Where You Sit Matters

Psalm 1

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Our meditation today is on the words of Psalm 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;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he [b]meditates day and night.
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.
The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Many years ago, a man that I knew started going to anti-government rallies and listening to a very bold speaker who challenged people to rise up against our United States government officials. And because of his influence over this man, this man ended up leaving his family, his wife and children, selling his business and moving to another state. And last we heard, was planning for some kind of attack against the government. That was many, many years ago.

Where you sit matters. And what I mean by that is the people you allow to have an influence over you truly matters. My dad used to say to us when we were children, at whose feet will you place yourself? We should all ask ourselves that. At whose feet will I place myself? Where will I go to learn my perspective on life? Where will I sit to be influenced as to what I find important and what values I will have? What source of knowledge will I allow to be my guide? Where will I place myself to have my soul be fed? Psalm 1, that I just read, sets up an interesting parallel. It’s often called a chiastic psalm, and that means it shows a contrast between two different ways of looking at life.

All of the ways that we categorize people in a sense will be meaningless on Judgment day. But God’s definition of these two categories is so crucial. To Him there are only these two ways: the righteous, that means the believers in Christ, and the unrighteous. Those who are right by God, by faith are the ones who are trusting in their Savior Jesus Christ for their hope of heaven. And then those who are unrighteous are those who do not have this faith.

Now this is quite a contrast. The righteous, he says, are described as a living, healthy tree that’s next to water and it’s planted by streams and it’s drawing sustenance because of its proximity to God’s Word. The unrighteous, however, they are like the most empty, irrelevant piece of waste from a plant. Chaff. That’s the empty hull from grain. It’s tossed up in the air and it blows away. There’s nothing more insignificant that God could use to describe an unbeliever. But the believer in Christ, notice it says, does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. Now, that’s not saying we don’t ever hear things that are contrary to God’s Word and our faith, but it means we don’t walk in it. That means we don’t stand with them and sit with them and let them influence us.

In other words, don’t permit the views of those who do not have faith in Christ to influence you. Be careful where you sit. There’s an old German proverb that says whoever embraces dirt soils himself with it. There is no relationship with God apart from his word. And on that word, notice we’re told the believer meditates day and night. Now, that doesn’t mean we’re necessarily reading it all the time, but we’re pondering it. We’re permitting it to guide us and direct us in what we say and think and do, even when it leads us to repent of our many sins over and over again and to come back to God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ.

One last point. The believer always has the final endgame in sight. Listen to these words again. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Notice it’s the judgment scene that ultimately the believer in Christ is always preparing for. Listening to the Word of God and those who properly feed and nourish that faith for us in this life that is always getting us prepared for that final day of judgment.

This is where we find true blessedness in God. Jesus said, Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. Amen.