The book of Psalms has been called by some "The most loved book of the Bible." Graciously, it can guide us on how we should relate to God as we go through life. It teaches us how to respond to people and life's situations - dealing with our desires, hopes, fears, and failures. The Psalms take many stories of Israel and its people and interprets them, so that we can make the spiritual applications that we need. The book of Psalms is a book of worship, meditation, and prayers. Before one dives into the middle of the Psalms and starts looking for favorite passages, it is good to make sure that we have faced the very first two Psalms.

Psalm one and two make us face crucial facts about ourselves and the world. Life is short. It is like a journey to another world that we can call eternity. Life requires us to make decisions. Our success in this life and our eternal destiny depend on those choices. Psalm One and Psalm Two force us to face our personal destiny and also the destiny of the world.

People have a way of wanting to run their own lives. At the same time, they often have strong opinions on how the rest of the world should be run. Preferences and opinions need to pass through the scrutiny of what God says. So, before we run to the Book of Psalms for comfort and inspiration, we must make sure that we are on the right course, heading to the destiny of those who have united with God's purposes.

Psalm One: Your personal destiny.
Every person's future depends on a working relationship with God's Word. Here are three basic things to consider from this Psalm.

Interference from the world - Psalm 1:1

• Ungodly counsel - bad teaching, bad advice, and coercion.
• Sinful ways - worldly patterns of living: bad ethics and sensual pleasures.
• Scornful mockery - blasphemy of God and disrespect of people / foolish and crude talking and joking.

Intimacy with God's Word - Psalm 1:2-3

• Scripture is a delight - not a mere duty.
• Scripture is a continual feast - pursued "day and night."
• Scripture stabilizes a person - like a tree planted and well-watered, God's Word affects our mind, emotions, character, personality and life-choices.

Ignoring God's Word - Psalm 1:4-6

• Ungodly purposes and pleasures in life are only momentary. Ultimately, they will cause people to be like a dry, empty hull.
• Ungodly and sinful lives will not hold up to God's examination. The ungodly seek to justify themselves before men, but they cannot justify themselves before God.
• Ungodliness leads to eternal death - separation from God.

Psalm Two: The destiny of the world.
The future of the world is in the hands of the Son of God. See Proverbs 14:34.

A rebellious world crucified Christ - Psalm 2:1-3

• The world unites themselves (Gentiles and Jews) in rebellion against God and His Christ (His Anointed).
• The world does not reason. They rage and imagine vain things.
• The world establishes their own laws which are against God's laws.
• The world's target for their activities is the God of the Bible - the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• The world interprets the righteous ways of God as bondage (chains and ropes).

A resurrected Christ has overcome the world, sin, and death - Psalm 2:4-9

• God allowed the world to crucify His Son - demonstrating the world's unmitigated wickedness.
• God laughs / mocks at the world's show of defiant power.
• God's Son is "begotten / born" from the dead.
• God has given the resurrected Christ the entire world to rule and to judge.
• God's Son will rule the nations from Jerusalem (Zion).

A royal call is being made to surrender and unite with Christ - Psalm 2:10-12

God's Gospel call is for all nations / all men everywhere to repent and turn to Christ in faith. See John 5:19-24; Acts 17:24-31.

Conclusion: People as individuals and whole nations are heading quickly to their destiny. What we do with the Word of God and the Son of God will make all the difference between a fruitful or wasted existence here in this life, and a blessed or cursed eternity. What will you do with Jesus and His Word? What difference can you make with your neighbor, your nation, your world?

See Colossians 2:6-10; John 15:1-8; 16:33; Acts 13:28-33; 26:13-23; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 19:11-28; Matthew 25:13-46; Revelation 1:1-18; 19:11-16; 22:12-21.