Week 18: Psalm 1: 5-6

Psalm 1: 5,6: Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

1. What's the therefore there for?  Taking everything that's been said from verses 1-4, contrasting a blessed and righteous man with a wicked one, we come to the final verses of this psalm.  What does it mean that the wicked won't stand in the judgment?  Aren't the wicked supposed to be judged?  I don't believe that this psalm is saying that the wicked won't be judged, but that 1) they won't be standing in the same Judgment Line with the righteous, 2) they literally won't be standing (see Philippians 2:10) at all, and/or 3) their sentencing will render them wicked, doomed to hell and, poetically, not standing.
   
   To me, these three possibilities can work together and all be true, or any single one of them.  In light of the latter part of the verse, sinners [won't stand] in the congregation of the righteous, it seems likely that these two sentences support one another and that the wicked will be separated from the righteous.
   
2. The LORD knows the way of the righteous.  This is another one of those verses that supports that God knows us and our every step, that He's there with us, and that His way does not lead to death, but to life.
1. God knows the wicked man's steps, too, but He doesn't know him intimately as He does His children.  These are the poor men and women that will die and go to hell.  
2. These types of verses serve as rallying calls to me.  Be vigilant and spread the Gospel.  May the love of Jesus Christ drive us to keep the numbers of the perishing down and the troops of the Kingdom high.

That concludes all of Psalm 1.  Sweet.  Pretty simple.