Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
—Psalm 1:1-2
If you talk to any leadership and self-development guru you’ll inevitably hear them spout out a foundational piece of advice:
“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”
The idea makes sense.
We need to put ourselves around people who will ultimately help us become smarter, wiser, more diligent, and more successful.
Psalm 1 here gives us a vision for what a blessed man does not do — walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, and sit in the seat of scoffers.
Automatically we can assume something…
If we’re not supposed to do that, we’ll just do the opposite.
We ought to walk in the counsel of the godly, stand in the way of the righteous, and sit in the seat of the wise. Wouldn’t that make sense? It’s the exact opposite of what the Psalmist is telling us not to do.
Interestingly enough, though, that’s not what we’re told the blessed man does.
It’s interesting because most commonly we rely on other people to be a major fix in our relationship with God. Either we need bad people to leave our lives or we need good people to enter our lives.
The blessed person, though, according to the wisdom of God…delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on His law day and night.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Exploring Life With God to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.