A user’s guide to being human

PSALM 1 & JOSHUA 1 · THE GATEWAY TO THE PSALMS
Six verses at the gateway to the book of Psalms: what the genuinely good life is — and how to start living it and not stop.

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water… whatever he does prospers!” (Psalm 1:3)

Why Psalm 1 of all psalms

Six verses at the gateway to the book of Psalms. They answer a single question: what the genuinely good life is — and how to start living it and not stop.

1
Reality outside, reality inside

Genesis describes how the world around a human being is arranged. The Psalms map what is inside him — the joys and the struggles, the celebrations and the nights. Do you want to understand how a person works on the inside? Read the Psalms.

Jewish interpreters also hear, at the heart of the Bible’s first word — bereshit, “in the beginning” — the word ashrei, “blessed”. Exactly the word the Psalms open with.

2
The same recipe as Joshua

After forty years in the desert the people are about to enter the promised land. Joshua takes over the leadership and the Lord himself speaks to him — and in places his advice sounds indistinguishable from Psalm 1. See the parallel below.

3
The billboards of happiness don’t work

Anthony Bourdain had the dream job — he travelled, ate and talked with the most interesting people in the world. And he took his own life. The failed sock salesman living at his mum’s wasn’t thinking about suicide. The world’s recipes for a good life simply don’t work. (two stories from Dave Chappelle)

Joshua 1 ↔ Psalm 1

The commander on the threshold of the land and the person praying on the threshold of the Psalms are given the same foundation — in places in the very same words:

JOSHUA 1:8 — ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE LAND
PSALM 1:2–3 — ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE PSALMS
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.”
TORAH
“…but his delight is in the law of the Lord.”
“Meditate (hagah) on it day and night.”
HAGAH
“On his law he meditates (hagah) day and night.”
“Then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will act wisely.”
PROSPERING
“Whatever he undertakes prospers.”

The same foundation for conquering a land and for prayer: God’s word in your mouth, day and night — and the way will prosper.

Crossroads

Psalm 1 feels sorry for its readers — the way Jesus felt for the crowds when he kept repeating “blessed… blessed… blessed” on the mountain. So right at the gateway it draws a map: two paths, one tree, no third option. Walk through stops 1–7.

LIFEHAPPINESS?HAPPINESS NOWMORE OF EVERYTHING!a tree by running waterfruit in its season · leaves that never wither (Psalm 1:3)chaff in the windthe wind blows it away (Psalm 1:4)channels of water — a source that never dries upthe narrow paththe motorway of the majoritythe counsel of the wickedthe way of sinnersthe seat of scoffersyouEcclesiastes & Bourdain: “meaningless!”Two paths. Only one leads to life.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
THE MAP OF PSALM 1
The landscape of the good life
Six verses, two paths, one tree — the answer to the question of what the good life really is and how to live it.
→ walk through stops 1–7

God gave the world an order the way he gave it gravity. Ignore it and you bump your nose — it isn’t punishment, it’s connection. Either you are plugged into the source of life, or you are not.

If people were delivered by stork

…they would come in a box with a little booklet headed Psalm 1 and subtitled a user’s guide to being human.

Six verses — read in a minute. But they are the key to how a human being works. Skim this material carelessly, start improvising, and the person breaks.

The whole psalm translated into manual-speak →

ENCLOSED WITH EVERY HUMAN BEING SUPPLIED
Psalm 1 · a user’s guide to being human
ORIGINAL · BIBLE21
IN MANUAL-SPEAK
1
“Blessed is the one who does not walk as the wicked advise, who does not stand on the path of sinners, who does not sit in the company of scoffers.”
The human being (hereinafter “the Device”) works properly as long as you don't follow the advice of saboteurs, don't try pressing random buttons and don't despise the manual.
2
“The law of the Lord is his delight – on that Law he meditates day and night.”
You will come to love the great manual all the more, the more days and nights you spend awake with it.
3
“He is like a tree planted by the river, which bears its fruit in its season, whose leaves never wither – whatever he does prospers!”
The device will then remain fully functional, will make life simpler for you and for the people around you, and will hold up even in adverse conditions. Cheers!
4
“But it will go differently for the wicked: they will be like chaff that the wind drives away.”
Those who deliberately damage the device will be left with nothing but a pile of scrap.
5
“The wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.”
Saboteurs will be held to account.
6
“The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will come to nothing.”
The manufacturer provides regular servicing free of charge. Deliberately damaged devices are left to their fate.
Keep for future reference. Servicing is provided by the manufacturer — around the clock and free of charge.
Passion, not paragraphs

“The law of the Lord is his delight.” (Psalm 1:2) — Except that “law” is an unfortunate translation. And so, really, is “meditates”: in Hebrew both are more physical than you would expect.

torah
✕

Not a collection of statutes. What you may do, what you may not, and what the penalties are — that is not what the person of Psalm 1 is hooked on.

✓

God’s instruction and wisdom. The whole of Scripture belongs to it — the Psalms and all of Jesus’ teaching. In it a person finds direction and the source of life.

And because a Jew usually heard the word first and then repeated it to himself, “meditation” is physical too: hagah — to mutter. Israel’s way of getting a text from the eyes into the mouth and from the mouth into the body →

I hear & read
faith comes from hearing (Rom 10:17)
I mutter it
“let it not depart from your mouth” (Josh 1:8)
it soaks into the bones
the body remembers it
I repeat what I hearit soaks inand again tomorrow
DAY AND NIGHT
hagah
Hebrew for “to meditate” = to recite under your breath
A Jew had no Bible at home: he heard the word from others and recited it until it soaked in.With the Psalms you are feeding and praying at the same time.
How to start

Not by a big effort at the decisive moment — by a small habit. A few weeks are enough to make a habit stick.

Detox first
sour gummy worms

Sit a nineteenth-century person down in front of Dune and they would have to be carried out of the cinema — we just blink. And once you have polished off a bag of sour gummy worms, you won’t even taste a menu aiming for a Michelin star. An ancient Jew lived in a culture without images or likenesses: a poem was the most colourful thing he ever met — that is why he could savour the Psalms. Want to savour them too? Cut back on your media diet. A little restraint does more than good.

1
The nudge card

A slip of paper with tick boxes. An outward marker holds the rhythm until it becomes flesh — a few weeks is enough.

2
A prayer first

Briefly, in your own words: “Speak, your servant is listening.” Reading is a conversation, not a task.

3
Start with Luke

And watch the series The Chosen alongside it — the characters and the connections come alive.

4
Ask questions

Claude will do. Even better: find someone you can send your questions to — or a small group to read with.

5
Two colours

With a pencil, underline whatever raises questions or speaks to you. With a highlighter, one or two words per paragraph: what the author is getting at.

6
Mutter

One verse a day under your breath, on the way somewhere if you like. Hagah: you feed and pray at the same time.

“Right now” doesn’t work. Spiritual tourists want the experience immediately: shut yourself into a dark room, keep a long fast — and now let’s have it! (M. O. Vácha) But we can’t ignore the way God usually chooses to show himself: his quiet voice only makes sense in the context of a whole life with him — like holistic medicine, not a one-off pill. (Dallas Willard)

map of the training →
Sources
A sermon by MH — Psalm 1 / Joshua 1: a user’s guide to being human, the crossroads, hagah
Scripture — Psalm 1 · Josh 1:1–9 · Rom 10:17 · Matt 5:3–12 (quoted from the Bible21 translation)
Dave Chappelle — two stories: Anthony Bourdain & the sock salesman
The book of Ecclesiastes — a report from the end of the motorway: “vanity of vanities”
Lion Feuchtwanger — The Jewish War, p. 50: a world without images
M. O. Vácha · Dallas Willard — spiritual tourists · the quiet voice in the context of a whole life

More infographics

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