“The wicked are not so,
Psalm 1:6, ESV
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.”
No one particularly likes the term “wicked” or thoughts regarding their destiny. In fact, the use of the term is considered politically incorrect in a culture that questions the existence of objective truth or radical evil. Remember all the flack George W. Bush got when he used the term “evildoers?”
Although his use of the term certainly seemed like an apt description for the perpetrators of 9/11, the “we have nothing to learn from these people” perspective that many Christians hold toward “outsiders” wreaks of an arrogance that God despises (Proverbs 6:16-17a). As the title of my favorite Switchfoot album Vice Verses reminds me often, we’re all a hot mess—a mix of both vice and verses.
Were it not for God’s grace and mercy, we are all just “chaff that the wind drives away” or “Dust in the Wind” like the classic song by Kansas. The NRSV Oxford Study Bible notes that “in threshing [wheat], the crushed sheaves were tossed into the air, where the wind blew away the lighter chaff.” Chaff, like dust, is not rooted in anything. Its existence is largely inconsequential. When it comes to chaff, discussions of delight, flourishing, or fruitfulness don’t really apply; they’re irrelevant.
As humans, we all have an enemy who desires to keep us from spiritual transformation and to, as Jesus told Peter, “sift… [us] as wheat” (Luke 22:31). This means that Satan desires to scatter our divine potential—like chaff—to the wind.
Before we go further, let’s review where we’ve been:
- Part 1: Step Away from Polluting Voices. (1)
- Part 2: Saturate Your Mind with Scripture. (2)
- Part 3: Settle Into—Become Rooted In—a Place That Will Help You Grow. (3) And finally…
- Part 4: Stay Clear on What Happens to the Wicked. (4-6)
Given the case we’ve made that Psalm one is an important summary of essentials for getting involved in spiritual transformation, why is it so important to keep the destiny of the lost before us?
To answer this question well, let’s look briefly at Psalm 73 in the NLT. It gives a view of what one ancient believer named Asaph was struggling with:
“Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure. But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.” (1-3)
He goes on in 12-14:
“Look at these wicked people—enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply. Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason? I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain.”
And then we come to verse 17. It’s the hinge on which the whole Psalm turns: “Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and…” And what does it say? “I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.”
After all his lament and bitter complaints, when Asaph went into the sanctuary of God, what was it that restored his focus? It was understanding the destiny of those far from God.
When we bring eternity into the picture, we realize that people who don’t care about or mock God don’t really have it so great. They might enjoy some creature comforts now, but they are lost and their destiny is one in which they will be separated from God for eternity.
Although most of us would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, the Bible talks about the wicked and their end frequently and unapologetically. Admittedly, hell is one of Christianity’s teachings I don’t particularly like and have wrestled with for years.[1] But as Flannery O’Conner once said, “truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
In concluding this series, Eugene Peterson notes that Psalm one brings “us into the world of revelation, the Scriptures and Jesus, the Word made flesh. It is not a world of guesswork, superstition, and dogmatic opinions but a personal world of relationship between a God who is involved in our salvation as revealed in the Sinai Law of Moses, the preaching of the apostles and prophets, and the good news most comprehensively revealed in Jesus.”[2]
Look with me again at the final refrain: “for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
“The LORD knows” is certainly a precious relational truth but “perish” seems like such an awful and ominous way to end this great Psalm. Indeed, it’s a scenario only Christ can change. But here’s the good news: he did!
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16, ESV
[1] See here for quotes that have helped me the most in understanding Jesus’ teaching on hell.
[2] Eugene Peterson, As Kingfisher’s Catch Fire, 108.