I love to take walks in the morning, especially in the fall of the year when the air is crisp and cool. The days of hot steamy Alabama summers turn into a delight with colors bursting in the sunlight. The humidity of summer is gone, and you feel as if the air is fresh and clean. This is also how I feel when I’ve had a fresh spiritual walk with the Lord in the morning. I like to pray and praise Him for His goodness as I adore His character traits, He exhibits daily to us. These thoughts bring me to a greater, more serious walk, and that is my spiritual walk. In Psalm 1:1, we are given some places not to walk and where we should walk as a Christian.
First, we are not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly. In this life we will have many paths we must walk. Some paths we will cross, turn back from, or we will follow. Your path will be determined by who you listen to, and who is guiding you. Where do you get your counsel? Is it Bible based and according to the context of the scripture? Anyone can give you counsel, it’s all around us with self-help books, the internet, or messages at church. It is everywhere what makes the difference is your listening and application. There are more people who will give you bad counsel than there are that will offer you sound biblical counseling. It is easy for us to listen to the ones who don’t challenge us to take personal responsibility for our own thoughts and actions. It’s easy to see things the way we want to and not the way they are. Every situation is an opportunity to make a decision. Each decision will have eternal consequences. The laws of science that God put in place before the creation teach us that for every action there is a reaction. How you react will depend on who you are listening to. If your counsel turns you to seek your own way, determining you will not allow anyone to treat you in a way you don’t like, then you are not thinking biblically. Jesus, the King of Kings, was treated awful, and sometimes it was by His own disciples, but his reaction was not to push people away, clam up, think negative thoughts, or retaliate. His reaction was to see the bigger picture and understand that we all have a sinful nature, and we will mess up. He went to the Father, He prayed for all His followers including us. The most beautiful passage He prays for us is in John 19:9-11. It’s so moving when you stop and meditate on it that it deserves its own devotional!
In Psalm 1:1 we are not to stand in the way of sinners. This is implying a little stronger desire to be on the path with sinners. The word standing implies he is waiting for them. It is out of a desire to be associated with them, to observe for himself if he is missing out on something fun, or intriguing. Whatever they are doing is alluring to him and he wants to find out more. Those who are idle and looking for something to do, often find themselves in situations they would never have been in if they had been busy for the Lord. He is lining himself up with sinners that willfully sin.
Next, Psalm 1:1 teaches us to not “sit” in the seat of the scornful. This is an even more deliberate action to engage in the activities of those who don’t know the Lord. It is a determination to follow their path rather than the Lord’s. This man has toyed with the idea of their lifestyle and now the temptation is beyond his control. He’s now one of them! No longer does he feel the pains of guilt from conviction of the Holy Spirit, he is living it up and enjoying himself. Will he come to a time when God will deal with him again? Maybe, but this man’s heart is far gone from the tender heart he once had. If we know someone like this, we need to pray that God would get their attention before it is too late.
The psalmist is warning us of the dangers of those who do not delight in serving the Lord and following strong after Him. Most of all he gives us the beauty of following hard after the Lord. The path to that beauty is a continual path. It is a 24/7 desire to know Him and meditate on His truths. It is a relationship stronger than any other that gives direction, security, and love that cannot be matched on this earth.
Psalm 1:1-2 “Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditates day and night.”
If that were not enough, we are reminded In John 17:9-11 that Jesus is praying for us. If we have surrendered to Him as Lord and Savior and are living obedient to the Word, we are His. He is in Heaven speaking to His Father on our behalf. He has provided everything we need to beat the temptations to sin. Hallelujah, you can’t get better than that!
John 17:9-11 “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.”
