I think we could read Psalm 1:1 without injury to the text as follows, “Happy is the man who walks NOT in the counsel of the ungodly, who stands NOT in the way of sinners, who sits NOT in the seat of the scornful.” These three negatives in and of themselves would not make a man happy. Therefore when God converts him and turns him from such activity He doesn’t leave him in an empty vacuum. In the grace of salvation all negatives have positives. The “walk not” is replaced with a walk. “Walk not in the counsel of the ungodly,” BUT “walk worthy of the calling whereby ye are called,” AND “be followers of God as dear children, and walk in love,” (Ephesians 4:1; 5:1-2). The believer “sits not in the seat of the scornful,” RATHER “he sits in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, blessed with all spiritual blessings,” (Ephesians 1:3; 2:6). We who are saved are not to “stand in the way of sinners,” BUT “in the power of His might and against the wiles of the devil, and with our loins girded with truth,” (Ephesians 6:10-14). In Psalm 1:2 David supplies us with the positive as contrast to the three negatives. Rather than “walking in the counsel of the ungodly,” the believer gets his counsel from the “law of the Lord,” in which he “delights.” He stands apart from the way of sinners, and his way is lighted by God’s word. Rather than identifying with the scorner, he meditates in the benefits and blessings derived from the Holy Scriptures day and night. We have two great lessons in Psalm 38:21, “Oh my God, be not far from me.” Here we have what to deplore and what to implore. The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. As there is the most heat nearest to the sun, so there is the most happiness nearest to Christ the Son. No Christian enjoys comfort when his eyes are fixed on vanity – he finds not satisfaction unless his soul is quickened in the ways of God. The world may win happiness elsewhere, but he cannot. I do not blame ungodly men for rushing to their pleasures. Why should I? Let them have their fill. That is all they have to enjoy. A converted wife who despaired of her husband was always very kind to him, for she said, “I fear that this is the only world in which he will be happy, and therefore I have made up my mind to make him as happy as I can in it.” Another negative, “Oh death why do you snatch away the excellent of the earth in whom is all our delight? The positive is in Jesus’ answer, “Father I desire that those whom You have given Me be with Me where I am” (John 17:24). “Enjoy the blessings of this day, if God sends them; and the evils of it bear patiently and sweetly: for this day only is ours, we are dead to yesterday, and we are not yet born to the morrow.” Jeremy Taylor
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