Protection for the Righteous ... Ruin for the Wicked (Psalm 1:6)

Today's scripture: Psalm 1:6

I love verses like this … the first part, at least.

“For the LORD knows the way of the righteous.” I often speak about how God has a plan for each of us. When we seek His will, He’ll reveal that plan. Knowing that God has a plan founded on His love, grace, and mercy, I’m confident that He’ll do His perfect will through me.

However, God’s “knowing the way” means a bit more. As I’ve written before, I like to look at other versions and translations of the Bible to give me a bit more insight into how God speaks to us. One paraphrase I like interprets the first part of today’s verse as:

The LORD protects everyone
who follows him ... (CEV)

Isn't that a wonderful assurance? God protects those of us who follow Him. I love knowing God protects me and guides me.

Then we move to the second part of the verse. And I actually prefer the CEV version: “… the wicked follow a road that leads to ruin.” The Bible talks about a “narrow gate” (see Matthew7:13-14). The road that leads to salvation is narrow and often costly, so many will choose the broad path that seems to provide more … here on earth, that is. But that road truly leads to ruin: the outer darkness I wrote about yesterday.

So, what can we learn from today’s verse?

First, we who follow Christ have a wonderful Heavenly Father who guides and protects us. When we prayerfully seek His will, He’ll lead us on a path that glorifies Him and makes us more like Christ.

Second, those who don’t follow Christ will one day experience eternal separation from God.

What’s the bottom line? We need to do whatever we can to help those who don’t know truth to find it. We need to help the “wicked” to find salvation through Christ so that they too can know God’s will on earth—and that they too can know they’ll spend eternity with God.