Blessed or Not

 In the Old Book, but not too old the passages Psalm 1:1-2 provide guidance to followers of God. 

"1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  

Starting right off the bat, "Blessed is the man".  The antonyms of the word "blessed" include:  cursed, condemned, damned, disapproved, unblessed.

Consider this rewording:  Cursed is the man that walketh in the counsel of the ungodly, who standeth in the way of sinners, and sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Try:  Condemned is the man....

Try:  Damned is the man....

Try:  Disapproved is the man....

Try:  Unblessed is the man....

How many of us know of or have been a person that doesn't have the discernment to recognize "the ungodly", "way of sinners", or "the seat of the scornful".  How can we not walk away, not stand in, or not sit in the presence of something we don't recognize. 

Then somebody in a crowd will say, "but aren't we supposed to minister to such people".  Yes and no. 

Yes, if you are controlled by the Spirit and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit and you have the strength in your walk to influence that person - and not be influenced by that person.

No, if your walk is wrought with minefields all around. But let's say that this person that you want to help has problems with alcoholism - and that is a continued struggle that YOU have - then maybe you are not the person to minister to this person.

Another person may say, "well, that's judging people".  No my friend, it is not judging.  At no point do you think, "Well that guy is going to hell or the devil".  That, my friend, is judging.  A more common form of judging is done at funerals every day.  A preacher or somebody will say of the deceased, "Well brother John is now with the angels".  My question is, "how do you know that?"  When did you start reading people's heart in only a way that God can?

Declaring one for hell or heaven is out of ALL of our paygrades.  We'd do better not to judge.  But we'd also be less than honest when we don't use discernment to figure out for our own selves who we ought to walk amongst, stand amongst, and sit amongst.

Psalm 1:1 would not tell us that we are blessed and not to do these things - if we were not equipped to know who these people that we are not to walk, stand, and sit amongst.

Discernment - is what allows us to be blessed - or the opposite of it.

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night."

So imagine, delighting in the law?  Ponder that one for a minute.  Ponder the concept of delighting in the law of God or laws in general.  What do most people do?  I've done it - and I invented nothing new that people do.

What law can I get away with? Can I get away with speeding? Can I cheat on a test? Seems to me that we often don't take verse 2 to heart either.

What IS the law of the Lord? Our country is making its own laws and disregarding that there is even a God and His law.  Yep, there's a God and a lot of people are going to have that shocked look on their faces when they come to realize that the law of the Lord - was this important thing that they should have been obeying and honoring.

Any law we pass that doesn't jive with the law of God - creates the ungodly, sinners, and scornful folks - folks to be avoided if you don't have the power of the Spirit ample enough to help them.

Do we really meditate on the law?  Are we even talking about the Law of Moses and all the laws relating to sacrifices?  A rightly divided word will make clear exactly what the law of God is.  By the way, Jesus' sacrifice took all of that away - well if you believed in Him as the Christ.  I guess if you are a group of people that don't see Jesus as the Messiah - you probably should keep atoning for your sins with goat and sheep blood.  I'm not even sure how to start doing that.

Yep, that's biting sarcasm.  I'm working on that - but if you don't believe Jesus as the Messiah, you are a couple millennium behind the curve.

Bottom Line:  Know yourself - protect your walk!  You do no good when you are the exact thing that the Bible says to not walk with, stand with, or sit with.  Hopefully, Spirit-willing - I'll be good company to you in the future - even if I am not now.