Psalm 1
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.
Returning to Psalm 1, what are the
results of delighting in the law of the Lord? The person who does so is
positioned for adequate supply, and given the ability to function and flourish.
Since this person is living in accordance with the way the universe is designed
to work, what he does will ultimately work. This isn't a guarantee of health,
wealth and an easy life, but it does make one possible.
For the one who rejects the wisdom
contained in this psalm, the outcome is the logical opposite. Instead of being
rooted where there is adequate supply one is blown about by the wind of fate.
Those who chose to function in a way that the universe is not designed to work
will not function properly. He will not stand with those who stand in the judgment
because he chose to reject the laws on which the universe is designed. He will
stand with those who lived in accordance with the way the universe is designed
because he has rejected them and their way. His way will perish because it
never had life.
This passage brings to mind a story by
C.S. Lewis called The Great Divorce. It's short. If you haven't read it,
you should, and probably more than once. In it, he considers the nature of
being really real and of being a phantom. It's a story, but what it pointed out
to me was the matter of consequence. We tend to look at the judgment of God as
being something inflicted upon us by God. What if those who reject the law of
the Lord lack the weight or substance to stand. What if they are blown away as
chaff is, simply because it has nothing to keep it in place? What if the
sinners don't stand in the assembly of the righteous not because a heavenly
bouncer kicks them out, but because they would rather die than do so? What if
their way perishes because they haven't the power or weight to make the way
last? Could it be that asking the sinner and the mocker and the wicked to be
among the righteous is like asking a square to be round, a fish to swim through
rock, or a man to snorkel on the moon?
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January 18
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Birthday of Alan Alexander Milne ("Oh Bother!")
"The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking."
Birthday of Peter Mark Roget (whose name is synonymous with "thesaurus")
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