The Two Ways and the Anointed King
A Formation Commentary on Psalms 1-14
By Will Bourne · Bourne Again Media LLC
Psalms 1–14 · 1–14
The journey of this volume
Where is your life taking root? Psalms opens with two ways, then leads into kingship, danger, prayer, and refuge. This volume invites you to examine the voices shaping your decisions and discover a steadier life in God’s instruction. Begin with Psalm 1 and make room for patient growth whose fruit serves others.
Which voices are shaping the person I am becoming?
What you’ll explore
- Counsel and daily attention
- Delight in God’s instruction
- Patient growth and fruitful love
- Refuge beneath the faithful King
Rooted before productive
Begin with Psalm 1 in your Bible. Read Psalm 1 in your Bible. Notice the contrasts between the planted tree and the scattered chaff. Ask what nourishes each way of life before measuring what it produces.
The following reading summarizes Chapter 1, “The Tree beside the Streams,” with a selected excerpt from the manuscript.
Psalm 1 begins the Psalter by asking where a life is going. Counsel can become a familiar pattern, and that pattern can settle into a posture we barely notice. The contrast between tree and chaff invites examination of what repeatedly interprets our choices, desires, and treatment of others.
The commentary places delight before performance. God’s instruction is a gift through which we learn to know Him, rather than a score by which we establish our worth. Meditation gives that instruction time to reach ordinary habits. Reading slowly can reveal what hurried information leaves untouched.
A tree receives its life and bears fruit in season. This makes room for hidden growth, recovery, and waiting. Faithfulness cannot be reduced to visible output or unrestricted success. The question becomes whether our roots are receiving God’s life and whether its fruit brings truth, mercy, and patience to our neighbors.
Rooted before productive
The righteous person is like a tree planted beside streams of water. The image carries stability, dependence, nourishment, patience, and fruit. A tree does not produce water. It receives water. It does not create seasons. It lives faithfully through them. It does not become mature because it announces that it is mature. Growth appears through rootedness, endurance, and fruit in its proper time.
Will Bourne · From Commentary 1, “The Tree beside the Streams,” in The Two Ways and the Anointed King
Following Christ through this movement
The commentary sees the righteous life of Psalm 1 fulfilled in Jesus. He refuses corrupt counsel and remains faithful to the Father through suffering. His obedience leads through the cross to resurrection, so the psalm cannot be reduced to a guarantee of easy circumstances.
Christ also gives life to people who have followed the wrong way. Repentance and faith bring us to His grace; His Spirit forms obedience within us. We can return to His teaching with dependence and hope rather than trying to manufacture spiritual maturity alone.
Continue in Scripture
Jeremiah 17:5–8 · Matthew 7:13–27 · John 15:1–17
Read these passages alongside the selected psalm. Notice how its invitation develops across Scripture and reaches toward Christ.
A question to carry
What recurring voice encourages contempt or fear in me? What would receiving God’s instruction with delight change in one ordinary decision?
Stay with one person or situation that comes to mind. Notice what this passage brings into view before deciding how to respond.
Back to section choices ↑One faithful step
Return to Psalm 1 slowly for several days. Choose one recurring source of unhelpful counsel to reduce, and make that space available for Scripture. Offer one small fruit of that attention through patience, honesty, or care for a neighbor.
Back to section choices ↑A prayer for the journey
Father, plant my life in Your truth. Give me delight in Your Word and patience with the growth I cannot hurry. Through Jesus and by Your Spirit, make my life fruitful in love for others. Amen.
Back to section choices ↑The formation emphasis in this volume
Will’s opening commentary joins the comfort of the Psalms to their invitation to be formed. The reader is asked to examine counsel, attention, and desire before judging visible results.
Its tree image makes dependence central. Growth is received, and seasons matter. The manuscript resists using prosperity or outward energy as proof of someone’s spiritual worth.
The movement finds its fullness in Jesus, whose grace welcomes repentance and whose Spirit forms fruit for others. This volume offers a doorway into prayer that also changes how we walk.
Editorial summary of Will Bourne’s manuscript.
Back to section choices ↑