There are books that are read and books that are traversed. For Peter J. Kreeft, the Psalms belong to this second category: they are not a collection of pious texts, but a spiritual temple whose portico is Psalm 1, the door through which every believer enters to learn to pray, discern, and live according to God. That is why he opens his work The Wisdom of the Psalms with a resounding affirmation: this first psalm is the map that guides the Christian between two paths—the one that leads to life and the one that leads to nothingness—and the choice allows no neutrality.
The psalmist does not dwell on sociological nuances or psychological analyses; he simply describes the man who welcomes the Word and the one who rejects it. Kreeft insists that this radical contrast does not stem from moralistic simplification, but from the deepest spiritual reality: there are rooted lives and lives blown by the wind.
Happiness as fruit, not as conquest
The psalm begins with a word that, in our times, has been emptied until it has almost lost its meaning: “Blessed.” For Kreeft, this blessedness is not a fleeting feeling, nor romantic optimism, nor the satisfaction that the world promises. It is biblical happiness: that of the one who walks upright because he has placed his life under God’s light.
The key—says the author—lies in delighting in the law of the Lord. It is not about fulfilling commandments out of obligation, but about finding in the Word a rest for the soul, a nourishment that structures the heart and orients the intelligence. The happiness of the righteous does not arise from what he does, but from what he allows God to do in him.
The righteous as a tree: an image to learn to live
Among the most beautiful metaphors of the psalter is that of the tree planted by streams of water. Kreeft emphasizes that the tree does not feed itself: it receives, drinks, remains. Its fruitfulness does not depend on voluntaristic effort, but on its ability to stay rooted.
Thus is spiritual life: when man allows himself to be nourished by God, he bears fruit in due season, withstands adverse seasons, and does not wither. The author invites the reader to meditate on this image as an examination of conscience: what do we drink from?, what sustains us?, who determines the rhythm of our life? The Christian flourishes not by demand, but by permanence.
The fragility of the wicked: living without weight
In contrast, the psalm describes the wicked as chaff that the wind sweeps away. Kreeft does not interpret it as an insult, but as an x-ray of existence detached from God: light, scattered, without root or horizon. Living without reference to the truth makes everything interchangeable, volatile, inconsistent.
The author emphasizes that this image has a deeply contemporary character. Modern man—says he—often lives like chaff: moved by impulses, opinions, and emotional states, without a center that orders life. The decisive difference is not between strong and weak, but between rooted and wandering.
The chaff belongs to the field, but it has no weight. The righteous, on the other hand, has the weight of eternity.
God knows the way of the righteous
The psalm concludes with a brief and incisive phrase: “The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked perishes.” Kreeft insists that this “knows” is not a mere intellectual knowing, but an accompanying, protecting, blessing. God does not guarantee a life without trials, but a life that is not lost.
In the face of a world that multiplies shortcuts, self-affirmations, and quick recipes for well-being, Psalm 1 reminds us that true spiritual life begins by accepting that we are not our own guide. Only when man allows himself to be led does the path cease to be a labyrinth.
In The Wisdom of the Psalms, Peter J. Kreeft teaches us to read the first psalm as a mirror and as a path. A mirror that reveals who we really are and a path that invites us to choose where we want to root our life. A book that, without intending to, returns to the Christian soul its natural breathing: the prayer that arises from listening to God.