Page 19 - Psalms Ebook

If you look at the Psalm in a surface way, you might think it is
conditional. If I do this or I do that or the other thing, then God
guarantees I will be prosperous and fruitful. But that is not what it is
saying. It is not that way at all. What it is saying is this is a godly man,
and this is the result of such a life. These wonderful fruits are a by-
product of his life. I think that will be clear as we go through the rest of
the Psalms.

Another contrast is this. What you see with these eyes and what you see
with the eyes of your heart. There is the outside and the inside. Psalm
one describes reality. Psalm one describes truth. That is how it is. It
does not always look that way, but that is how it is. That is the fact.

It looks like the Psalm is teaching this: If I am a godly man and set my
heart on the Lord and I love His law, and I meditate all day long and all
night long, then I am going to be successful and fruitful and happy and
prosperous. That is what it looks like. On the other hand, if I walk in
the counsel of the ungodly, and stand in the way of sinners, and seat
myself with the scornful, if I do not meditate in God’s word, I will be
like the chaff which the wind drives away. I will be unproductive and
unhappy.

Wonderful poetry, but is it true? In other words, when you look around
you say, honesty is the best policy, no question about it, and virtue is its
own reward – that kind of thing. But honesty as a policy does not always
get you houses and land, and virtue, which is its own reward. It does not
always bring you honor and distinction. It would be wonderful if when
you look out in the world, you could say, there is justice. If somebody is
wicked, God blows them away. If somebody is good, God rewards him.
Except sometime, we see the exact opposite (Just read Job in this
regard). Someone points to verse five and tries to get comfort out of it.
It says: “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment.” And so
they say, yeah, but in the future they will get theirs. Someday, maybe
not in this life. That is sort of a cold comfort to my impatience. I know
it is true. Someday in eternity God is going to bring justice, but what
about now?

Then as I thought this out I was glad that God is in charge of things. You
see, my heart would love to pray, reward the righteous and blow the
wicked away like chaff. Of course, when I say that, guess who I am?
You see, I’m saying that I am one of the righteous ones. They say
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