“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.” (Psalm 1:1 KJV)
I went to visit a friend who lived not to far from downtown when I was a teenage boy. I literally looked up to him. I was 5’8” and he was 6’9”. I looked up to him for reasons other than his height. He was a great basketball player. Perhaps I could learn something from him to advance my game.
The walk to his house from my house was close to three miles. So when I got there after walking in the heat of a summer day in the Midwest, I really wanted to sit down, and refresh. As you can expect, I did the normal things anyone would do. I asked for a cold glass of water. This is not a play or a segment from a contrived story. This is the truth about what I experienced. The whole family was in the living room watching TV. I could identify with that for we did the same at my house. That’s how it was back in the day, one TV. No TV in every room, no personal computers for every child in the house, no electronic game systems; nothing similar to the time in which we now live. Maybe there was an Etch and Sketch. Those are still around today and cheaper than an Xbox. That’s another story.
Back to where I started. One of the brothers gave me his chair and sat on the floor. You know how we are when we visit another person’s house. We are either boldly or discreetly checking things out. Well, I chose the latter on this occasion and I’m looking around the house, checking out the family pictures hanging on the wall, and noticing that this household also had at least one ash tray made in elementary school shop classes. We had one at my house. That is not all I saw. I saw some crawling creatures everywhere, all over the wall, on the coffee table, and even traveling across the TV screen. Admittedly, we had a couple now and then at our house. But what I saw was not a crew, it was a herd for sure, to say the least. Nobody paid the crawling creatures any attention, acting as if they were just regular guests. My mind did not say “guests.” My mind said “pests!” My friend comes back with a glass of water. For some reason my thirst went away, disappeared, and all of a sudden, I “remembered” I needed to get back home, giving some believable excuse. Scooting around in my seat already, too uncomfortable, I stand up and say to my friend, “Uh…I got to go.” I depart and walk back home, disregarding my thirst, and dismissing the purpose of my journey. I was not critical, just not comfortable.
In the verse above, we are reminded what we should do when we, as Christians, get in places where we are not comfortable and where are mindsets and behaviors might be amended to align with things that you have learned are unacceptable. The same verse, in the New American Standard Translation says, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the ]path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!” The creature situation at my friend’s house, well that was not for me and surely there was an explanation. The “creatures” we call the wicked, sinners, and scoffers, well there is an explanation for their environment too! They need Jesus! Did you hear what I said, “They need Jesus!”
This week you might find yourself in a place where your spirit or the Holy Spirit does not let you feel comfortable. You ask, “What should I do?” Initially and immediately, you should say, “Uh…I got to go.” Now don’t stop praying for those in that place, physically or spiritually. Just make sure you avoid putting yourself in a place where their ways can rub off on you and alter your climb, upward on the narrow path of righteousness. Choose to stay committed to the climb! Stay God-conscious. Flee from evil ASAP. Then, based on your reading of the closing verses, take it a step further and emulate the Psalmist description of the righteous. Be blessed!
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law, he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.” (Psalm 1:2 NASB)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King