"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. 2. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
The ungodly, the sinners, and the scornful pretty much all come from the same category. I call them the bad crowd...whether saved or not. (a little side note here...if our friends and the people we hang out with the most are unsaved and from the world, and we kind of push away our Christian friends because we may not believe exactly the same way...something is wrong...I guarantee that your Christian friends agree on the ONE thing that is most important...don't ever push them away...everyone is entitled to their opinion...be big enough to handle that!! Also...if we're close to unsaved and worldly people...why are they not saved now and headed on a better path?...are you helping them or are they dragging you down?) God says we are not to walk, stand or sit with them. You may think, "But I can help them!" I heard a statement once, "One good apple and one bad apple doesn't make two good apples." To walk, stand, sit with them you would have to be in their group. The bad crowd doesn't like to be alone. Notice it was not said to stay away from A person-singular. If you walk, stand and sit with them you are sitting with a GROUP of scornful, walking with a GROUP of ungodly, you are standing with a GROUP of sinners. (Now we are all sinners but this verse is talking about sinners who do nothing about their sin.)
In verse two God says that the person who separates himself from that group will find delight in the law of the Lord. He will meditate on God's law day and night. God is on his mind more than any other subject. The thought of God and His law take up more of His time than anything else. The man who separates himself is strong and prosperous. In his season - the time God has appointed- he will bring forth fruit - be prosperous. That group He separated from...the wind can drive them away, there is no substance to them. That group will not stand in the judgement or in the congregation of the righteous because they are guilty and are uncomfortable in the right crowd.
The righteous man-he will prosper-His way/path is guided by the Lord.
The ungodly/bad crowd-their way is the path to destruction.
When it is all put that way, it is easy to choose what path you want to take, but to actually do it is another thing. The righteous man is strong because it had to take strength to separate himself. He is prosperous because he had to go through hardships and he learned from his own mistakes and hardships. He used them for the good instead of allowing them to hurt and destroy him. God is the leader and guider of his path. He may have to give up his dreams on this path, but in the end, he will find a dream bigger than he could ever imagine. Sometimes God gives us dreams then sees if we can give them up for Him. A lot of times our dreams in the end will match up to God's will; we just have to be willing to give them up for Him. If our dreams are more important than Him than we are losing focus on the One who should be the most important in our lives. God knows our dreams and desires...He put them there...but sometimes He decides to fulfill our dream in another way. For instance, say you always dreamed of being a concert pianist or to be a famous musician, but you had to give up that dream for God. In the end He used your talent in your church and you now teach music today. You know you had a love for music and a passion for it...you had a dream to do something big with it...to perform it....well God used that dream and formed it into His own will. You perform music for the glory of God in your church and teach others how to do the same...in your own way you are becoming famous...because you are reproducing your talent through those you teach. God saw your dream...put it there...had you give it up...then gave you your dream in a way you didn't imagine...to the world it may not seem big...but when did we ever look to the world to judge what we did was right or not?!?...our dreams are not for the world's pleasure...their for the pleasure of God...that's why to perform music for the glory of God is SO much bigger than to perform for the pleasure of the world. This righteous man, is a man who has a will of his own but submits it to the will of God. I've heard people say before, "don't have a will," but it says in the Bible to submit our will to God. We must HAVE a will to SUBMIT a will. God is not going to use someone with no goals and ambitions in life, but sometimes we may have to give those up to do His will. Don't worry though, you may have to give up something to do His will but He gives back in abundance. Remember the righteous man's life in the end is prosperous, that is because He trusted God, had the strength to take a stand, and he submitted his own will to do the will of God.
SIDE NOTE: In his season - You may not see the blessings in life right away because God wants you to learn some lessons in your hardships. Don't follow God to get blessings. Never expect it. If we were honest with ourselves, we know we deserve absolutely nothing good. We deserve hell. God does bring blessings to those who obey Him, but it won't come to you until your "season" is at hand.
