Useless chaff

Throughout Psalm 1, we’ve found out a lot about what happens to those who seek God through His Word.  But what happens to those who do not do this? 

 Psalm 1:1-3
How happy is the one who does not
walk in the advice of the wicked or
stand in the pathway with sinners or
sit in the company of mockers!

Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.

He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams
that bears its fruit in its season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

And now, the psalmist provides a contrast:

Psalm 1:4
The wicked are not like this;
instead they are like chaff that the wind blows away.

The wicked do not look to the Lords’ instruction and instead rely on the advice/direction of godless others.  But honestly, if they’re avoiding God and godly advice…who else is there to turn to?  If we are not getting God’s plan for our lives constantly added to us, what other source of fuel is there?

As one of my former bosses was inclined to repeat: In the absence of truth, people will make up their own.  There is plenty of advice, paths to take, and company to keep out there…but not all of it is beneficial for guiding a person’s life.

This chaff analogy may be little strange to us non-farming society folks, so here’s what chaff really is – a non-fruit part of a grain plant, which includes the seed-covering husks.  

Chaff is ultra-light and easily blown away by the wind.  Chaff is not the useful part of the plant.  Chaff is the total and complete opposite of the tree planted beside flowing streams.  Also keep in mind that chaff is never a “good” comparison in Scripture.

But does chaff or husks serve any purpose?  Albeit a temporary good or help to the plant, it has no lasting impact.  Without God’s word consistently soaking into our lives, people eventually become like flittering-in-the-wind chaff…no root, no life, no fruit; a missed or ruined opportunity, wasting the time given to us.

God takes very seriously how humans approach His word, how we regard His revelation of both Himself and the purpose of human creation.  God is so serious about it, that He warns us of both present life and future consequences.  When the wicked ignore the Lord’s instruction, not only will their lives amount to useless chaff, but they also will not receive a favorable judgment from the Lord:

Psalm 1:5
Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Both the wicked path and the righteous path have short-term (in this life) and long-term (eternal) consequences.  However, we still must reject the urge to interpret this psalm as “saved vs not saved”.  We are not talking about eternal destinies here. 

Remember the context of the psalm – it was written by and for God’s chosen nation, Israel.  We’re dealing with an in-house situation here.  Similarly, can a church-age believer waste his or her life?  Absolutely.  And how would we expect God’s evaluation of their life go?

The wicked are not godly.  They may do kind acts or charitable deeds, but God’s evaluation of how they spent their lives is that they had no eternal impact.  Chaff has no root or strength to stand on its own, therefore the wicked and sinners are incapable of standing.  It’s not so much that God prevents them from standing, rather they do not have the capacity to do so.

The contrast used by the psalmist is almost absurd, when you think about it – a prosperous, full-of-life tree vs chaff.  There’s no comparison here.  Given the choice between the two, no one would choose to be the chaff.

And that’s the psalmist’s point – the choices we make, how we walk the path that we walk, affects not only this life, but our standing in the next life.  Joe often reminded me that “this life is just boot camp for the next”.  I’ve also heard the analogy that this life is like being in the womb, and we are developing now what we will need when we are born into the next life. 

For those who walk the righteous path and fuel their life with God and His word, their choices will be vindicated when God does His evaluation.

Keep Pressing,
Ken