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| Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. |
| —Psalm 1:1-2 |
These beginning verses of Psalm 1 have often gripped the hearts and minds of people the very first time they hear these words read, or see them on the printed page. If ever the Scripture gave a “Call to Action,” such a Call appears in these verses.
One of the amazing aspects of these verses comes from the fact that they begin with a declaration that living a godly life is a conscious choice. We choose to follow God through His precious Son, Jesus. Then, God enables us to follow the path He lays out before us through the empowerment of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Life consists of a series of choices. Much of the behavior we exhibit in life comes as a result of choices we make. We choose how we will respond to the circumstances that arise in life. Please allow me to illustrate this point:
One of the most idiotic happenings in our society today is the twisting of words to belie the fact that we live through the choices we make. A good example came to the front recently when one of our government leaders declared that it was offensive to suggest that the way a human expresses his or her sexuality is not a preferential choice. Of course, the idea behind such a declaration is to remove all accountability for how a person expresses sexuality in the behavior of his or her life.
The key to understanding this foolish and ignorant assertion is the very essence it represents: the removal of accountability. If I do not have to accept the reality that I am choosing to behave in the way I express my sexuality, but rather am driven by some factor outside of and beyond my control, then I do not have to accept any resonsibility for the consequences of the way the expression of my sexuality may cause harm to others or to myself.
From a purely logical point of view, this assertion lacks credibility. If I stand at a crosswalk and decide to walk across a busy intersection without heeding the traffic signal and become injured or killed by an oncoming vehicle, I am responsible for my own death. No matter how strong the urge I may feel to cross the street, I make a conscious choice to disobey the protective hindrance of the traffic signal. Having made the choice to ignore the warning, not only do I harm myself, I also bring harm to the person driving the vehicle that hits me.
Yes, we all have certain drives or urges that may push us in one direction or another. One of the most destructive aspects of those drives or urges comes from the fact that we are all stained by the curse of Adam’s sin. We have inherited that sin through our parents all the way back to Adam. We are born with that sin stain. And, that sin nature within us pushes us always toward the wrong pathway.
However, to counteract that natural bent toward evil, God has also given us the free will to choose to fight against our sinful urges. And, therein lies the problem that our current society seeks to eradicate: the reality that behavior comes as a result of the conscious choices that we make. We choose to set aside any knowledge we may have of what the right thing to do may be. Instead, we far too often choose to follow our sinful desires.
Thus, the Psalmist’s declaration found in the verse at the beginning of this blog post: “Blessed is the one…” As always, it is important to note that the gender stated in this verse does not exclude females. The use of the masculine intends to convey the word we might substitute in English as “human.” So, the verse applies to both males and females.
God has given us the free will to choose to follow our sinful desires, or to resist those desires. And, for those He has chosen to belong to Himself, He has given us the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives to enable us to have a super-ability to make the right choice. For this, we truly are blessed, just as the Psalmist asserts.
