Fall 2018, 40 Days of Prayer, Day 2
"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! 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. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Psalm 1
The Benefits of the Blessed Life
When presented with choices in life, we often analyze the options to determine the best course. When we make decisions based on the immediate pleasures of life, we are at risk of choosing paths that lead to loss and even destruction. When we make choices to honor God and reject the sinful influences around us, we place ourselves under God’s blessing. In the midst of our choices, when we deny our short-term pleasures and embrace God’s long-term priorities, there is this constant question: Is a life of submission to the will of God really worth it? Is it really worth living counter to the culture? Is it really worth it to deny our natural sin bent and embrace God’s priorities? The psalmist provides for us a risk/benefit analysis. Many businesses make decisions following this type of analytical thinking. What is the benefit to us both now and in the future if we choose a particular path? According to Psalm 1, the righteous, those who submit to the will of God, the ones that follow His Word, will have a blessing that lasts forever. Their righteous choices will be forever credited to their account by God.
How about the life poorly lived? What happens to the life when lived like the three characters mentioned in verse 1, the wicked, sinners, and scoffers? We see in the last verse of this psalm, “for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” All the choices made by those outside God’s righteous standards are lost forever. The decisions that seemed to be so good, right, important and pleasurable in the moment will perish. In his commentary on the psalms, Spurgeon wrote about this last verse. “The righteous carve their name upon the rock, but the wicked write their remembrance in the sand. The righteous ploughs the earth, and sows a harvest here which shall never by fully reaped until they enter the enjoyments of eternity; but as for the wicked, they plough the sea, and though there may seem to be a shining trail behind his keel, yet the waves shall pass over it, and the place that knew them shall know them no more forever.” I love the portrait painted by Spurgeon. It’s not merely the wicked that are lost, but all that they do, the paths they take, the legacy of their lives, all of it will evaporate. Culturally, the choices made by those walking outside God’s will seem so appealing. Those who live outside the will of God may feel like they are really living. This text tells us that the paths of unrighteous living are lost to the sands of time. But we must constantly consider the promises in this text that the blessings of God on the righteous will last forever.
Prayer Focus
Lord, please give me wisdom to understand Your will. Grant me the power to make choices that honor You. Protect my heart and my mind from the sinful desires in my own life. Protect my heart and mind from the sinful desires of the culture all around me. Set my mind on the everlasting blessing promised in these verses.
From Charles Wesley’s Sermon, Salvation by Faith, Preached at St. Mary's, Oxford, before the University, on June 18, 1738
"By grace are you saved through faith." Eph. 2:8.
If then sinful people find favor with God, it is "grace upon grace!" If God bestowed fresh blessings upon us, yes, the greatest of all blessings, salvation; what can we say to these things, but, "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!" Here "God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died" to save us "By grace" then "are you saved through faith." Grace is the source, faith the condition, of salvation. Now, that we do not fall short of the grace of God, it concerns us to carefully inquire, First, what faith is saving faith? Primarily, it is not the faith of the lost. God requires the lost to believe, "that God is; that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him;" and that he is to be sought by glorifying him as God, by giving him thanks for all things, and by a careful practice of moral virtue, of justice, mercy, and truth, toward their fellow creatures. A Greek or Roman, therefore, yes, even a Scythian, was without excuse if he did not believe this much: the being and attributes of God, a future state of reward and punishment, and the obligatory nature of moral virtue. For this is barely the faith of the lost. Secondly, it is not the faith of a devil, though this goes much farther than that of the lost. For the devil believes, not only that there is a wise and powerful God, gracious to reward, and just to punish; but also, that Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, the Savior of the world. So we find him declaring, in express terms, "I know who You are; the Holy One of God" (Luke 4:34). Nor can we doubt that the Devil believed that all those words which came out of the mouth of the Holy One. This much the great enemy of God and humanity believes, and trembles in believing, --that God was made himself known; that he will "tread all enemies under his feet;" and that "all Scripture was given by inspiration of God." This is as far as the faith of a devil goes. 3. Thirdly. the faith through which we are saved, is not barely that which the Apostles themselves had while Christ was upon earth; though they so believed on him as to "leave all and follow him;" although they had then power to work miracles, to "heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease;" yes, they had then "power and authority over all devils;" and, which is beyond all this, were sent by their Master to "preach the kingdom of God." 4. What faith is it then through which we are saved? It may be answered, first, in general, it is a faith in Christ: Christ, and God through Christ, are the proper objects of saving faith. Therefore, it is sufficiently, absolutely distinguished from the faith either of ancient or modern unbelievers and from the faith of a devil: it is not a speculative, rational thing, a cold, lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head; but a disposition of the heart. For thus says the Scripture, "With the heart people believe unto righteousness;" and, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." 5. And thus it differs from that faith which the Apostles themselves had while our Lord was on earth, in that it acknowledges what they did not yet know, the necessity and merit of his death, and the power of his resurrection. It acknowledges his death as the only sufficient means of redeeming us from death eternal, and his resurrection as the restoration of us all to life and immortality; inasmuch as he "was delivered for our sins, and rose again for our justification." Christian faith is then, not only an assent of the mind to the whole gospel of Christ, but also a full reliance on the death of Christ; a trust in the merits of his life, death, and resurrection; a trust in him as our atonement and our life, as given for us, and living in us; and, in consequence, a closing with him, and cleaving to him, as our "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," or, in one word, he is our “salvation.”