Blessed Is He

Here we are at the end of quarantine (or at least, I hope.  I am praying everyday that I get to start school hybrid!). I didn’t get all of my rewrites done, but wow: did I get a chance to write some fun tunes this season.  New music is always in the works, but maybe not quite as fast during school.  My last summer songwriting adventure was getting a really, really fun melody/music structure stuck in my head mid-July, and then realizing Psalm 1 would go nicely with it, and the result was the following song!

I have always loved Psalm 1 because it was the first Scripture I was prompted to memorize back when I was in first grade Sunday school, at least substantially (more than one verse).  I remember memorizing it, saying it to my teacher, getting my prize (probably candy, who knows!), and feeling so proud.  What a Psalm though – a Psalm that promises that the righteous flourish like trees planted near streams, evergreen, all that they do comes to fruition.  Jeremiah 17 has a awesome parallel passage, along with the drastic comparison to the wicked, who do not flourish.  

At the start, it was just an extremely fun song to write and put music to the words from Psalm 1 in as pleasing and true to the Scripture way as possible.  But, then, I was reflecting on Proverbs and a lot of passages I was led to in my summer study – one of them being Isaiah 11, where it says that His (meaning, Jesus’) delight is in the fear of the Lord.  The wise man in Psalm 1 has delight in the law of the Lord.  But then, that passage in Isaiah 11 comes right after chapter 10, where it describes Israel as the tree that was cut down.  They were not able to live up to the righteous standards of God’s covenant people.  But, in chapter 11, this figure whose delight is in the fear of the Lord, He is the shoot that comes forth from the stump of Jesse.  Could this be the only righteous man spoken of in Psalm 1??  I don’t necessarily think so, because by His life and death, and through His Spirit, we can live righteously.  So, the end of this song brings in these ideas, and it was pretty rad!  Hope you enjoy the big combining of these beautiful imageries!

Blessed Is He

Blessed is he who does not walk          
On the path that sinners take                
Nor does he choose to tarry            
Where the scoffers have strayed          

But his delight is in the law of the LORD     
Both day and night, he is drawn to adore       

Like a tree near the streams        
With leaves evergreen          
At peace when the heat comes        
He bears fruit in season            
Oh, blessed is he              

Not so the wicked for they are  
Like chaff the wind blows away      
They will not stand in the judgment 
Where the righteous will say

That our delight is in the law of the Lord
Both day and night, we are drawn to adore

Like a tree near the streams 
With leaves evergreen
At peace when the heat comes
We bear fruit in season
Oh, blessed are…

But we’ve seen the deadened tree as it was felled      
Our withered leaves littering the fertile ground      
Is there none to revive the lifeless unrighteous?        
But from the roots of Jesse shoots a final bough      
Rising up from the stump in Spirit power          
His delight is the vine we can abide in             
Come take hold of the life He has provided 

For the tree guarded in Eden
Reaches out to all who receive Him
And we are the seedlings
Bearing fruit every season
Oh, blessed are we
Oh, blessed is He