9/4/25

Psalm 1:1 NASB95 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

The other day my wife and I went shopping. As we went into one store, I noticed a smell that apparently wasn't bothering all the other shoppers, but to me was awful. As we were there for a few minutes I asked my wife, What is that smell? She tells me to shush and we continue to shop. After a little while longer I don't notice the smell. I had become accustomed to it. It didn't bother me any longer. As I was taking off my shirt that night, I smelled that awful smell again. It had clung to my clothes. This reminded me of a time many years ago while working in a factory. I had gotten off work and went to get something at a store on my way home. A lady in line behind me said, you must work at ______________ factory. I said yes, ma'am, I do. She replied My husband works there, and you smell just like him when he gets home from work.

So what is my point? It is not, if you go shopping and to work you will stink. Instead, it is that God says through the psalmist, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!" The reason this man is blessed is that he doesn't have the stench of sin attached to him. When you are around something long enough it will cling to you.

I can't even begin to count the number of people that I know who have been drawn into sin simply because that is where they spend most of their time. I have a loved one who quit going to church and was surrounded by people who are lost most of the day. He finally turned his back on God. Why is this? Because he wasn't spending enough time with God. So all he had around him was lostness. It clung to him, and today he lives in this lostness.

God says you are blessed when you don't hang out with sin.

He isn't saying don't go there to draw people out. What He is saying is, spend the majority of your time with Him, and when you are around sin, get away from it quickly, bringing someone out with you when possible.

Put simply, when you spend all your time around a septic tank, you will end up smelling like sewage!

Spend the majority of your time with God and then when you have to travel through the sewage maybe you will bring somebody out as they smell God on you. This is a blessed man.

Love Bro. Scott