The Prelude Psalm - a musical response to Psalm 1

Surely God loves the righteous and hates the wicked, but what about me?

In just six short verses, the first Psalm serves to outline the key themes of the book. None is more striking than the vivid contrast painted between the righteous and the wicked. Throughout the book, the Psalmists deal with the way the wicked appear to be succeeding at life. But they come to the conclusion that despite appearances, whatever pleasures the wicked experience are shallow and fleeting, lacking substance- chaff, a chasing after the wind. Surely God does bless the righteous and not the wicked, right? Yet within this black and white, wicked and righteous world, the Psalmists often struggle to position themselves in the narrative. A couple of years ago I sped-read through the Psalms, and this sense of dissonance repeatedly sprung out at me. Surely God loves the righteous and hates the wicked, but what about me? While the Psalmists so often talk of their desire for righteousness, so are they acutely aware of their shortcomings. Sinners just like everyone else, hopelessly in need of God’s mercy.

For me, having grown up as a Christian and memorizing this Psalm from an early age, I find myself automatically identifying with the righteous man. But what actually makes me righteous? Like the Psalmists, I find myself lacking. But in my lack, I find God Himself to be more than enough for me, and I am reminded than ‘the law of the Spirit of Life has set me free from the law of sin and death’ (Rom 8). My response: meditating (deeply and affectionately pondering and murmuring) the law of the Lord (torah, promises and commands, the very revelation of the character of God).

The following is a musical composition that expresses the dissonance between righteousness and wickedness, and finding my place of right standing with God in Christ...