IF I OFFERED you a method to make a million dollars, and it was a sure thing, would you listen…?
What if I offered you the ability to live your life in a wise, godly manner? Would you listen? Sorry, but I do not have the million dollar deal figured out, but I do know where to find the process for living.
That process is found in Psalm 1. It contrasts the difference between the man who wants to live in a godly manner and the one who does not. The contrast is between day and night. One many follows the way of God and is blessed. What is his process? First, he makes his own decisions about what he is going to do. He avoids evil company and refuses to associate with people who are cynical about everything. We often have to work with such people, of course, but we do not need to spend our “off” time with them.
The godly man looks to the true source of wisdom and strength — God Himself. He drinks in godliness as a tree drinks in the water running along its roots. Because of that action and attitude, the man yields fruit. He prospers.
On the other hand, the man who lives as if God were irrelevant is like chaff. He is blown away and has no lasting impact on life. Evil is its own worst enemy and is self-destructive. As the psalmist puts it, “The way of the wicked will perish” (v. 6). Oh, that might not happen right away. In fact, some of the world’s biggest scoundrels seem to have it all. But appearances are deceptive. What they build will not last.
God keeps the way of His people: “For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous” (v. 6). These two ways of living could not be more diverse. One way is day; the other way is night.
Where do you live? Don M. Aycock & Mark Sutton, “The Difference Between Day and Night,” Still God’s Man, 147-148
1 “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; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Psalm 1
Mike Benson