Biblical Counsel for the Year Ahead (Part 1)

For many, thoughts of the brand-new year have already faded, and the routines of everyday life once again overshadow fresh commitments and well-intentioned resolutions.

Still, I would like to share some reflections drawn from a passage of Scripture that repeatedly captured my attention as the previous year came to a close and a new one began.

Though the new year is now well underway, the wisdom and counsel of Psalm 1 remain timeless, offering steady and reliable guidance as we continue forward.

In this blog and the next, I will offer a few reminders of very basic, yet profound truths the psalmist expresses in the first three verses of Psalm 1.

1. There Is a Posture We Must Avoid

“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” (Psalm 1:1 KJV).

Notice that the psalmist begins by telling us what the blessed person does not do.

There are certain behaviors, a certain posture of life, if you will, that must be avoided if we desire the blessings the psalmist speaks of.

We Must Avoid Bad Counsel

First, the blessed person does not walk “in the counsel of the ungodly” (Psalm 1:1).

All of us have received bad advice at some point. Even worse, many of us have followed bad advice without realizing it was bad until later.

While not all poor counsel comes from ungodly people, counsel that flows from an ungodly worldview is especially dangerous.

Ungodly counsel is not framed by Scripture. It lacks an objective standard and is often driven by personal desire, emotion, or convenience.

Advice such as “follow your heart” or “do what feels right” may sound appealing, but Scripture warns us plainly:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Because the ungodly do not interpret life through biblical truth, their views on success, relationships, finances, morality, and purpose will inevitably be skewed.

The blessed person learns to recognize this and turns instead to the unchanging Word of God for wisdom.

As the psalmist later wrote, “Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors” (Psalm 119:24).

We Must Avoid Bad Courses

Next, the psalmist warns us not to “stand in the way of sinners” (Psalm 1:1).

D.A. Carson explained that we sometimes get the wrong idea for what standing in the way of sinners means, because the way our text reads, it gives the impression of hindering someone.

We might get the impression it means to block them, or block their path.

But Carson said the phrase “… ‘to stand in someone’s way’ in Hebrew means something like ‘to stand in his moccasins’: to do what he does, to adopt his lifestyle, his habits, his patterns of conduct.”

Simply put, the psalmist is warning us to avoid modeling our lives after those who perpetually transgress God’s standards.

Their path may appear easier, more popular, or more enjoyable. It may even seem prosperous for a time. And those things may be true, at least in a temporal sense.

But Scripture reminds us that appearances can deceive:

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

Jesus Himself spoke of the “way of sinners.”

“… wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:” (Matthew 7:13).

That is a course we certainly want to avoid.

We Must Avoid Bad Character

Finally, Psalm 1 warns against sitting “in the seat of the scornful” (Psalm 1:1).

Who are “the scornful?”

They are those who, as Matthew Henry described, have become “… secure in their wickedness and please themselves with the searedness of their own consciences.”

Yes, they are ungodly. Yes, they are sinners. But they are more than that. They are those who have grown proud of their rebellion.

They openly mock God, His Word, and His people.

And the psalmist reminds us that their influence is especially dangerous because, as the word “seat” implies, they often occupy positions of authority, prestige, and cultural influence.

Commenting on the scornful, Charles Spurgeon said the blessed man of Psalm 1 “… finds no rest in the atheist's scoffings. Let others make a mock of sin, of eternity, of hell and heaven, and of the Eternal God; this man has learned better philosophy than that of the infidel, and has too much sense of God's presence to endure to hear His name blasphemed. The seat of the scorner may be very lofty, but it is very near to the gate of hell; let us flee from it, for it shall soon be empty, and destruction shall swallow up the man who sits therein.”

The blessings of Psalm 1 are available to all, but the key to attaining them begins by heeding the admonition to avoid certain things – bad counsel, bad courses, and bad character.

Part One of this blog reminds us There Is a Posture We Must Avoid.

In Part Two, we will be reminded that There Is a Practice For Which We Aim, and There Is a Product We May Anticipate.