Commands and Community
Read Time: 7 mins
“How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers! Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands; he meditates on his commands day and night. He is like a tree planted by flowing streams; it yields its fruit at the proper time, and its leaves never fall off. He succeeds in everything he attempts. Not so with the wicked! Instead they are like wind-driven chaff. For this reason the wicked cannot withstand judgment, nor can sinners join the assembly of the godly. Certainly the Lord guards the way of the godly, but the way of the wicked ends in destruction.”
Psalms 1:1-6 NET
God's plan for you is that you prosper. To be blessed is to be happy, joyful, favored, and progressing in purpose. That’s what God wants for you. But like many things, God won't force you to walk in the favor He is trying to offer. He will make it available, but you have to accept it.
So, if we desire this blessing, how do we walk in it? There are some things we can commit to growing in today that will lead to more fruit and favor in our lives. We see some of God’s blueprint for blessing in Psalm 1.
The passage starts off by telling us what a blessed person is not. The blessed, prosperous, and joyful person isn’t someone who walks in the counsel of the wicked, stands in the lifestyle of sinners, or sits in the seat of the scoffers. Could it be that your community is what is killing your joy?
Advice from the Wicked
It is often said that birds of a feather flock together. The people you hang out with, listen to, and are influenced by say a lot about you. The voices, perspectives, and media you ingest impact you whether you want to admit it or not. Some have said that you are likely to be the average of the most consistent voices in your life. If the majority of your time is spent with procrastinators, you'll likely be or become one too. If the voices you ingest aren’t respectable, integrous, or of good character, you can be negatively impacted. Be careful if the people you take advice from are far from God, because you’ll start to walk like them. Why are you allowing men without good wives to tell you how to find women? Why are you letting people who can't steward money tell you how to use yours? Be clear on who you will allow to give you counsel.
The Bible says that bad company can corrupt good character. If the friends you consistently joke with demean women or disrespect men, it’ll likely change how you think about them, too. Broke people give broke people counsel. They can’t help it. Be serious about your inner circle. I’m not saying that everyone has to be perfect, but be vigilant about who you allow to be the loudest voices in different areas of your life. If we are to be blessed, we need to be intentional about what we ingest. We must be intentional about our tribe and community. You may need to break up with some friends in order to walk in favor. They may be the anchors to your advancement. They may be limiting your liberation.
Now I’m not saying you can’t be like Jesus and be a person who is called a friend of sinners. In order to minister, you must mingle. You must have a character that inspires and draws people. But the Bible says to test all things by the Spirit. While you can learn from anyone, filter what mindsets, advice, and patterns would actually impede you. Pour into them and impact them positively, but be sure to vet how you allow them to influence you. Everyone you minister to doesn’t have to be your mentor.
Standing with Sinners
The blessed man doesn’t take advice from the wicked. He also does not stand in the path of sinners. To stand in the path of sinners means to settle into their lifestyle. You don’t need to have the same schedule as those you don’t wanna end up like. What I mean is you don’t always need to have the same hobbies, hangouts, or pastimes. Your life doesn’t have to look the same as those you’re called to be different from. You may have different priorities, values, and goals because you have a different mission and mindset. It’s ok to have fun without a bottle in your hand. It's ok to hang out without smoking. You don't need the same lifestyle. You should be able to connect and mingle, but you don't have to have the same lifestyle vices.
The text doesn’t just tell us not to stand with sinners, it tells us not to sit with scoffers. A scoffer is a mocker. It’s the person who can only make fun of everyone else who is trying. They spend their time sitting on the couch, critiquing, complaining, and condemning, not contributing. They are skeptical about everything while studying nothing. They’re the person who has everything to say against the politician but doesn’t vote. They have everything to say about the pastor, but don’t come to church. They critique without contributing. They add weight without carrying theirs. All they do is mock. Eleanor Roosevelt said that “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Scoffers would be in the small-minded category. They’re the people whose lives are so miserable that they only talk down on those who are already moving forward.
Sitting with Scoffers
Can I pause for a second and ask you a question? If your friends only talk about other people, what do you think they do when you leave the room? They aren’t champions, they’re critics. In recent history, the “doer” was the star, whether that be the athlete, musician, or politician. Now the power seems to rest with the critic and commentator. American Idol took us from platforming the performers to popularizing the judges. ESPN did the same thing. We are often analysts and not athletes. People who didn’t play in high school get paid to criticize those who made the NBA. I've even seen a huge push in the Christian content space as we have platformed those who solely critique preachers rather than care for people themselves. They tell you what’s wrong instead of doing what’s right. It’s so important that you don’t stoop to being a scoffer.
Theodore Roosevelt has a passage from his 1910 Citizens' Republic speech that I have in my office. It’s often referred to as “the man in the arena,” and it goes like this: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.“
It’s important to be the man in the arena and not the one who simply scoffs from the stands. Don't just talk about the ministry leaders; become one. Don't complain; contribute. Don’t ridicule; revitalize.
Avoiding the Seat of the Scoffer.
So, how do we avoid this trend of scrutinized scorn and shallow scoffing? This text is interesting because of the walk, stand, sit progression it gives. It’s almost as if the wicked man started off just casually doing life with other wicked people, and then at some point, he stopped to talk. It’s one thing to walk with it, but he got comfortable enough to stand in it. Then he got comfortable enough to sit in the seat of the scorner. The word moshav can actually be translated as assembly and not just a seat. He’s in the stands. In the peanut gallery. Just complaining about the actual performers now. Whether you like it or not, your interactions will pull you in a direction. You have to be cognizant and conscious of the direction in which you want to go. Don’t even find yourself walking in the counsel of the wicked because sooner or later you may be sitting in the seats of the scoffers.
Breaking up with negative voices and influences can create what feels like a vacuum in your life. What would you fill the time and space with that they once occupied? Our answers come in the next section of the passage. While God calls the blessed to turn from a toxic community, He calls us to turn to His commands.
What Now?
The text says that he who delights in the law of the lord and meditates on it day and night is like a tree, firmly planted by streams of living water that yields fruit in its season and has leaves that don’t fade. And get this. It goes on to say that whatever he does will prosper. The NET Bible says he succeeds in everything he attempts. It reminds me of the stories of Joseph, David, Daniel, and Hezekiah, who the Bible said had success in everything because the Lord was with them. It reminds me of the proverb that says if you commit your plans to the Lord, they have no choice but to succeed. Do you want everything you do to be a success? Then this is what you have to do. Find joy in the law of the Lord. Meditate on it day and night. As you ingest the word of God instead of the voices of the wicked, you’ll start to walk and talk and move more like Jesus. Studying and following what God says and why He says it will revolutionize your life.
So, what is this law? A man asked Jesus a similar question in Matthew 22.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:36-40 NKJV
The core of the law is to love God and love people. When we meditate day and night on what it means to love God and love people, we’re meditating on the law of God. When we meditate on love, we’re meditating on the character of the Creator. Meditate on what it means to love God and love others. Focus on the law of love. Seek to be in harmony with God's core value. The Bible says to do all things for the glory of God. When your time, talents, and treasure are turned towards God, they compound, not collapse. Run your decisions through the question as to whether it's pleasing unto God or not. Ask yourself if your relationships honor God. My wife, when making hard decisions, asks herself, is it worship? Can you confidently say that your decisions are worship? Meditating on the law or love will make it easier to live a life that is worship. Meditating on the will and way of God changes how you see the world and yourself. God has good plans for you. The problem is that many of us aren’t listening.
A Good God Gave Good Commands
Many of us cringe when we hear the idea of the law. I get it. I get a little uncomfortable at times, too. Legalistic lectures have tainted our view of the law. We’ve seen the Word of God as limiting and not liberating. But I believe that’s often because we haven’t recognized that the commands of God are completely for our good.
Y’all, God is a good Father who simply wants the best for His children. His law is the blueprint of blessing. It’s the plan to prosperity. It’s literally the cheat code. He’s telling us how to win. He already said that if we commit our plans to Him, they will succeed. If we trust in the Lord and lean not to our own understanding, He will direct our path. He’s trying to lead us to green pastures and still waters that will restore our souls; we just have to follow. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to give us the desire and power to do what pleases Him. We have to stop trying to do life on our own, but instead let Him be the Father, Shepherd, and Lord He is meant to be. The things He asks us to say no to are to give us the space to say yes to better. The things He tells us to stop are going to hurt us, and the things He tells us to start are going to bless us. We have to trust Him and His word. Check out what God tells His people in Deuteronomy 28.
“If you indeed obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come to you in abundance if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. Your children will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who attack you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction but flee from you in seven different directions. The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he is giving you. The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments and obey him. Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, and they will respect you. The Lord will greatly multiply your children, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he promised your ancestors he would give you. The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do. But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship them.”
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 NET
If this is what God is saying about following Him, why not follow? It’s a no-brainer. Science points to the prosperity in His principles. Statistics prove that He is true. I think it’s so crazy that secular society has adopted spiritual principles for the purpose of betterment, but the church has abandoned them.
Remember, we do not follow the Word of God as a means of winning His approval or earning a ticket to heaven. We are saved by grace through faith. But true faith shows up in your belief. If you actually believe and trust God, you’ll follow. God is like a Father telling His son to eat vegetables and not touch the stove. He is building him for his good and protecting him from the bad. God doesn’t want you to experience unnecessary pain and suffering in this world. He is trying to help us. We just aren’t listening.
Prioritize time in the presence of Jesus. Study His character and commands. Listen when He speaks to you. Then you won’t be like the wicked, who our text says is like dust. They go wherever the trends are and listen to whoever is the loudest. They have no foundation or real identity. They’re flimsy and easily manipulated. But the righteous are strong like a sturdy tree. They produce fruit in their season and have nothing to be ashamed of. The wicked are afraid of judgment, the righteous aren’t. The wicked know that the end for them is condemnation, but the righteous expect exoneration through Jesus. The wicked run themselves into destruction, but the righteous are directed and protected by God. Which one do you want to be?
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If you are in the Ohio area, join us for our D.I.G. (Deeper in God) study! We will be coming together to discuss this devotional. We’re in Canton on Tuesday and Cleveland on Wednesday. I’d excited to see you there!
