Psalms 1:4-6 ESV  The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.  (5)  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;  (6)  for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

A voice is saying to you, “What’s the big deal?” “Why do I need to listen to the Word?” “What it says is too demanding, too extreme, too uncomfortable!” “I can get by without obedience, rules, restrictions!” “Why should my fortunes in life be limited by such narrow-minded religious bigotry?”

So what is the alternative to obedience to the Word?

The alternative is to live without God, outside of fellowship with him and his people, in disobedience and rebellion. It is to live outside the benefit of his will, the protection of his power, the hope of his promise. No hope, no help, no hiding. Sadly, many will not stop long enough to realize the condition of which I speak.

Not so the wicked! They are not like the tree rooted by the streams of water. They are not nourished or stable. They are like the worthless chaff – husks that, when separated from the grain, blow away in the wind. Adam Clarke, the scholarly Methodist commentator, describes them this way:

An ungodly man is never steady; his purposes are abortive; his conversation light, trifling, and foolish; his professions, friendships, etc., frothy, hollow, and insincere; and both he and his works are carried away to destruction by the wind of God’s judgments.

It is no wonder the psalmist says that the wicked will not stand in the judgment. How can they stand up to such scrutiny? They won’t have “a leg to stand on.” They can’t stand in the company of the righteous, who have placed their trust in the Lord. They are unworthy of such a company, although they had been given the invitation to join them. Like so many, they refused the invitation. They will have no excuse or defense for rejecting God in that day of judgment.

Psalms 35:5 ESV  Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away!

Isaiah 17:13 ESV  The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.

Isaiah 29:5 ESV  But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

Hosea 13:3 ESV  Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away, like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window.

Matthew 3:12 ESV  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Why would anyone want to face divine justice and justifiable wrath? Why would anyone refuse the grace of God that leads to salvation? The burden of an obedient life is no burden, when one considers the wisdom of the commands, the blessed results of obeying, the joy in pleasing our heavenly Father. Mark the end (the final destination) of the righteous person (the one who is right with God).

The Lord “knows the way” of the righteous. It’s not just that he is aware of their doings and goings; he also “watches over” them. He is their defense, their shield, their mainstay, their strong tower, their anchor. The “way” they live determines the “way” they pursue and that “way” becomes their destination.

We must choose a “way” to travel in life and each alternative has its own consequences and destination. As Robert Frost writes in his poem, The Road Less Traveled,

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

It is not which way is the easiest, fastest, smoothest, most popular or offers the most amenities. I grew up in the backwoods of Arkansas with dirt roads and potholes. We never talked about the comfort of the roads. We just knew that this is the one we needed to take to get to the destination. It is this simple: Does this way lead to where I want to go? The other considerations are incidental. In choosing a way, the destination is crucial, it is everything. So, which way have you chosen? It does make ALL THE DIFFERENCE.