A PECULIAR PEOPLE

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

I have endured my laziness and procrastination as long as I am able.  So, if you will receive it, I will presume on you to read these daily thoughts.  I do not claim originality.  What I write will be the result of all the teachers I have had, and an accumulation of that learned from the great books I have read.  I will not try to quote except in particular instances.  I will only ask you to understand that I am but a pool into which many streams have and continue to flow.

There are a couple of rules I will follow.  First the NASB will be the translation that will be used --except when I forget.  Secondly, I write from a Reformed conviction.  I make no apology for this and I will not intentionally defend the truth as it is presented.  When there are truly controversial or unknown Scriptures an alternative may be given.  Thirdly I am dogmatic.  This is because I am old and there is little room left for change.  But also because I truly believe what I believe and if I didn’t I would change.

Psalm 1 NASB

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!
² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
³ 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.

⁴ The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
⁶ For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm one is a beginning place.  It is the door through which you enter the treasury called Psalms.  The description of the people spoken to and of is given.  They are either “blessed” or “wicked”.  They either have God’s favor or will face His judgment.  There is nothing in between.  There is no grey area.

The blessed one is God’s beloved.  The other is hated by God.  It is a fatal error to think that people in this world can exist in a neutral position or in some kind of loving relationship with God until death and at that time it will be determined what their everlasting disposition will be.

Psalm one describes the people who have God’s favor.  From Psalm one through 150 this is the consistent intent of whom ever the author may be.  Any other than the blessed is the enemy of God, whether he is in the church or among the nations.  And it should be noted that most who are described as God’s enemies are in Israel as the church.

In VS 1 the “blessed man” has a particular behavior.  He is separated from the world in which he lives.  It might well also be noted that the description is negative.  He “walks not”, “stands not”, and “sits not”.  While those with whom he lives “do walk, stand and sit” opposed to God and under His just disapproval.  This was then, and is now, the character and habit of a believer.  A saint is one who is separated from the world.

Let me leave you with a couple of New Testament references, Colossians 3:1-3; I Peter 1:14-16.