What is the counsel of the ungodly, and how do we not walk in it (Psalm 1:1)?

In the description here given of the godly man, his character is viewed first negatively and then positively. The first verse shows him exempt from those deeper sources of unhappiness from which all afflictions have really sprung; while the second reveals the positive secret of his blessedness. As for the first — it is not, "Blessed is the man that feels no pain, sheds no tears, suffers no loss or disappointment." No! "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." We have here a double climax. First, as to the characters named: secondly, as to the attitudes described. The ungodly — sinners — the scornful. Walking — standing — sitting.

"The ungodly" are the least culpable in this climax of evil. Their fault is negative. They know not, love not, fear not God. He is not in all their thoughts. They do not wish to remember Him, or to know His will, or obey His commands. "Without God in the world" is the solemn portraiture of their state. Such people have their counsel — their habits of thought — their grounds of judgment — their principles of conduct. In all these God has no place: they are ungodly. Blessed in the man that heeds not their counsel, that follows it not. It includes all the maxims of the decent, reputable, but ungodly part of society; persons free from gross vices, but with whom self is the master-spring — the main object. Even with their freedom from gross vices, this is the case. They would not for their own credit, frequent a low tavern; but neither would they, and for the same reason, attend a cottage prayer-meeting. It is respectable to go to church, or to a well-cushioned fashionable chapel, and they go there; but it is equally respectable to attend the theatre or concert room, and as it is even more agreeable it is more willingly practised. For these and a hundred other habits and deeds such maxims are pleaded as, "We must do as others do." "What good is there in being singular?" "We must act conformably to our station." "This or that is expected of us." "What harm is there in it?" These are but a small specimen of that which is here termed "the counsel of the ungodly."

"Sinners" add to the ungodliness of the former class, positive ways of evil, wicked habits and pursuits. These differ according to constitution, early education or the lack of it, and a number of influences beside. "Every one hath turned to his own way." One may be a way of violence, another of fraud, and another of intemperance. Blessed is the man who equally abstains from all — who "standeth not in the way of sinners."

But there are deeper and surer sources of unhappiness than any of the afflictions thus enumerated; the sources, in fact, from which all these afflictions flow. But for sin, not one single sensation of bodily pain, not one moment's mental anguish, would have been experienced by a single member of the human family. Not that present exemption from these effects can be secured by moral and spiritual deliverance from sin, which is the cause. The godly suffer as well as others, and in many respects, more than others; but this prevents not their blessedness. It may and does hinder the perfection of it; but not its reality. In this world of evil, a man without sin would be the greatest sufferer on the earth. Of this we need no other proof than the Man of sorrows, who was "acquainted with griefs." But who doubts His blessedness? It is in Him indeed that we have the only perfect instance of the character here described. It is not given as a description of Him, but of any godly man, and, primarily, any godly Israelite. For all the godly partake in reality of Christ's character, though in Him alone has it been perfectly exemplified.

In the description here given of the godly man, his character is viewed first negatively and then positively. The first verse shows him exempt from those deeper sources of unhappiness from which all afflictions have really sprung; while the second reveals the positive secret of his blessedness. As for the first it is not, "Blessed is the man that feels no pain, sheds no tears, suffers no loss or disappointment." No! "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." We have here a double climax. First, as to the characters named: secondly, as to the attitudes described. The ungodly — sinners — the scornful. Walking — standing — sitting.

"The ungodly" are the least culpable in this climax of evil. Their fault is negative. They know not, love not, fear not God. He is not in all their thoughts. They do not wish to remember Him, or to know His will, or obey His commands. "Without God in the world" is the solemn portraiture of their state. Such people have their counsel — their habits of thought — their grounds of judgment — their principles of conduct. In all these God has no place: they are ungodly. Blessed in the man that heeds not their counsel, that follows it not. It includes all the maxims of the decent, reputable, but ungodly part of society; persons free from gross vices, but with whom self is the master-spring — the main object. Even with their freedom from gross vices, this is the case. They would not for their own credit, frequent a low tavern; but neither would they, and for the same reason, attend a cottage prayer-meeting. It is respectable to go to church, or to a well-cushioned fashionable chapel, and they go there; but it is equally respectable to attend the theatre or concert room, and as it is even more agreeable it is more willingly practised. For these and a hundred other habits and deeds such maxims are pleaded as, "We must do as others do." "What good is there in being singular?" "We must act conformably to our station." "This or that is expected of us." "What harm is there in it?" These are but a small specimen of that which is here termed "the counsel of the ungodly."

"Sinners" add to the ungodliness of the former class, positive ways of evil, wicked habits and pursuits. These differ according to constitution, early education or the lack of it, and a number of influences beside. "Every one hath turned to his own way." One may be a way of violence, another of fraud, and another of intemperance. Blessed is the man who equally abstains from all — who "standeth not in the way of sinners."

Psalm 1. This government in the earth is plainly pointed out in the first psalm, and the character of those whom that government blesses. He it is who keeps separate from the wicked in his way, and delights in the law of Jehovah, and meditates on it. Submission to the Christ, as the depositary of this government in God's counsels at the close of this time of trial, is the subject of the second. Only a few words on the first of these two psalms, which lay the basis of all the rest. The counsel of the ungodly, the way of sinners, and the seat of the scornful are avoided. While here connected with human responsibility in walk, yet it is being kept from the evil. I do not desire to spin out the force of the words, but a few remarks may be made on these words. The ungodly have plans, counsels of their own will, their own way of viewing things, and arrangements to obtain their purpose. There the just is not found. The sinner has a path in which he walks, pleasing himself there: the just does not walk with him. The scornful are at ease, despising God: there the just will not sit. Judgment will come, and such will not be allowed to stand in the congregation of the just then brought to rest by the glory of God.

First, then, we have the blessedness of the godly looked at by itself. In the first verse we see his consistent independency of all the various forms and degrees of ungodliness by which he is encompassed. He shakes them off from him, to walk, as far as their advocates are concerned, alone. Such is in fact the necessary commencement of a true walk with God. The first step with Him must be outside of all that is contrary to Him; and to be indifferent is to be contrary!

How beautifully the book begins with the man who is truly blessed! It speaks preeminently of Christ, though not confined to Christ, for others follow Him in the path of faith and devotion. But only He is perfect in the qualifications of this psalm. The first verse is negative in showing the blessed man's separation from the evils so common in the world. His walk (speaking of energy of action) is not in the counsel of the ungodly. Standing does not require action, but it does indicate association, as Judas stood with the enemies of the Lord (John 18:5). The blessed man stands apart from the path of sinners. Sitting in the seat of the scornful would indicate that one is comfortable in the company of those who are guilty of scorn and contempt for the Lord of glory. Peter sat with the enemies of the Lord briefly, but of course he could not be comfortable.

Verses 2 and 3 are beautifully positive. Some people tell us not to mention the negative at all, but God mentions it first. Why? Because the whole world is in a state of evil, and it must first be established that the believer is not of this world. Then the positive things provide the evidence as to why he is not of this world. "His delight is in the law of the Lord" (v. 2). The law here is not confined to the five books of Moses, which are rightly called "the law of Moses," but includes the entire word of God as revealed at the time this psalm was written.

The description of the godly man is first negative, then positive. He is first seen in his refusal of any link with the ungodly, whatever be the phase of their ungodliness. The words certainly show us a down-grade of evil, and how its hold strengthens upon those drawn into its vortex. It begins with "counsel," which simply leaves out God. Walk by it, and you shall find that it leads into the way of sinners, — practical and open rejection of righteousness in deed and word. And this has for its natural consummation the brazen hardness of the scoffer, who says, "Depart from me, for I desire not the knowledge of thy ways!" (Job 21:14.) This is the way in which many travel, who strengthen each other by their mutual unbelief, and become for each other the authority which God has lost in their souls. Thus the mass hardens as it compacts together; and this is more and more being seen in days of widespread confederacy such as these are, — confederacy which for the Christian, in its lightest form, means compromise, the overthrow of conscience, of that which is the witness to God's supremacy over man, the divine throne to which alone he is really subject.

The positive side of this description of the godly man is just this subjection of conscience and heart to God. A dependent creature, realizing his relationship to a Being of unchanged perfection, his delight is in conformity to His blessed will, to Jehovah's law. He is exercised by it, occupied with it, meditates upon it day and night. As the psalms themselves even are quoted as "the law" in Scripture (Rom. 3:19), there is no possible reason for limiting this here even to the books of Moses; and the soul delighting in God will seek to possess itself of all that He has communicated. "All Scripture … is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness"; so there is nothing impractical in the whole range of that which God has given to us: if we neglect any of it, this may result in serious misunderstanding of the rest. It is a Jew, of course, who is contemplated here, and with the necessarily limited revelation that had as yet been made; and how much the more does this diligent study upon his part speak to us to whom so much more has been vouchsafed! "Labor not," says the Lord, amid an audience of the hard-working poor, whose poverty and need He so well knew, — "Labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give you." And did not these wondrous psalms of praise themselves grow largely out of such day and night study of Jehovah's law as characterizes the godly here?

"The seat of the scornful" is occupied by the one who has so hardened himself against God as to mock at sin, deride the piety of others, and make a jest of sacred things.

Then, as to the second climax, to be in movement, walking, clearly affords more hope of being turned in a right direction, than where evil has been deliberately chosen, and a person stands in the way of sinners. But to be seated, and that in the scorner's chair — to be at ease — where God, and Christ, and heaven are only named to point a joke or raise a laugh; this is, beyond a doubt, the crowning attainment of such as call evil good, and good evil. Yet not only from this final maturity of shameless vice, but from all the steps which lead on to it, the subject of the psalm abstains. In the scorner's chair he declines to "sit"; in the way of sinners he will not "stand"; in the counsel of the ungodly he refuses to "walk."

Then, as to the second climax, to be in movement, walking, clearly affords more hope of being turned in a right direction, than where evil has been deliberately chosen, and a person stands in the way of sinners. But to be seated, and that in the scorner's chair to be at ease — where God, and Christ, and heaven are only named to point a joke or raise a laugh; this is, beyond a doubt, the crowning attainment of such as call evil good, and good evil. Yet not only from this final maturity of shameless vice, but from all the steps which lead on to it, the subject of the psalm abstains. In the scorner's chair he declines to "sit"; in the way of sinners he will not "stand"; in the counsel of the ungodly he refuses to "walk."

The law cherished in the heart leads to a practical walk in which iniquity is refused. Thus the godly are delivered from their own wills to do God's will.

(v. 1) The ungodly are viewed as in the ascendant. They have their counsels; their way of carrying out their plans; and they sit at ease in the place of power, scornful of the authority of God. In such circumstances we have depicted the outer life, the inner life, and the prosperity of the godly man. His outer life is marked by complete separation from the world around. He has no part in its counsels, its ways, or its godless ease.

(v. 2) His separation, however, is not merely outward and formal; it is accompanied by an inner life of devotedness to God. His delight is in the law of the Lord; and the Word that he delights in becomes the subject of his meditation day and night.