The Counsel of the Ungodly
Nathan Leal
March 12, 2012
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly…”
Psalms 1:1a
The very first word in the book of Psalms is the word – “Blessed.” This word is associated with a promise. It is a promise that can only come to fruition if we obey what it says.
In this verse, we are told that a person will be “blessed” if they do not walk in the “counsel of the ungodly.”
What is the “counsel of the ungodly?”
In laymen’s term’s, ungodly counsel is the bad advice that is freely offered to us by people who do not know God.
According to the verse above, we are told that that we will be blessed if we do not walk according to this ungodly advice. Therefore, “ungodly” advice is “bad advice!”
But why is this advice bad?” Why does God tell us not to walk in this counsel?
Is He just being strict? Is God just trying to give us more rules?” Does God prohibit things in our life so that we will not have any fun as believers?
The answer is: no, no and no!
God gives us instructions because He cares about us and He also wants us to experience “abundant life.” Abundant life is living a life where God has His hand of blessing and protection over us. It is God’s will that we achieve this type of life. But walking in this abundant life is conditional to our obedience.
As most of you know, we live in a dangerous and fallen world. The challenge in this world is to live our Christian lives with victory over temptation and sin.
When a believer listens to ungodly counsel, it creates an open door to temptation. When temptation rears its ugly head, a new battle begins. Temptation is a strong enemy. Its desire is to lure us into bad choices. It pulls and it tugs!
The bad counsel that we entertain within will become the enemy of a battle!
And my friend, who will win that battle?
The Bible tells us that we should “abhor what is evil and cling to what is good” Romans 12:9
But if we are listening to our ungodly friends and allow them to influence us into lowering our standards, we will find ourselves compromised. When we are compromised, there is a tendency to minimize the darkness and danger of sin.
In summary, ungodly counsel is dangerous to our Christian life.
So again, what is ungodly counsel?
- It is a man or a woman advising their friend to leave their spouse for the sake of convenience or pleasure.
- It is a Christian sitting down with a non Christian and before he knows it, he is endorsing their earthly plans that are immoral.
- It is the conversation with non believers that includes giving consideration to ethics that are wrong.
- It is hearing a remedy that is unbiblical and deciding that it is the best option.
Psalms 1:1 tells us that we should not succumb to this counsel or seek it out. God also tells us that there is a blessing to the person who does not participate in these dark things.
But let us also look at the flip side of this promise. The opposite of “blessed” is “cursed.”
My friends, there are consequences to the one who does not follow these words. Let’s visit them for a moment. The person that relies on ungodly counsel will not be blessed and the Bible is clear; Disobeying God’s Word will have opposite results.
In Deuteronomy 28, God tells us about the “blessings” and the “curses.” Those that obey His statutes will be “blessed” and those who do not will be “cursed.” There is no middle ground. There is no in between.
So it stands to reason that Psalms 1:1 is no different. If a person walks in the counsel of the ungodly, they will unfortunately be “cursed!”
If we were to paraphrase Psalms 1:1 we could say, “Cursed is the man who walks in the counsel of the ungodly.”
Ungodly counsel is very dangerous folks!
- Are you in need of advice?
- Are you seeking wisdom on what to do in your life?
- Are you looking for answers about your future or your families’ future?
- Are you thinking about a major financial decision?
- Are you experiencing a family crisis?
- Are you facing challenges in the parenting of your children?
These are a sampling of the many questions that we all have.
But where do we get the answers? If a person needed answers to these questions, but only sought them out from the world’s perspective, the answers would be limited to just one dimension.
However, we live in more than one dimension. There is a spiritual dimension that cannot be ignored. It is the dimension of God! God has principles for living. But the world’s residents reject His principles and deny His ways.
Those that live their lives and exclude the statutes of God are the “ungodly!” And unfortunately, there are consequences to living against God’s ways.
These consequences are known by a variety of terms:
- Sowing and reaping!
- Bad Karma!
- What Goes around comes around!
The Bible calls it sowing and reaping. And it is very real! Some people just think it to be “bad luck.” But it is not just “luck.” Life is not merely a casino of fate. Life is not just a summary of random events. God created this earth with physical laws as well as spiritual laws.
Psalms 1:1 is one of God’s spiritual laws. It is a promise as well as a warning. To disobey its truth will result in a harvest…a reaping of curses!
Curses are expensive. Trying to undo curses takes a lot of time and energy. Curses are the crops that were planted without Godly advice or counsel. Curses are the painful result of listening to ungodly advice and following through.
Folks! There is always a harvest! God is not willing that people live with curses. His desire is that we reap a harvest of “blessing!”
Unfortunately, this world lives in darkness and is blind to the wisdom of God. The ungodly are spiritually blind. And folks, the blind cannot lead the blind.
As the people of God, we need to seek out and live according to the statutes of God. The statutes of God are not going to be found in the counsel of your boozing buddies and partying friends. Nor will they be found in the advice of compromising or backslidden Christians, at least not in the fullness of wisdom and truth.
So where can this counsel be found? It can only be found from godly sources that line up with scripture; i.e. – godly friends and godly spiritual leaders. It could also be found through prayer or any other source that is gleaned from the mind of Christ.
The key ingredient to the formula is that it must come from godly sources that absolutely line up with the scriptures. There can be no question about it; the counsel cannot be allowed to contradict the scriptures.
This therefore, leaves us with a task and a great challenge; we must know what the scriptures say. We must become friends with our Bible. We must become acquainted with God’s principles. This can only happen one way, through the sacrifice of time to read the scriptures and study God’s Word.
My friends, the days are becoming darker. Without our lamp we will not be able to see. Your lamp is your Bible.
In His Service,
Nathan Leal
