Psalm 1.1-6
The dividing line between the godly and the ungodly could not be defined more clearly than in Psalm 1. The godly person chooses the Law of the Lord as his guide; the ungodly has only his own thoughts. The godly person delights in the Law, the ungodly scorns the Truth.
Every choice has its consequence. What are the outcomes of obedience to the Law? The righteous person is described as being like a tree transplanted to the wet, fertile soil by an irrigation channel. The roots of the tree sink deep and drink deeply of the life giving water.
Being so nourished, this tree fulfills its purpose: fruit-bearing. Fruit trees normally produce their fruit in the spring of the year. The tree is reliable, bearing fruit at the right time. Further, this tree’s leaves never hang limply, but are always fresh, bright, and firm, glowing with the light of life.
On the other hand, "the ungodly are not so." The scornful are like chaff, lacking life and substance. Wholly without any sign of life, chaff is rootless, being blown wherever the wind wills. Chaff offers no nutrition, and in itself has no vitality.
The righteous person wisely chooses his way in life. By being rooted in the Law, the godly person knows the empty vanity and aimlessness of the way of the ungodly. So, the righteous person chooses to act in obedience to the Truth.
The ungodly, having rejected God and having scorned his Law, lack ethical content in their considerations and conduct. In the moment of accountability, he will not be able to stand. When required to defend for his life’s choices, the ungodly is unable to offer even a word of vindication. Thus, he has no ground upon which to stand. Instead, he required to bow on bended knee before the judge, without hope of justification.
Nor can he find a place in the congregation of the righteous. The scornful gathered themselves as a congregation of the cynical. The choice to disdain God’s Truth sealed the fate of the disdainful. Their exclusion from the gathering of the righteous results from their own choices, and so, they deny themselves any right to congregate with God’s people. They have no voice.
The counsels and deliberations of the ungodly are doomed to failure. But, God is intimately aware of and involved in the way of the righteous. The ungodly walk apart from God; the godly walk with him. The way of sinners is doomed to fail, being based solely in the wit and wisdom of frail humans. The way of the righteous is eternal in its nature, being rooted in the very person of God and his revealed Law.
For those who read the Psalms, who meditate upon their truths, and who apply those principles to their lives, godly happiness results. The righteous do not roam aimlessly, "carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming" (Eph. 4.14). Living on the firm foundation of the Truth produces a life of substance, meaning and purpose.
God and his Law cannot be idly rejected and scorned. Death and emptiness are the dire ends of such a choice.
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