**Nor standeth in the way of sinners **Psalm1:1b
Yesterday we looked at the first part of this verse that talked about walking. Where do we walk and who do we walk with? What kind of counsel are we listening to? What do we do with that advice, what life choices are we making? Today we’re going to talk about standing. Where do we stand, who do we stand with and how long do we stand?
Standing implies the state of being firmly placed. Standing means not sitting or lying down, it is something we are fully engaged in. Ask a person who has no use of his legs if he thinks standing takes effort and decision. Standing can mean preparation, being ready to move. We are not complacent, asleep or oblivious. Standing is a word that calls for readiness.
We also need to look at the place to stand. Here the man is standing in the way. What way? What path? What road is he standing on? This brings us back to yesterday’s post on the counsel of the ungodly. Yesterday we thought about whose voice and what advice we are listening to. Today, our Psalm is asking where are we standing? Are we on the proverbial High Road or is our path a bit lower and darker?
In this verse, the sinner’s way refers to the bad advice that we read about yesterday. We were walking in bad counsel and that lead us to troublesome paths. Now we are standing side by side with the sources of that bad counsel. They have become a habitual presence in our lives. They are the primary voice we listen to, resulting in a life that contains bad actions, and the negative consequences that go with them. Our path has led us to choose certain company and form certain ideals.
Let’s take a minute to look at the word sinner, because that is where this man is standing, on the sinner’s path. Sin is simply an active and conscious decision or action that goes against God’s principles. The person who chooses to reject Godly counsel, is referred to as a sinner. Sin is the action, sinner is the person who completes the action. All of us at one time or another sin and can be called sinner. Yes, I know it’s a scary word. It definitely has a negative connatation. None of us are perfect. We all make bad decisions and all of us at one time or another stood in the sinner’s way and we made a choice to stay there or find a happier path to stand in.
The idea is that we can choose to follow the principles to live a happy life or not. We can choose to listen to the voices of bad counsel and take the risk of never being happy or we can choose a brighter path with better counsel that should lead us to the happier, enriched life. We have to clearly decide where we’re going to walk and where we are willing to stand. We need to look objectively at who we spend our time with and the paths that they lead us to. The vast majority of how our life turns out is up to us and it is based on the decisions we make. So, let’s CHOOSE to be happy.