I. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;”
This verse has a distinct structure in it that is very important. Notice: the man first walks in the counsel of the ungodly. He is going around, living his daily life, when he hears evil counsel from the ungodly. In a good many situations it doesn’t sound that bad. So, he compromises his convictions and adopts that evil principle (or lack thereof) in his every day life. As you see in the verse, he is soon on the path of sinners, the very way that leads to destruction. It does not take long, then, for him to belong with the wicked. He is there, sitting in his home and scorning all righteous things. That is the result of compromise in our lives. Proverbs 4:14 also commands us not to enter the path of the wicked, for “they do not rest unless they cause someone to fall.” There is an intense spiritual struggle going on, which we always need to remind ourselves of, and pray about, daily. The evil one and those who serve and follow him, whether knowingly or not, are always trying to make the true disciples of Christ stumble, for Proverbs 4 states, “they do not rest unless they have done evil,” and Psalm 36 says that a wicked person “devises wickedness on his bed.” That man who withstands the wiles and temptations of the devil will be blessed, if not materially on this earth than, in heaven. Below are some ideas, by no means exhaustive, on how to help prevent us from “walking in the counsel of the ungodly…standing in the path of sinners…and sitting in the seat of the scornful.”
- Pray daily, even hourly, about all of the areas in your life that you know you stumble in, such as: pride, honoring parents, teasing, humility, etc.
- Again, always be aware that Satan is striving to make you stumble. You should be striving to obey God and be that “blessed man.” There is no neutrality. The Lord Jesus said, “he who is not with Me is against Me.”
- Pray that the LORD would grant you discernment to tell between right, and that which the wicked have invented to look almost right.
- And finally, pray that God would give you strength and determination, in Christ, to withstand the temptations of the devil.
II. “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.”
The man will not blessed who:
- Thinks Scripture “monotonous” or boring,”
- Would rather read for leisure, do the computer, or even do school work in the morning instead of picking up his Bible and seeking God in his personal devotions,
- Who only opens his Bible once a week at Church or another so called “religious event,”
- And during the rest of the week doesn’t pay any attention to what he says he believes or what he heard preached last Sunday.
Unless that man has a spiritual revival and radically changes his ways, he will be ending up in Hell. But the man who takes real delight; real pleasure in God’s Holy Word, is the man who will be bountifully blessed by the LORD. The man who does truly delight in God’s law will want to study it. Not just once a week at “religious time,” but when walks by the way, when he gets up, and when he lies down. He will pray without ceasing for his family, those he loves, and even his enemies. As it says in Psalm 119:14: He will “[rejoice] in the way of [His] testimonies, as much as in all riches.”
III. “He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not whither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”
This passage, and indeed quite a bit more of the Psalm, is written as a simile. It sets up the tree as a man and, I believe, the rivers of water as Christ. We as Christians are like trees: we cannot flourish without the living water of the Christ. Because of this water sustaining and feeding us, we will bear fruit by which we shall be known to the world and to other brethren. Some Christian “fruits” that we should be showing are love for friends and family, joy in the gospel, peace in our lives, righteousness and holiness, and much more. If this man does not put other tings before these “fruits” than he very well might get worldly possessions as well, from God. An example of this is shown in 1 Kings with the story of Solomon. But the example works both ways: because of his great wealth and power Solomon fell into grave and distinctly disobedient sin. He who has earthly things is MORE likely to forget Him who gave them to him. Cotton Mather, an English Puritan who came to America, is quoted as saying, “Religion gave birth to prosperity, and the daughter ate the mother.” We need to be careful that we do not slack off in our obedience to Christ, if and when he gives us this prosperity.
IV. “The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.”
Many people today are deceived by the vain pleasures and sins of this world. They are deceived by the devil. He seeks to make these pleasures look as juicy and sweet as possible to our fleshly eyes. In reality, however, those sins that seem so pleasurable; those temptations that look and sound so good, will only wreck havoc and destruction to those who fall prey to them. They are meaningless! When you are called to judgment they will fly away like the chaff. You cannot take them with you after death. Those who practice these sins—the ungodly—will also be swept away; and if you are one of them, you will be too! If we ever start to compromise our beliefs, as shown in verse 1, the same thing that happened to that man will happen to us! If we fellowship with the ungodly, listen to the ungodly, or follow the trends of the ungodly, then we ourselves will become ungodly—and we will be swept into the bottomless pit with the ungodly. We cannot allow ourselves to governed by what sinners say and do. “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, the sorrows God distributes in His anger? They are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that a storm carries away.” (Job 21:17-18)
V. “Therefore the ungodly will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.”
When the end comes and all are called to be judges on the last day, the wicked will not be able to stand in the judgment. When God calls them forward, they will fall on their faves and tremble with fear at the very sound of his voice! The righteous will stand, covered and screened by the precious blood of our Lord Christ Jesus, but these wicked will be so afraid that they will not be able to even stand on their feet before the LORD. Scripture says that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God when you have not put your trust and hope in his Son, our Lord Jesus.
VI. “For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
God knows the difference between good and evil. He knows the difference between the holiness of His Son, which shines as a light from his disciples in darkness, and the evil sprung from Satan and his followers. That wicked way and those who follow its path shall perish and be cast into the everlasting fire, but, if we are like the blessed man than we will spend eternity in the great love and joy with our Savior and heavenly Father. “[The] inheritance [of the upright] shall be forever.” (Psalm 37:18)