The general rule of thought is that you, each of us, is the summation of the 5 or 6 people whom we associate and surround ourselves with the most daily and weekly. Go ahead, think of the people you are spending time or hanging out with on a regular basis. Do they reflect your values and vice versa? Do you see them influencing you or you influencing them?
Ask yourself, are you the sum total reflection of the people with whom you associate? Are you becoming like them? More importantly, is that a good or a bad thing? The scripture says, ‘Do not be led astray, “Evil company corrupts good habits.” 1Corinthians 15:33
And that brings us to our verse:
Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”
Please read, reread and memorize this verse. It appears it is largely forgotten in this country.
The man who is characterised as blessed is first described according to the things he does NOT do, then according to what he actually does: he is not a companion of the unrighteous, but he abides by the revealed word of God. Then, the godless, whose moral condition is lax, devoid of stay–support or propping up (Psalm 18:18), and as it were gone beyond the reasonable bounds of true unity, lacking in stability of character, so that they are like a tossed and stormy sea, as in Isaiah 57:20, “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”
The truly blessed man lives this way for it is true happiness to his soul. The word Blessed is found in Strong’s concordance as H835, and means Happy or Happiness. We find this word used at: Deuteronomy 33:29, “Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.” Again at: 2 Chronicles 9:7, “Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.” It is also at: Psalm 2:12b, “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” There are many other references throughout the Bible.
If we took a survey we would probably find that all people abhor misery and want to be happy. Happiness is what they seek after. Yet, just like that old pop song says, many are “looking in all the wrong places.” Man’s heart is so perverted, that it seeks happiness where it cannot be found; and in things which are naturally and morally unfit to bring it to fruition. The Psalmist shows the true path to happiness in Psalm 1:1.
The next portion of this verse reveals the slippery slope of how a man can easily fall from the blessing and happiness of the LORD to the curses and doom of death, by:
1. Who he continually follows and converses, thus by association gets his counsel
2. Who he associates, abides or continually dwells
3. Who he remains and creates ties to or marries
The verse says that the Blessed or Happy man:
1. Walks NOT in the counsel of the ungodly… The Hebrew word rendered Ungodly, רָשָׁע or râshâ‛, pronounced raw-shaw’, is From Strong’s H7561; “morally wrong; concretely an (actively) bad person: – + condemned, guilty, ungodly, wicked (man), that did wrong.” It means to be unjust; rendering to none his due; withholding from God, society, and himself, what belongs to each. Ungodly – he who does not have Christ in him; who is without God in the world. It is the characteristic of the man, always and habitually, that he does not walk with the LORD; it has not only been true in the past, but it is true in the present, and will be true in the future. It is that which distinguishes the man.
The word “walk” is often used in the Scriptures to denote a way of life or conduct. He does not take counsel of them as to the way in which he should live, but from the law of the Lord, Psalm 1:2. This would include such things as these: he does not follow the advice of sinners, 2 Samuel 16:20; 1 Kings 1:12; he does not execute the purposes or plans of sinners, Isaiah 19:3; he does not frame his life according to their views and suggestions. In his plans and purposes of life he is segregated and independent of them, and looks to the law and ways of the LORD for the path he must follow. The ungodly man is unconcerned about “religion”; he is neither zealous for his own salvation, nor for that of others: and he counsels and advises those with whom he converses to adopt his plan, and not trouble themselves about praying, reading, repenting, etc. He indicates there is no need for such things; live an honest life, make no fuss about faith, and you will fare well enough at last. This is the same reasoning as taking a boat into the ocean with no rudder or steering device and expecting to make a set course. Jeremiah 7:24, “But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.”
2. Nor standeth in the way of sinners… The word “sinner” is the Hebrew, חַטָּא or chaṭṭâ’, pronounced khat-taw from H2398; “a criminal, or one is accounted guilty: – offender, sinful, sinner.” It means to “miss the mark,” “to pass over the prohibited limits,” “to transgress.” This man not only does no good, but he does evil. The former was without God, but not desperately wicked. This indicates he goes where they usually go. His standing there would be as if he waited for them, or as if he desired to be associated with them. Instead of passing along in his own regular and proper activities, he stations himself in the path where sinners usually go, and lingers and loiters there. Thus, he indicates a desire to be with them. This is often illustrated by men who place themselves, as if they had nothing to do, in the usual situation where the wicked pass along, or where they may be met with at their usual “hangouts” on the corners of the streets or their usual gathering spots. These violate positive and known obligations to do right.
The sinner has his own way of transgressing; one is a drunkard, another dishonest, another a cheater, liar or thief. Few are given to every specific sin. There are many covetous men who abhor drunkenness; many drunkards who despise dissemblers and other liars; many liars who despise gluttons, etc. Each has his own sin; therefore, says the prophet, let the wicked forsake His Way. Now, blessed is he who stands not with such men. 1 Timothy 1:9-10, says, “the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine…” Psalm 26:4, “I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.”
3. Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. This word scornful is the Hebrew, לוּץ, lûts, pronounced loots, meaning, “to make mouths at, that is, to scoff; hence (from the effort to pronounce a foreign language) to interpret, or (generally) intercede: – ambassador, have in derision, interpreter, make a mock, mocker, scorn (-er, -ful), teacher.” This implies still greater deliberation and determination of character than either of the other words used. The man referred to here does not casually and accidentally walk along with them, nor put himself in their way by standing where they are ordinarily to be found; but he has become one of them by occupying a seat with them; thus deliberately associating with them. He has an established residence among the wicked; he is permanently one of their number. This denotes a higher and more determined grade of wickedness than that mentioned prior, and refers to the consummation of a depraved character, the last stage of wickedness, when God and sacred things are treated with contempt and derision–this is the reprobate mind referred to in Romans 1:28 and 2 Timothy 3:8.
There is hope of a man as long as he will treat virtue and things of the LORD with some degree of respect; there is little or none when he has reached the point in his own character in which virtue and piety are regarded only as subjects for ridicule and scorn. We see this in many pockets of our society today, even in upper social and economic echelons. The scorner has brought, in reference to himself, all righteousness and any moral feeling to an end. He has sat down – is utterly confirmed in impiety, and makes a mock at sin. His conscience is seared; and he is a believer in all unbelief. This is the deist, atheist, etc., who make a mock of every thing sacred whether he is President or pauper. Jeremiah 15:17, “I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.”
These are the gradations of evil, the principles upon which they act, the cultivating of their evil society, and the permanent conforming to the conduct of the wicked, who are described by these three terms, of which the last is indicative of the boldest impiety (compare Psalm 26:4, Psalm 26:5; Jeremiah 15:17). There is a state of mind which the ungodly cherish, seek to associate with and delight in that it promotes and practices, and thus he creates evil behavior while scoffing and condemning righteousness conduct.
This evil is created even when government’s create and promote it: Micah 6:16, “For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.”
To recap: There is, first, casual walking with the wicked, or accidentally falling into their company; there is then a more deliberate interest and leaning toward their society, indicated by a voluntary putting of oneself in places where they usually congregate, and standing to wait for them; and then there is a deliberate and determined purpose of associating with them, or of becoming permanently one of them, by regularly sitting among them.
This is the same for those with whom they associate. They are, first, irreligious men in general; then, those who have advanced in depravity to a point whereas to disregard known duty, and to violate known obligations; and then, those who become confirmed in infidelity, and who openly mock at virtue, and scoff mentally and verbally at the claims of righteous living. This is a description of what takes place around us everyday in America and in the world.
Those who casually and accidentally walk with the wicked, listening to their counsel, will soon learn to place himself in their way, and to wait for them, desiring their society, and will ultimately be identified with open scoffers; and he who indulges in one form of depravity, or in the neglect of truth in any way, will, unless restrained and converted, be likely to run through every grade of wickedness, until he becomes a confirmed scoffer at all Biblical truth and righteousness. The sentiment in this verse is, that the man who is truly blessed is a man who does none of these things. For it is written, Be ye holy for I am holy, says the LORD. I Peter 1:16
Michael Reed is Publisher of The Standard newspaper, print and online, and TheStandardSC YouTube channel where many video reports may be found. Please share freely and donate to The Standard on this page to assure the continued availability of news that is ignored too often by the dominant media.
RSS - Posts