Psalm 1:1-6
‘Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly!… He shall be like a tree…. His leaf also, shall not wither…. Whatever he does, shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away…. The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment…. The way of the ungodly, shall perish!’ Psalm 1:1-6.
O, the blessednesses of the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly! Calvin comments: “It shall always be well with God’s devout servants, whose constant endeavour it is to make progress in the study of His Law…. From His characterizing the godly as ‘delighting’ in the Law of the Lord, we may learn…that those only are worthy students of the Law who come to it with a cheerful mind and are…delighted with its instruction….
“There is…an implied contrast between the vigour of a tree planted in a situation well watered, and the decayed appearance of one which…soon withers on account of the barrenness of the soil in which it is placed…. The children of God constantly flourish…. The ungodly are carried away by the sudden tempest, or consumed by the scorching heat….
“‘The ungodly…are like the chaff which the wind drives away’…. He will be even as chaff or refuse, whenever God chooses to cast him down…with the Breath of His mouth…. Ungodly persons shall be entirely deprived of their pleasures….
“The Lord daily executes judgment…. But because this is done only partially in this life, we must look higher…. Even in this world, the prosperity of the ungodly begins to pass away as often as God manifests the tokens of His judgment…. They have no part with the assembly of the righteous…. We must patiently wait for the day of final revelation, in which Christ will separate the sheep from the goats….
“God is the Judge of the world…. It follows that it cannot but be well with the upright and the just. While, on the other hand, the most terrible destruction must impend over the ungodly…. He is the certain Avenger of wickedness…. At length, He will visit them with destruction.”
Calvin remarks in his Institutes III:17:10 & II:7:13: “‘Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly!’… Psalm 1:1….
“There are not various rules for life, but one perpetual and inflexible rule…. Therefore, when David describes the righteous as spending their whole lives in meditating on the Law (Psalm 1:2), we must not confine to a single age an employment which is most appropriate for all ages — even to the end of the world!…
“It is well if we thus press onward! Our whole life is a race…. After we have finished our course, the Lord will enable us to reach that goal to which at present we can only aspire!” The godly flourish, but the ungodly shall perish! And you?
