you what. And again, I I have my heart goes out, it breaks for the people. When when he says the word perish, that's pretty strong language. And I'd rather not be in that group. So I'd like to kind of lay my bets on the other side. In his law, he meditates day and night. Avoid the sitting, the standing, the walking. And these are choices people get to make. And ha it's a form of self-discipline. One of the things that we're attempting to do in our spiritual strategies institute is to um is to help people become disciples, disciplined followers of the Lord Jesus. That's all. We're just trying to set up a tools and systems so that people can on their own if they want, or if they can work with a spiritual father, a coach, a mentor, a pastor, um, and and to to uh emerge from that with greater discipline in their in their spiritual walk. So this is uh You know, I have a question.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

What yes, this is a good one. Why do you think the Bible uses three different words walk, stand, and sit, instead of just saying, hey, don't be around bad people.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Yeah, well, because it shows different levels of devotion. As we were speaking earlier, to walk is to observe, uh, to see from a distance, maybe chat a little bit. It's just w it's just a it's a temporary uh alignment. No big no big buy-in. But then to stand is to s is to just imagine instead of walking by, hey Charlie, how you doing? Hey Susie, how you doing? And observing, that's the walk. Now they're standing. There's more buy-in. There's ask actually some QA. There's, well, what'd you guys do last night? And you know, and they're learning how that other person or that group defines fun, and what type of dress code do they have, and what's the the language codes that they have. They even do these funny videos on Instagram and all about the language differences between Generation Z and millennials or millennials and so forth. And so you you can you've you've got these coded language to indicate which culture you're in, which group you're in, which age group. And so you're you're standing to adopt that okay, trying to get a transfer of information eventually to sit is to say, I'm settled now, I'm resolved, I'm in, I want in. What do I do? What are the rules to get into this culture? Okay. And then then we might have, you know, we might have a problem, you know, again, with open rebellion towards school, towards church, toward parents, and that's where the challenges come in. And the Lord is warning us against that. It does not have to be that way.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

No, so this definitely tells us, you know, what not to do. Don't walk, stand, or sit with people because you start showing that, you know, you're creating a stronghold essentially there. You're creating roots where you're at, and you're gonna start growing from those roots. But on the opposite side, there you go, there is what Jesus, you know, kind of outlines in the Bible as kind of a process. And I know we talk about this where it's read, meditate, memorize, and engraft. And this is all talking about the word and what we need to be doing in the word. Can you give us a little explanation of this?

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Sure. Well, to read is just if people uh read a scripture in the morning or read a passage, or some people are devoted enough to read a whole chapter, that's they can get through through the Bible in just a few months. Uh so there's there's reading, but if we can be honest, sometimes even me, I can just read something and skip over it and say, yeah, I'm looking at my watch, I gotta get out of here, you got to catch the bus, you gotta be at a meeting. You got to read a book. But I read, you know, and I get a check mark. Okay. But uh, but uh to to um to then memorize uh you know, is you know, blessed is the man that walks not in the council of the ungodly, is to, you know, without even having to look, you can you can memorize something and hold it into your heart. And then to meditate is to leave, you don't have to have a Bible in front of you. You got the you've got it in your head, it's an inventory. And then you start personalizing it. Not blessed is the man, but blessed am I when I walk, when I avoid the counsel of the ungodly. And I don't walk with them or stand with them or sit with them. But I meditate in me. And we personalize that. Now eventually to engraft, it's like you when you're you're putting um you're changing the biology of a tree by engrafting in it. In this case, we're changing the thinking and the belief process and the principles of a person by engrafting scripture into our into our hearts, and then we just uh petition the Holy Spirit to say, tell us, tell me, you know, give please take a message to me to uh for for me from to heaven. I want to adopt this principle. I want to be a person of greater faith. I want to be a person whose gifts are manifestation gifts are beginning to emerge. Uh I'm um I'm devoted. I I want to believe, I want to, I want more of this. And so uh to engraft it is then when we actually exhibit um these behaviors and these beliefs, and it just emerges out of our mouth and out of our thinking and out of our our our doing. So uh that's uh that's where engraft comes in.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

So now it's very clear what we can do to do the opposite, you know, instead of getting this counsel, instead of sitting with these people that we know we shouldn't, getting the the end. Internal guilty conscience of this this doesn't feel like a conversation that I should be in, but you know, I'm kind of here and I'm not saying anything. So as long as I'm not saying anything and getting into the conversation, then I'm not really a part of it, so it's not that bad. And you're still sitting there. And I think sometimes we don't realize that sitting is the same thing as agreeing. And you can be agreeing to everything that everybody's saying just by listening and not saying something different.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Yes. And I'll I'll tell you where this applies as you're speaking. It triggers me to say there are there are new news clips that are on the television and you begin to hear it. And it and I would just invite people to say, if you hear something that begins to rob your peace, disturb you, push mute, push pause, change the channel, do something to get away from that. You are not, don't be a victim of the newscasters that are trying to stir you up and get grab your attention and polarize you and and either get you mad about something or get you excited about something where you start taking sides. They've got the formula now about how to get you either mad or excited, and and they have no right to hijack your attention. They don't. And I know with me, I even myself, I've got to avoid certain stories on the news or or certain analysts or certain uh shows that are provocative like that. I've just got to get away from it. And one reason is I don't have the grace for it. Grace is the fuel supply of heaven. Grace is is God's um the it gives me the power and the desire to do things his way. And uh if if he gives me no grace to uh to be involved in that or to watch that or to see that uh I've got to recognize now all I'm stuck with is my intellect or my emotional um capacity, and I that'll get drained out very quickly. So I want to operate on grace, not on those other on those other methods.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

Right. Now, quickly though, you know, bringing this to 2026, I'm thinking of how we communicate nowadays. And so back when the Bible was written, of course, you were walking with people, you were standing, you were sitting with people, that makes complete sense. Nowadays, you don't even have to be around people to agree with the things that you're agreeing with. Walking, standing, and sitting can be you looking at a social media account, deciding to follow them and checking up on them every day. Oh, this can be so many different things nowadays. It can be following people that don't you don't even have a conversation with. So I would just want to make sure that people know that walking, standing, or sitting doesn't have to be those physical actions with people in life, but it can be what we're doing and the way that we communicate nowadays as well.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

That's perfect. That's wonderful. Uh thank you for bringing up that distinction. It's not literally being in their presence. You can technologically be in their presence, you can do it across a screen. And this is why we have to be really careful about what our children are seeing as well. Uh back in the day, you know, the phone would ring at seven o'clock at night, and that call was for me. There was one phone in the house in the where we lived, and and I would speak to a friend. That was the only method of communication in and out. There was and now, of course, kids could go in their room and and just be on the screen and who knows who they're talking to. And so this is where we want to be advising them. Who are you walking and standing and sitting with? Um I think parents have a have an have a duty to uh to guide their children in that way. So as well as to have the discipline themselves. So this is this is tough news, but this is um not saying that social media and screens and phones are are wrong or evil or anything else, but we've got to guard our hearts about what comes across the screen.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Yeah, you said exactly the truth right there. The truth is that most people don't want to hear that we're becoming what we're constantly around and what we let ourselves be around. Every voice we entertain, whether that's social media or real person, every mindset you sit with, every idea you listen to, every influence you allow, it's all shaping your future. So if you want a different life, you don't need a new strategy. You don't need to come up with something new, you need a new source. And someone is very simple, but it's very serious. Choose your influences wisely because your life is following them.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, and I think maybe go ahead. I'm sorry, go ahead. I interrupted you. Go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, okay. Well, you you're just really touching on something so important because this is how we bring these scriptures from 3,000 years ago into our modern day, into our homes, into our our families, right now. Don't think that this is something from ancient times that has no application. No, this applies today. And we we need to just pay attention and acknowledge that. So otherwise there are consequences. But there's rewards as well. Uh he shall be like a tree planted by the roof. I would like to be like a tree planted by the roof of water. I'd like to be fruitful, I'd like to have a leaf that doesn't wither. I'd like to feel a sense of purpose and validation. Who wouldn't? Okay. I mean, you you you um conduct a a ladies' group on a in your nonprofit, and and there are people that are somewhat forlorn and lonely from what I've heard you say. And it doesn't have to be that way. Okay, I'm fine. In the past, maybe some bad choices were made, but it's a new day. And there's this they can derive a sense of purpose with making better choices.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

I'm glad you said that because there is a truth another way around. We read that you, you know, don't walk in the counseling godly, don't stand in the path of sinners, don't sit in the seat of scornful. But the other way around is you can walk with God, you can stand in truth, and you can sit in his presence. You can do all these things just in the right context, in the right way. So I think that's what we should leave people with today is you know, where are you sitting right now? Where are you walking? Where are you going? What presence are you in? And where do you want to go? Because it's your choice to change those.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

All right, well, until next time, guys.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

All right, bless you now.