Keeping Your Balance

Running along the crest of the Rocky Mountains, from Montana in the north to New Mexico in the south, is an imaginary line. This line is called the Continental Divide. All the rivers and streams that fall to the east of this line flow ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean. All the rivers and streams that are to the west of this line flow ultimately to the Pacific.

Now imagine two raindrops which fall side by side on the Continental Divide, right at the crest of the Rockies. They land in the footprint of a hiker where they are joined by other raindrops to form a tiny puddle. Soon the puddle begins to overflow. It begins to run downhill.

But no sooner does this tiny trickle begin to flow than it encounters a pebble in its path. One of the raindrops goes around the right side of the pebble; the other goes around the left. But the trickle of water does not join up again, because the hill slopes away on either side of that little pebble.

The two little trickles of water now are traveling in different directions. Soon they are joined by other little trickles, and they each find their way to a tiny little Alpine stream flowing down a gully on opposite sides of the mountain. Each little stream carries them to a rushing creek, which splashes and gurgles through the forests on the lower slopes of the mountain.

Each creek carries them to a small river, which in turn carries them miles and miles to an even larger river. Rivers empty into rivers, and that is how, many weeks later one of the raindrops finds itself swimming along in the mighty Mississippi River, heading toward the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, while the other raindrop finds itself floating along in the Colorado River heading West through the Grand Canyon toward the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean.

Two little raindrops falling side by side on the top of a mountain end up thousands of miles apart at the end of the journey.

Psalm 1 tells a similar story. It tells the story of how we can follow one of two pathways through life and, depending on which we choose, find ourselves at the end of our journey in destinations that are an eternity apart.

Psalm 1 is about the Way of the Righteous. But it is also about the Way of the Wicked. Let’s review it again:

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

In verses 1–3, the Psalmist describes the Righteous man. He tells us three things about him:

1. what he doesn’t do

2. what he does do

3. what he’s like

1. What he doesn’t do:

There are three things he doesn’t do:

A. He doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked

Now the word “wicked” brings to our minds all sorts of horrible images. When we describe someone as wicked, we think of someone who is positively repulsive, someone who is evil, and hateful, and sadistic. We think of the wicked witch in children’s fairy tales.

But that is not the meaning of the Hebrew word that is used here. The word is “rasa”, and it simply means “ungodly”. It refers to someone whose lifestyle doesn’t include God.

There are the people who just leave God out. They live as though God does not exist. They get up in the morning, never turn to God in prayer, never thank Him for the food they eat, or for life, or health. They never go to church or read the Bible. They just keep moving along, living their lives, ignoring God as though He didn’t exist.

They may be very respectable and well thought of in the community. They may be very successful from the world’s point of view. But these are the people the Bible calls the ungodly; the wicked.

And a righteous man isn’t going to walk in their counsel. He isn’t going to think their thoughts, or adopt their priorities, or buy into their schemes, or take their advice about how to live. He isn’t going to fall in with them and go their way because they are headed in an entirely different direction than he is.

B. He doesn’t stand in the way of sinners

Notice it goes from walking to standing. If you walk in the counsel of the wicked long enough, pretty soon you’ll find yourself standing in the way of sinners.

Sin, according to the Bible, is simply missing the mark. Imagine taking your rifle to a shooting range. But just before you are ready to shoot, someone comes along and puts a blindfold over your eyes and then moves the target. You are going to miss the mark.

In the same way, people who live as though God doesn’t exist are going to miss the mark in terms of meeting up to His spiritual standards. They are not going to live the way that they should. Their lifestyle is not going to come anywhere near the target of righteousness that God has set for us.

And it doesn’t matter how well they think they are doing.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Go back to the shooting range. You’re all set to shoot, but you’ve got this blindfold on. Still, you set up in your ready position, you aim as best you can, and you pull the trigger. And you say to yourself “Boy, that felt like a good shot. I just know that that shot must have hit the target.” And so you reload and take another shot. A sinner may feel as though he is hitting the target, but he’s missing it by a country mile.

A righteous man doesn’t stand in the way of sinners.

C. He doesn’t sit in the seat of mockers.

Notice the progression—from walking, to standing, to sitting.

What is a mocker? A mocker is someone who thinks he’s got life all figured out, and you can’t tell him any different. His theme song is Frank Sinatra’s “I’ll do it MY Way”. He’s left God out of his life; he’s thinks he’s right on target spiritually even though he’s missing by a mile, and you can’t tell him otherwise. He’s become proud and very satisfied with his lifestyle. That’s what the Bible calls a mocker.

And the book of Proverbs has some very strong things to say about mockers.

Proverbs 9:7 “Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you;

Proverbs 15:12 A mocker resents correction; he will not consult the wise.

Proverbs 14:6 The mocker seeks wisdom and finds none

Proverbs 21:24 The proud and arrogant man—“Mocker” is his name; he behaves with overweening pride.

Proverbs 3:34 God mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.

So the righteous man doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of the sinner, or sit in the seat of the mocker.

2. Well, what does he do?

Two things: he delights in the law of the Lord and he meditates on it day and night.

What does it mean to delight in the law of the Lord? Same thing as Jesus said to us back in the Sermon on the Mount—he hungers and thirsts after righteousness. He has an overwhelming desire to go God’s way; to be pleasing to God.

Now that is not always easy to do because God’s way often crashes head on into our desires, and our appetites, and our wants.

Delighting in the law of the Lord means wanting God’s way so much that you are willing to turn your back on what you really really want to do in order to do it His way. That’s when you find out if you really delight in the Law of the Lord.

And the righteous man meditates on God’s law day and night. Interesting word, that word for meditate. It comes from a word that literally means muttering, or moaning. You’re moving your mouth, but people can’t really understand what you’re saying.

Back in the days when this was written, not everybody had a copy of the Bible as we do today. If you wanted to have a Bible of your own, you had to memorize it. And that’s what many people did. They memorized huge chunks of the Scriptures—whole books of the OT; even the whole OT.

Now have you ever had to memorize something? How do you do it? By repeating it over and over again to yourself, right? You kind of mutter it under your breath. When a person memorized the Bible, that’s what they did—they repeated it over and over again under their breath, so that it looked like they were muttering, or moaning.

They were thinking about God’s Word so much that it actually became part of them. It burned its way into their memory banks. It became a permanent part of their gray matter.

That’s what this word “meditate” means. It means thinking about the Word of God as you go about your daily routine. It means turning it over and over in your mind, day and night.

Deuteronomy 6:6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Joshua 1:8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

3. What’s a righteous man like?

He’s like a tree planted by streams of water. Now this does not mean any old tree beside any old river.

The expression “streams of water” refers to an irrigation canal—a stream that has been intentionally dug by a farmer to water his land. And the tree has been intentionally planted by the farmer beside that stream. The farmer plants that tree for a purpose—to give shade and to yield fruit.

And the tree yields its fruit in season. Notice that it is not always yielding fruit. It yields fruit in the season for fruit. But the rest of the year, the tree is preparing to be fruitful.

And its leaf does not wither. When do leaves wither? Well, in our country, right about now, because Fall is coming and after that, Winter. In the Middle East, there is a dry season—a drought which lasts for months from about April through September. It gets very hot and very dry.

And if that tree did not have a source of water, its leaves would shrivel up and die. But because it has its roots down into the stream of water, it has a sustaining source of life.

So it is with the person who delights in the Law of the Lord. When periods of testing come; when crisis rears its ugly head; when it gets spiritually dry all around him—he doesn’t wither up and die. Because he’s got his roots down into the Word of God.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was a beautiful example of not withering under pressure. When his friends advised him not to go to Jerusalem, he made it quite clear that that’s exactly where he was going to go. And when he got there, he methodically put his affairs in order.

He gave final instructions to his disciples, he prayed about their situation, he talked to the Father, and he kept on moving relentlessly toward his goal. The chief priests didn’t faze him. Pilate couldn’t move him. Herod couldn’t get anywhere with him.

And even on the cross, as he hung suffering and dying, he didn’t wither. He refused to take an anesthetic that was offered to him. He dealt with the needs of his mother. He prayed for his enemies. He reached out in love to the dying thief by his side. And when the end came, he still didn’t wither. With a great shout—not a whimper—he dismissed his spirit.

That’s the kind of durability we need. And we only get it by getting our roots into the Word of God.

And “whatever he does prospers” it says in verse 3. Now this doesn’t mean that you get rich in financial terms. It means something far better than that. It means prosperity of life. It means having a life where your spirit is at rest because you know that God is taking care of your needs.

Psalm 37:25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

Now in verses 4–6, the Psalmist turns his attention to the wicked. And remember, that word means simply “the person who has left God out of his life”.

First, he tells us what the wicked are like. He has already told us what the righteous are like—they are like a tree planted by streams of water. But the wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Back in those days when they harvested their grain, they would take it to the threshing floor. And they would literally walk on it, or roll heavy stones over it to separate the kernel of wheat from the hull or the shell that enclosed it.

Then they would scoop up everything onto big flat pans and winnow the grain by throwing it up in the air. The kernels of wheat, which were heavy, would fall back into the pan. But the chaff—the residue which had been separated from the wheat—would blow away in the wind because it was light. People who leave God out of their life are like chaff. Their lives are ultimately meaningless.

And they will not stand in the judgment. This is the Great White Throne Judgment that is referred to in Revelation 20 where the ungodly will be raised to life and judged.

Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Now when the Psalmist says that the wicked will not stand in the judgement, he doesn’t mean that they won’t be there; he means that they’ll be there but they won’t have a leg to stand on. Because they have left God out. They lived their lives as though he didn’t exist.

And that is why, in eternity, they will not stand in the assembly of the righteous. The Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Two people. Two ways to live. Two destinies. Go back to the very first word in this Psalm—the word “Blessed”. It means happy, but it isn’t the happiness that comes from what is happening around you. It’s a happiness that comes from inside—from knowing that all is right between you and God. Do you have that kind of happiness this morning?