By Kevin Harris, pastor of the Illawarra Community Baptist Church in Wollongong, NSW
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. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Psalm 1:1-3
When I was 9 years old, our family lived on a couple of acres near Pensacola, Florida. We had about 30 chickens, and it was my responsibility to care for them. One Lord’s Day morning I had neglected to fill the water trough for our chickens. As soon as we arrived home from the morning church service, I guiltily investigated the situation and found the trough was bone dry. I hurriedly followed the hose up the path to the tap several metres away. Turning it on, I heard a strange sound. But wait! The sound was not coming from the tap in front of me. It was behind me. Turning around, I saw that I was a metre (3 feet) away from a large diamondback rattlesnake. It was coiled up and menacingly shaking its rattles to warn me to leave!
I took the hint and ran! ‘Dad, Dad, there’s a snake out here!’ Since we had seen a small snake the day before, he initially thought I was getting excited over nothing. ‘No, Dad, this is a big one!’ I said. It turned out to be 1.6 metres (five feet) long. I know because once it was dead we measured it. The rattles which sit in a drawer still remind me of the day the Lord protected me from serious danger.
Today I want to consider an equally-great danger to our souls.
We recently looked at the first phrase of Psalm 1:1 together. We noted that the person God blesses avoids godless thought-controllers who crowd his life with their delusional advice.
Going further, notice that this person avoids the way or path that sinners take.
This suggests that there are two major kinds of paths people take in life. There are right paths travelled by God’s people and there are sinful paths travelled by those who love sin. It’s not hard to identify certain places and activities known to be the haunts of those who do not fear God. There are also certain places and activities where we expect to find the blood-washed saints.
We Bible believers have to stay away from sinful paths if we want God’s blessing on us. Those places and activities are extremely dangerous! We just have to stay away from there!
This verse is teaching the oft-neglected doctrine of separation, found all over God’s Word. Time and time again our Lord warns us to depart from evil (Proverbs 3:7), say ‘No!’ to the invitations of sinners (Proverbs 1:10-19), and to avoid those paths (Proverbs 5:8). Proverbs 4:14-15 is powerful: ‘Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.’
Do you practise personal separation in your life? Do you keep your family away from dangerous places?
The path I took over 40 years ago to turn on the hose for my chickens was not known to be frequented by dangerous rattlesnakes. But some paths DO have that reputation. Proverbs 7 speaks of a naïve young man who goes to the ‘red light district’ at night time. Solomon grieves as he watches him succumb to a harlot like a fly who lands in a spider’s web.
Father, thank You for protecting me from danger that day, and thank You that Your Word constantly warns me from dangers to my soul. You are so kind! Help me not to walk through life unaware of the dangers that lurk, ready to sink their fangs into me and insert a deadly poison. Keep me on guard against the bad counsel that comes my way as I journey through life. Keep me from coming to a standstill in the paths sinners frequent. Instead, help me to walk where serious Christians walk, delighting in Your Word. I ask this in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
This article was written by Kevin Harris Dapto pastor of Illawarra Community Baptist Church.