Psalm Sunday – Coin Toss

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

— Psalm 1: 6

This sounds like an Affirmation Monday verse, but it also happens to be a verse from Psalms. So today’s verse a twofer! 🙂

The two key points in this verse center around definitions. What does it mean to be “righteous” and what does it mean to be “wicked?”

Righteousness means “doing what is right.” That is all there is to it. Oh… I know … most dictionaries throw in a qualifier about doing what is “morally right,” but honestly who in the secular world is going to decide what is moral? Only God can do that.

So if righteousness is doing what is right, then we need a yardstick to measure rightness by. Generally, that means we need a law of some sort. For example, if we are using the traffic law as a standard, someone who stops at a stop sign is righteous by that law. If you pay your taxes on time you are righteous by the tax code. And if you love God above all else and your neighbor as yourself, you are righteous in the eyes of God.

So what does the word “wicked” mean?

The dictionary goes straight to evil. It does not dilly dally with objective law but goes right to the opposite of good. The problem with their definition is that what is bad for one secular person might seem good to another. That is why we need God to provide our moral compass. For the purposes of this blog post, let’s define “wicked” as the opposite of good, and let’s acknowledge that God is the definition of good. Ergo, wickedness is doing the opposite of what God wants us to do.

So God’s Word today tells us that God “watches over” the way of the righteous. If you watch over a three-year-old you don’t do everything for them, but you do keep them away from dangerous situations. The same is true for us. When God watches over us, we have a lot of latitude in what we do, but God helps keep us away from danger.

The psalm says that the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

I like the way the psalmist puts this. He doesn’t condemn the wicked to hell or death or even a stubbed toe. He simply says that the road they are on leads to a bad end. So, there is hope. There is hope that along the way they see the warning signs and turn to God and the righteousness he desires.

Application: As a Christian, understand that Jesus was serious when he summarized the law as loving God above all else and our neighbor as ourself. (Matthew 22: 37-40) Being righteous is not complicated. It is not easy, but it is not complicated either.

Food for Thought: Imagine we have a coin with one side stamped ”Righteous” and the other side stamped ”Sin.” We can only look at one side at a time. Which side does God want us to spend our time focusing on?