Psalms 1:1 Who Are We Walking With part 4

The Palace Of Blessing   Psalm 1:1-3

Saturate in Your Blessings v.1

                              Blessed is the man

  Direct Our Steps

                              that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly

Walk is a reference to the direction we are taking, our way of life, our personal, mental, emotional, and social patterns, and the habitual routine of our days.

Counsel is the advice, plan, scheme and strategy of another.  It can come through an individual, educational system, our parents, our peers, the media, our entertainment, and the literature we read, the music, TV, and movie input we acquiesce to.

Ungodly denotes those who turn their back on God in revolt and turn their face and heart to do what is evil and wrong.   This is a category of people who habitually attempt to redefine wrong, because they are committed to living in sin, and are intent on continuing with wrongdoing.

Ungodly is often rendered as wicked in scripture. It is the same Hebrew term.

1. The wicked refuse to seek God, Ps. 10:4
2. The wicked challenge God, Ps. 10:13
3. The wicked love violence, Ps. 11:5
4. The wicked oppress the righteous, Ps. 17:9
5. The wicked don’t keep their commitments, Ps. 37:21
6. The wicked attempt to stumble the righteous Ps 119:110
7. The ungodly & wicked are going to perish, Ps. 1:6
8. The wicked will be stunned by sorrows, Ps. 32:10
9. The wicked will fall by their devices, Ps. 141:1

When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices:

When the wicked perish, there is Joy, Prov. 11:10

The first ungodly counsel was given by the Devil.  He advised Eve and Adam of the benefits of disobedience.  He challenged God’s counsel and redefined what the results of listening to his demonic direction would be.  He described deceptive benefits that would be achieved in following his satanic direction.

The classic example of bad counsel sought and listened too was with Rehoboam. He is the only mentioned son of Solomon which is amazing in and of itself seeing Solomon most likely had a phenomenal number of children.

Rehoboam was to reign after Solomon’s death and was making a vital determination to the future of the kingdom. Rehoboam had the opportunity to continue the dynasty of David, his grandfather and Solomon his father, with the same blessings that they enjoyed.  But he listened and yielded to ungodly counsel, which resulted in civil war for hundreds of years and the loss of thousands of lives.

The division of the Israeli dynasty was the beginning of a corrosive, corrupting chaos that weakened them to centuries of foreign domination and slavery.

The right counsel was to show kindness and gentleness with diplomacy and tactful mediation.  Instead Rehoboam followed the wrong counsel of harshness, brutality, manipulation, threats and crass insensitivity.

We can so readily take the path of abrasive severity and glaring strictness just like Rehoboam, when humble consideration and thoughtful concern would win the moment.

In the book One Nation Under Therapy, by Christina Hoff Somers, the topic is discussed of how our culture is suffering from an eroding self-reliance.  This is an interesting theory.  My suggestion is that our culture is eroding from too much self-reliance and an obvious addiction to wrong counsel.

Bad counsel means bad choices and bad choices results in bad consequences.

God wants us to listen to His counsel only, and to those who are attentive to His counsel.  Counsel is one of the many synonyms referring to God’s Word.  We really need to ask ourselves, how could any advice that wasn’t based on God’s principles ever lead us to a functional end result?  Don’t we claim to believe that He is the designer and that His plans and directions are based on His perfect love and delight in us?  He has only one intention and that is for us to prosper in His blessings and joy.

All who turn away from God and the counsel of His Word and all who pride themselves in staying ignorant of His truth are banished to failure and nothingness.  What a conundrum to be chained to a vacuum of oblivion.

Ps 33:10-11 The Lord brings the counsel of the ungodly nations to nothing: He makes the devices of the people of none effect.

The only counsel that promises success and stands the test of time and eternity is God’s Word.

The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations

We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but

God’s purpose is the only truth that prevails.  Our mastery over our various circumstances where we’ve submitted to our shortsighted counsel to fulfill our dreams and ambitions is only a matter of the question of when God intervenes His timetable.

Proverbs 19:21 There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

In Isaiah’s prophecy he describes how ridiculous for Judah to look to Egypt for help when there is a time coming in the future when Egypt will be freaked out in fear of Israel.  God will make them a dominant force in the world in the prophetic future.

It’s the same application for any who know the Lord.  Why would we look to those who reject Him for our education, advice and direction?  Our strength and blessing are in waiting on the Lord and the counsel of His word.  The smallest and weakest of individuals is as an army in the Lord for nothing stands up against His counsel.

Isa 19:17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that makes mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.

Jer. 23:18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

Jer. 49:20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.

Jer. 50:45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.

When everything is so shallow and like a house of cards before the Lord, why would we bow to counsel from any but Him?  The tower of babel is brought to confusion and the millions are scattered.  The nations are less then a drop in a bucket and their weight is smaller then a spec of dust.

God’s counsel in His word is the only thing to stand on. Every thing else is shifting sand.  Blessed is the person who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.  Blessed is the one who finds all their life direction in the Lord and His Word.

Cause each of our decisions to be under the influence of Your Spirit and the motivating integrity of the design of Your Word.