Two Ways to Walk

 Two Ways to Walk

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.” (Psalm 1:1)

Several days a week I take my wife, Elaine, over to the mall to join the walkers. Due to a lower back problem I find a chair to sit in and watch. Nothing is more interesting than watching people when they don’t realize you are watching. I see people who are walking at a fast pace with “fit bits” on their arms. Others are slowly plodding along barely able to put one foot in front of the other. Still others are walking either in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. Elaine walks around on one floor and then goes down the escalator to walk on the bottom level. Everyone seems to have the same purpose in mind.

   The Scriptures have a lot to say about walking. In Genesis 5:24 we are told, “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” And in Gen. 6:9 the Bible says, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.” God spoke to Abraham in Gen. 17:1 and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless.” Later on when the Israelites entered the Promise Land, Joshua had them walk around Jericho once each day for six days and seven times on the seventh day before the walls fell down.

   The writer of Psalm 1 presents to us two ways – the way of blessing and the way of judgment. The focus is upon God’s word and upon God’s blessing on those who obey it and meditate on it, and on His ultimate judgment on those who rebel.

   The word “blessed”is asher,” the name of one of Jacob’s sons. It’s in the plural form meaning – “O the happiness! O the blessedness!” The person described in Psalm One met the conditions and therefore God blessed him. If we want God’s blessing, we, too, must meet the conditions.

   Why does God pore out his blessing on us? So that we might become channels of God’s blessing to others. It’s a joy to receive a blessing but an even greater joy to be a blessing. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)

Prayer: Dear Lord, make me a blessing to others as the new year approaches.