Pondering the Psalms (Psalm 1, Part 3)

My friend Frank and I have an agreement, a covenant, which we have followed for several years. We read the same chapter in God’s Word each day for a week and then drop each other a short email about what we have learned. We then move to the next chapter the next week. I describe our modest online Bible study here. You might want to try this with a friend or relative.

We’ve now embarked on a journey of reading through the book of Psalms! So this week we’re reading Psalm 1 each day for a week, then on to Psalm 2, etc. Whew! I’ll post a few comments on our Psalm of the week that I pray will be an encouragement to you.

Let’s think about this first verse just a bit more this morning.

1. In our verse the believer is to choose not to walk in step with the wicked, not to stand in the way that sinners take, and not to sit in the company of those who mock God’s truth. There are negatives associated with the Christian life.

2. “Stand in the way that sinners take” is rendered as “nor standeth in the way of sinners” in the King James Bible. But the meaning is not that we shouldn’t try to impede evil doers when they set out to do evil! The idea is that we don’t identify with or join forces with sinners in their evil course.

You may have heard the story about the man who had just arrived in heaven and he was being interviewed by St. Peter. “What good deed have you done to allow you into heaven?”, asked St. Peter. “Well,” said the man, “I saw a big, scary member of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club trying to steal a purse from an old lady. And I intervened!” “Wow,” said St. Peter. “You defended her? That’s was quite heroic. When did this happened?” The man said, “Oh, about 5 seconds ago.”

Today’s Challenge: The way that sinners take is away from the Lord and the truth of the gospel. Don’t physically or emotionally or intellectually side with sinners against God. You’ll lose. And you won’t be blessed!