Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 1: 1-6, NKJV
Dear Lord, may our eyes be open to the truth in Your Word, for Christ’s sake; Amen
Today, our Scripture is about the two ways. The right way, and the wrong way. In the final analysis, these are really the only two ways that exist. Sometimes because the right way seems too narrow, and the wrong way is too slippery, we seek to invent a third way, that is neither right nor wrong. Such a way does not exist.
In one of our devotionals I mentioned that when people are being trained to recognize counterfeit money, the training consists of knowing everything about the genuine, so that you know, at a glance, what the genuine looks like. Therefore, anything other than the genuine, must be counterfeit. I agree completely with that method of training. I believe that more time should be dedicated to training our minds to think in positive terms. Very often, we hear people justifying why they watch this or that program; or read this, or that book; by saying that they do it in order to recognize evil, and shun it. I humbly believe that this is neither a safe, nor a wise choice.
Friends, “we are shaped in iniquity,” and conceived in sin (Psalm 51: 5). Evil seems to be in our DNA, as it were! Nobody has to teach a newborn baby to be selfish. It seems to happen, naturally! We do not have to fill our minds with evil in order to shun it. God, in His endless mercy and love, has already given us the formula to accomplish this, in Psalm 119: 9-11! Whenever we expose ourselves to evil, by reading about it, or looking at it, or talking about it, we are opening the avenues to the soul, where are stored, “the issues of life” (Proverbs 4: 23). This can be very dangerous! In our Scripture for today, God seems to be doing several things:
1) Encouraging us to avoid evil. Blessed (or happy) is the man, woman, boy, or girl, who does not, walk in ungodly counsel; stand in sinful paths, or sit in scornful places. Notice the progressiveness of familiarity with evil: you walk, you linger, then you relax, and become comfortable with it.
2) Teaching us what is good. Delight in the law of God. Make it your study day and night. Stating it differently, feed upon the Word! Make it your constant meditation.
3a) Showing us the results of our choices. Those who make God their choice, the result is fertility. You bear fruit within the season, and in abundance. There is health and prosperity. When we who are the branches are connected to the vine we bear much fruit (John 15: 1-5)
3b) The other side of this coin is that the ungodly, are unstable, and are carried away by any trend, just as the wind drives the chaff. Therefore, when all is said and done, their place will not be found among the righteous in the judgment (Zechariah 3: 7).
The result will be based on which way we choose today, there are only two ways: the right way and the wrong way; the way of life, or the way of death. God loves you and pleads with you, “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30: 19).