Prayer calls me away. It calls me to focus on the ultimate rather than

the immediate. It calls me to attentiveness to God. In a sense, I become

more aware of my surroundings, not less aware.

אַשְׁרֵי־הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָלַךְ בַּעֲצַת רְשָׁעִים וּבְדֶרֶךְ

חַטָּאִים לֹא עָמָד וּבְמוֹשַׁב לֵצִים לֹא יָשָׁב

NASB: "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the

wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!"

And, the very opening word of the Psalm — of the entire book of Psalms —  is a word of blessing: אַשְׁרֵי.

I am being invited into a life of blessing, an experience and life of Divine favor. This is a theme statement for the entire book. It is a book “of blessing.”

Is this what I want? I come before God like the sick man in John 5, whom

Jesus asks: "Do you want to be made well?” Do I want God's blessing

today? Opening up before me is the way of life. Will I take it? Do I

want it?

I have a problem with this, and (sorry to say) it runs deep. I was

taught as a boy that I should never accept any gift that I could not repay. It was wrong to do so.

I feel I may not deserve this "blessing." Since justice is to receive what is deserved or earned, I feel the jury is out on whether I am deserving of any sort of blessing.

I also learned at a young age that "you should be ashamed of yourself" and I learned the lesson well. I often am.

And standing before me is a word of blessing rather than curse. My NIV

Hebrew Lexicon says of אַשְׁרֵי:

"a heightened state of happiness and joy, implying very favorable circumstances, often resulting from the kind acts of God." (Hebrew/Aramaic to English Dictionary and Index to the NIV Old Testament from Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance edited by Edward W. Goodrick, John R. Kohlenberger III, and James A. Swanson. Copyright ©1999, 1990 by the Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530. All rights reserved. Electronic text prepared by OakTree Software, Inc. Version 1.0)

And, it is actually quite personal. While it is technically correct to

translate אִישׁ as "man," in this context it just means "person" or

"human." (The NRSV switches to the plural just to avoid the masculine

generic "man.") I am called upon to observe the the individual whose

life is blessed. Is this what I want? Is this who I want to be?

It  matters what direction I choose to take today.

Lord,

grant me the grace to walk in the path of blessing today.

I pray for guidance,

give me the faith to believe I will have it.

Guide my choices into the paths of blessedness.

Open my mind to the wonderful promise of your favor and blessing. Your will is for blessing not curse.

Help my unbelief. Amen.

— Craig L. Adams

Earlier posts in this series can be found listed as “Praying the Psalms” on either the Bible Studies page of the Prayer page. An introduction to this series can be found here: Praying the Psalms: An Introduction.