Staff Devotional - Our Psalms

By Eric Miller

Every Tuesday morning we have a church staff meeting and at the conclusion of that meeting we spend time together doing a devotional. Recently we've been reading through the Psalms. We spent many weeks studying Psalm 139 and allowing God to give us a hunger for His Word. Since then and in connection to our Spiritual Journey - "From Lament to Praise: Encountering God in the Psalms" - we've been studying different psalms and truly taking time to slow down and savor the richness of God's truth.

This past week, we studied Psalm 1 and I (Eric) challenged us to use the wording and concepts from Psalm 1 to either write our own prayer, lament psalm or something to make the Psalm personal to us. And we loved the experience so much that we wanted to share a few of these with you! We certainly aren't trying to add anything to God's Word, nor do we support that. But we do want to slow down enough when studying God's Word to be able to apply it to our lives in various ways, and we'd encourage you to do the same. In October, you'll have the chance on a Sunday morning to start writing your own lament Psalm, so why not start now and start thinking of how Psalm 1 applies to your life!

Psalm 1 - NIV

1 Blessed is the man

who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners

or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, 


and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, 


which yields its fruit in season 


and whose leaf does not wither. 


Whatever he does prospers.

4 Not so the wicked! 


They are like chaff 


that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, 


nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, 


but the way of the wicked will perish.

"So if I don't follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners or join in with mockers; then I will have joy (NLT). The NIV says I will be blessed. And if I meditate day and night on the law of the Lord, then I will be delighted and I will be like a tree planted along the river, bearing much fruit, my leaves will not wither and I will be prosperous in everything I do. The final piece is that in all this the Lord will watch over me, He will guide me on the path of Godliness and righteousness. God, would you allow this to be said of me!" ~Eric

"Lord, I consider myself blessed when I don't follow the ways of people who walk in darkness ... even though I see temporary fulfillment come in their ways. Lord, I revel in your Word, but I realize any experience doesn't always match my knowledge of reveling in your Word. Lord, I need to remember the flourishing and strong results of the growing tree. Lord, you remember my way (the righteous one) and the temporary, fulfilling path of people in darkness is a perishing way." ~Pastor Mike

"Blessed am I when I seek the counsel of God's Word and His people. Blessed am I when I delight in His Word and meditate on it day and night. Like a fruited tree planted by streams of water I am blessed and I prosper. Blessed am I not to blow away like chaff or stand in judgement. For God watches over me and I am blessed!" ~Lisa Catania

"I don't meditate on the counsel of the wicked. I do meditate on God's counsel. I don't watch TV day and night. I'm listening to God 24/7. In learning to be faithful, God is making me fruitful with ripe juicy fruit. The wicked aren't rooted, they are blown away. God will deal with the wicked. God knows my path. The wicked path lead to destruction." ~Pastor R