PSALM 1 – THIS WAY AND THAT WAY – WHICH WAY ARE YOU ON? PART 1
PSALM 1 – THE TWO WAYS
This glorious psalm sets the division for all the psalms that follow. In the bible there are only two ways defined. The right and the wrong. God’s way and the devil’s way. Trust and disobedience. Good and evil.
VERSE 1. {{Psalm 1:1 How “blessed” is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers! (listen, linger, lounge)}}
(a). The verse spells out the attitude and walk of a man who is called “blessed”. There is a downward progression in the verse, and there are two scenes. One scene involves people and the other sets out locations. The people are wicked, sinners and scoffers. The locations are walk, stand and sit.
WALKING IN WICKED COUNSEL
The first description is simply, “Does not walk in the counsel of the wicked” and it is at that point where the whole direction goes wrong. Advice, instruction and agendas in the world often lie with academics and government advisors, but these are the verbal activists, the humanists and the anti-God psychologists and social reformers. These are the ones who bring in the wrong; who develop policies binding on society. They give the advice from black hearts. So many in a counselling role in this world are so lost themselves that it is true to say, the blind leading the blind. Beware of human philosophers and human advisors speaking about how to live life.
The Lord is warning us not to start at that first point. This is especially so now for the young people who have pressures on them we never had in days gone by. Society has moved into a post-Christian era when anything Christian in the western world is considered weak and dangerous to the mind’s development. Just 5 years ago (it is ending 2022 now) we would not have conceived the things that have rushed into government plans. Morality now comes from hell. Changes in sex, gender, discipline, family, priorities, WOKE, are all from the pit! Satan is the advisor of the world’s advisors, in the political system.
God calls the person who does not walk according to counsel of the wicked, “blessed”. We are walking in this world, through the philosophies and humanism, but we must keep right on walking. Do not stop. Do not start to take notice or allow your ear to entertain these anti-biblical ideas and agendas and positions. The universities operate fully on humanism, and atheism, and monstrously inflated egos of cleverness. It is just so, so difficult for the Christian young person to maintain his/her Christian position in that situation. I know of lives that have become shipwrecked because of university attendance.
PROTECT OUR YOUNG PEOPLE
If a person wants to go searching for sunken ships that are down 500 feet or more, one does not go out with a snorkel and goggles. It is that person who will be sunken in the depths in no time. That adventurer must be properly equipped so the depths and pressure and hazards will not overcome him. I see that like universities. The Christian there must be properly equipped or he/she will succumb to the hazards, the depths and the pressure.
There are only two ways I see for being fully equipped. A very sound knowledge of the bible is the first for David said, {{Psalm 119:10 “With all my heart I have sought You. Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Psa 119:11 Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against You.”}} NASB It is as if God’s word is our insulation. By knowing the word of God, we know the ground that supports us. By knowing the word we deflect the arrows of humanistic philosophy that attack us. How do we get our young people to be saturated with the word of God?
We MUST teach them. Churches fail people too many times. Church is not a happy glee club of superficiality, and “feel good” attitudes. Unless the man and woman of God is fully equipped, those who have the responsibility for that, have failed. Times have changed; they are more sinister and threatening, but the word of God has not failed. It is still the same sword and shield it has always been.
The second way is nurturing. Those in churches with responsibilities of stewardship and counselling and shepherding, teach your children and young people how to focus their lives in the bible. Not to do so, is to leave a life with an uncertain foundation to the mercy of the cyclone/hurricane/typhoon of demonic hatred and the world’s wisdom, and consequently, failure.
STANDING WITH SINNERS
(b). We have just looked at the first part of verse 1. Now comes the middle one - “nor stands in the path of sinners.” There has been a location stance here – the person who was walking is now standing. This reminds me of the old fairs where a mass of people would be, and walking back and forth all over the place but then you would see someone very gifted at communication and tricks who had captivated an audience who stood around being tempted to enter that tent to see some marvel, the sort of thing you’d see at fairs.
What is sad is that in life’s journey the same thing can happen. Instead of walking by, the person begins to entertain a certain idea or way of life or behaviour that is not Christian, and begins to get entangled with the dangerous thing (philosophy, humanism, morality). At that point the person is standing in the way of sinners.
The first part of verse1 introduced “wicked” counsellor. Now we have the path of the “sinner”. What is the difference in these two terms, if any? I think there is a difference. The wicked man has wickedness inside, the whole control of his life. The sinner actually puts that wickedness into practice.
The person who is caught out has walked (and should have kept on walking) but has stopped and now engages in sin. That is how the devil’s filthy evil works. It grabs your attention and works it’s evil way and causes a person to sin. Sin becomes a practice, hence “sinners”.
The wicked came first. Next came the sinners. The sinners are not necessarily academics – these are doers. They are the ones who go out and sin and give no regard to righteousness. The expression is “path of sinners,” which is a travelled way. It is a constant way of sin. Paths are often fixed through usage and these sinners have fixed their ways. Their sins may not be all that obvious, but sinners nevertheless in the eyes of the Lord, who demands righteousness.
THE WORST OF ALL – THE SCOFFERS
(c). The third part of verse 1 is this – “nor sits in the seat of scoffers.” The transition is now complete. The walking became standing and the standing became sitting. He whose kite is not tethered, will have it carried along by all prevailing winds. We spoke earlier about the tethering. That is our very deep foundation in the bible for it holds us to God. If you like, it is our tether line.
Scoffers are really nasty people. Their wickedness has turned them into awful sinners and in turn now arrogant, hateful scoffers. There have always been scoffers in the world. I reckon Noah had more than his share of them in 120 years of preaching, but there is something worse about the latter day scoffers (“mockers” in some versions). Peter wrote {{2Peter 3:3-4 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 2Pet 3:4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming for ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation?”}} These mocked about the promise of the Lord’s coming, but today they scoff at creation with evolution, and scoff at marriage with homosexuality, and scoff at God’s created gender with LGBTQIA+ and any other demonic distortion they can think of.
THE GREATEST DESTRUCTION OF SEXUALITY AND GENDER
In fact this “satanic, immoral disease” in the last year has developed into 2SLGBTQIA+ which is an acronym that means: [[2Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, + Pansexual + Agender + Gender Queer + Bigender + Gender Variant + Pangender. (2S is designated for Aboriginal sexuality).]] Is it little wonder the sword of the Lord is hovering over this world and is about to fall? “As it was in the days of Noah” – we are fast approaching that time which will reach maturity in the Tribulation. (Matthew 24:37-39). Yes, scoffers may think they have their way – for now – but very soon they will be calling for the mountains to fall on them – {{Revelation 6:16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.}}
Yes, “the seat of the scoffers” is the worst, and it is a bad place to be. Constant sinning makes for a callousness and hardness of heart and attitude, and these will scoff at Christians and mock Christianity. You will find them at the Sydney Mardi Gras, for example. That homosexual Mardi Gras is the biggest in the world, and attracts up to 500 000 watchers (that was in 2019) lining Sydney streets cheering them on, and millions more watch on television. They mock Christians and especially the Lord and Mary. Filthy creatures! They have progressed in walking along sinful paths, and are installed in influential seats where they have contact with society, and always in a bad way. These three groups from Verse 1 of Psalm 1, show the increasing evil which becomes the way of so many, but the word of God says that the man who is the opposite of that, is blessed.
LISTEN – LINGER – LOUNGE
We have mentioned the attitude or location associated with each of the three groupings – walk – stand – sit, or as I also term it, “listen – linger – lounge”. Beware of the fowler who wants to ensnare you, of the evil ones who spread nets for you. Evil is like the scammers from India who keep calling you by phone trying to steal your money. Notice the first one these – “walk in the counsel”. Don’t be trapped by listening to the wicked who want to take away your way of life by their subtle and corrupt philosophy and practice. Hold firm to the word of God. If you start listening and getting caught up, the seat of the scornful, in the end, awaits you.
There used to be a beach home along the beach at Currumbin I would always notice, because we passed that way every day when I was a kid on our yearly holidays. It was called “Linga Longa”, a very good catchy name for a holiday home. You’d holiday there and because it was delightful you wanted more. You’d want to linger longer which is what sin does to you. It creates a craving for more, like an addiction it but leads to the way of destruction. Lingering is the start of the downfall.
When one is content in sin and it becomes the way of life, you are so relaxed with the wicked ways that you just lounge around in sin’s parlour. The sinner does not realise there is a way that seemed right to him, but he finds out too late that that was the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12). When sin has the mastery all a man will do is lounge around in sin. Thus we have LISTEN – LINGER – LOUNGE.
ABRAHAM AND LOT
As for the “listen, linger, lounge”, we see that happening in Lot’s life. Abraham gave the choice to Lot as to where he would go to expand his herd and flock. We have it recorded here – {{Genesis 13:8-11 Then Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. Gen 13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me: if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.” Gen 13:10 Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere - this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah - like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar, Gen 13:11 so Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they SEPARATED from each other.”}}
Lot had listened to the stories of the delights of Sodom. He saw and had heard of the well-watered plains around Sodom and he made his choice and off he went. Then “listening” moved to “walking”, and he became involved in Sodom. Then “walking” moved to “lingering”, and not long after that, moved to “lounging” and we see him really involved in Sodom, in association with the sinners there. In fact he was seated in the gate, which meant he had a prominent position in Sodom, the filthy, sinful place. It was difficult for the angel to move the Lots out before destruction, and even Lot’s wife hankered after Sodom, and was judged and died right there in the midst of escape. This all started when Lot lifted up his eyes and saw. Beware of that first step for evil has a progression.
Just before we finish Lot, see that last verse of the account – {{Genesis 13:11 “so Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they SEPARATED from each other.”}} That was more than a separation of location; it was also a separation in godliness, in growing with God and being where we most please God. Lot missed out. Do you want to miss out on God’s blessing for your life? God spells it out in verse 1 of Psalm 1. Being blessed comes from not doing the negatives of verse 1, BUT in doing the positives of verse 2. We will now consider verse 2.
DELIGHT AND MEDITATION
VERSE 2. {{Psalm 1:2 “BUT his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night,”}}
This is a very significant “BUT” that begins the verse, because the contrast is between verse 1 and now what is to follow. This Psalm is sometimes called “The Psalm of the Two Ways”. In an ancient Christian writing of the middle to late first century called The Didache, the teaching on the Two Ways was prominent. The bible supports that idea because there is a way of life and a way of death. {{Jeremiah 21:8 “You shall also say to this people, Thus says the LORD,” Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”}}
However the actions of Psalm 1 verse 1 are not the way of the godly man or the man who is blessed. His occupation is not with sin but with the Lord. The godly man has a delight that does not walk in the sinner’s way, but is occupied with God’s way. God’s way is known through His word so it is in that word where his delight is found. The word of God to the Jew was the Law, so it is the Law that creates delight for him. Psalm 112:1 tells us that the man who fears the Lord, and who greatly delights in His commandments, is blessed. Psalm 37:4 tells us to delight ourselves in the LORD and He will give us the desires of our heart. These desires I feel are all God based, not material. Paul said, {{Philippians 3:10 “that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings.”}} His great delight was to know the Lord.
{{Psalm 40:8 “I delight to do Your will, O my God. Your Law is within my heart,”}} is from a Messianic psalm and is the Lord Jesus is speaking these words. It is so for us as well. When His law or His word is in our hearts we delight to do His will. The bible is our rock of support; it is our lamp and light; it is a hammer to smash sin’s rock in pieces; it is milk to the thirsty, growing soul; it is the resource we hide in our hearts that we don’t sin against God.
This verse next is a wonderful verse – {{Psalm 94:19 “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.”}} In the valley with anxious thoughts is when God sends us consolation which will delight us. How can the reality of this be ours? Delight for the soul, can only come through meditation in God’s word. That is why the next part of this verse 2 speaks of meditation.
VERSE 2. WHAT IS IT TO MEDITATE?
It is to consider or give thought to; to concentrate on, and to hold and absorb. It is not the opening of one’s mind to a nothingness hoping it will be filled with some enlightenment as these eastern religions tell people, or as the New Age people want society to do, for the devil will very quickly fill one’s mind with triviality and worthlessness. True meditation is allowing the Holy Spirit in quietness and thought, to enlarge your spiritual understanding around a word or phrase or a thought from the word of God. In David’s case it is meditation on the commands of the Law. Psalm 119 is full of the benefits of meditation in the word of God.
As an example, in this psalm David takes the imagery of a tree. What can we understand by the tree image and how can it apply to us? Thinking into that is to meditate on the word. God is good – in what way is He good to me? Walk in the light – how can we do that, and what needs to be in place for that to happen? Meditate on a word, a verse, a phrase or concept but place that meditation in the school of the Holy Spirit, and the curriculum is the Word of God. I suppose preachers who present, and open up the bible, do it through meditation in the word.
Meditation is a rich way of expanding your knowledge of God and growing in confidence in your life with the Lord. David meditated on the Lord always and God said of him he was a man after God’s own heart. I glanced over Psalm 119 earlier but that psalm is a psalm linking the word of God with obedience and meditation. Many references in that Psalm link delight with the word of God.
WE WILL DO PART 2 NEXT TIME.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
