Psalm 1:2

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

          and who meditates on his law day and night. (NIV)

In the Psalms, the word "law" (torah) is used in a narrow sense and in a wider sense. The narrow sense is the one we probably think about first when we hear the word law; the sense of things God has commanded, and especially those things God commanded for his people Israel when they were with Moses in their forty years of wandering. These laws come in three varieties, the Ceremonial Law regulating the worship life of Israel and the sacrifices, the Civil Law regulating business and social issues like land, animals and marriage, and the Moral Law governing basic principals and providing the building blocks of justice: the Ten Commandments.

There is a wider sense of the word "law." The narrow sense of the law only convicts and puts up boundaries. A human being could never be right with God by keeping the law, because a human being is sinful from birth and even from conception. So the "law" in the narrow sense cannot be something a man delights in as we have here in the Psalm. The wider sense of "law" is the complete counsel of God: all of God's word, including both law and gospel. That "law and gospel" sense of torah is the meaning of "law" in places like Psalm 119:29, "be gracious to me through your law," in Psalm 119:174, "I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight," and Isaiah 42:4, "In his law the islands will put their hope."

The word for "meditate" in the parallel second half means "to mutter." In ancient times, it was considered rude and probably suspicious to read silently to oneself. People who could read, read aloud. But if they were reading only to themselves, they would probably mutter or mumble the words. And if a person were walking down the street and thinking about the Word of God, he would probably mutter to himself. It was a cultural habit with which we might not be comfortable, but the sense here is that a person who wanted to truly remember God's word would have it on his lips (not just a figure of speech) constantly.

The Shepherd of Hermas is a very early Christian book about a man who sees many visions and who appears to possess the spiritual gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 12:10, 14:22). In it, Hermas says "I was sitting in my house glorifying the Lord for everything I had seen and meditating on the commandments because they were beautiful, joyous, glorious and able to save the soul of man" (Similitude 6, chapter 1, verse 1). There, too, the sense of the laws and "commandments" is that they (1) are to be meditated upon and (2) that they are able to save souls. This is the sense we have in the Psalm. And so we mediate on the saving word of God.

That's how we can be prepared "in and out of season" for whatever happens (2 Timothy 4:2). The word of God should be part of our lives; and especially the great gospel of Jesus. It's because of Jesus that we know that the Lord has been gracious to us (Psalm 119:29), that we have the salvation we long for (Psalm 119:174), and it's in Jesus that we truly have hope (Isaiah 42:4).

O Lord, teach to meditate on your law and your gospel both day and night.