Martyn Lloyd-Jones tells the story about a traveler in Ireland who once stopped a man working in a field in order to ask him for directions. The traveler asked, “My good man, if you were to travel to Dublin, which road would you take to get there from here?” The Irishman replied, “Well, sir, I wouldn’t take the road that leads from here, I’d take another one instead.” Many people want to start from someplace other than where they are now, in order to get to where they want to go. But the truth is, we must start from where we are now, at this very moment, at this present time in our life, if we are to reach our desired destination. The same is true speaking from a spiritual point of view. Many people want to enter the way of the godly, but they don’t want to give up the ways of the ungodly that they enjoy doing so much at this moment. Therefore, they procrastinate and put off their “travels” until they can start from some place better in life, from some place they won’t feel so guilty for if God were to find them where they are now. They want to “clean up their lives just a little”, in order to get to where they know God wants them to be. But such a path calls for a cleansing. It calls for the facing of our sin, confessing it for what it is, and turning to the Lord by faith for our salvation.
In our Sunday School studies, we are beginning a study of the Book of the Psalms, and Psalm one is a very good place to start. Listen to its words. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is the law of the Lord, and in His law does he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does, shall prosper.” Let’s take a close look at those first three verses.
First of all, it says, “Blessed is the man”. Now that means, “happy”, or, “how joyous is the man”. It conveys the joy of choosing a new way of life that brings satisfaction and fulfillment. Think of a nice, juicy watermelon and how pleasing it is to bite into its sweet meat that satisfies the fulfillment of your taste. “Blessing” in the Christian sense, is like taking that joyful step that leads you into a brand new direction, full of hope and contentment. The man, or woman, who chooses to take God’s word and live by it, is the person who chooses to walk in the fulfillment of a new life.
