Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

A Life beyond Compare

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The central lesson in Psalm 1 is this: there is not the slightest similarity between the spiritually accelerating life of the righteous and the slowly eroding life of the wicked. Take time to ponder the bold contrasts:

Godly	Ungodly
Happiness many times over	Not so!
Uncompromised purity	Driven by the wind
Has a guide—Word of God	No guide
Like a tree	Like chaff
Stands erect before God	Unable to stand erect
Special object of God's care	No right to stand among righteous assembly
Destiny secure, safe, prosperous	Perish

Let's bring our recent devotion on Psalm 1 to a close with an expanded paraphrase:

Oh, the happiness, many times over, of the man who does not temporarily or even casually imitate the plan of life of those living in the activity of sinful confusion, nor comes and takes his stand in the midst of those who miss the mark spiritually, nor settles down and dwells in the habitation of the blasphemous crowd. But (in contrast to that kind of lifestyle) in God's Word he takes great pleasure, thinking upon it and pondering it every waking moment, day or night. The result: He will become treelike—firm, fruitful, unwithered, and fulfilling the goals in life that God has designed for him.

Not so, the ungodly! They are like worthless husks beaten about and battered by the winds of life (drifting and roaming without purpose). Therefore, on account of their inner worthlessness without the Lord, the ungodly are not able to stand erect on the day of judgment, nor do they possess any right to be numbered among the assembly of those declared righteous by God, because the Lord is inclined toward and bound to His righteous ones by special love and care; but the way of the one without the Lord will lead only to eternal ruin.