A Contrast by James Montgomery

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Nov 8, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 44.

A Contrast

By James Montgomery

The Desire of the Converted and the Unconverted

By James Montgomery

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish." Psalm 1.

THE contrast here between the man who serves God and the one that serves Him not is very marked, and the effects of their respective conduct are both here and elsewhere very vividly contrasted.

The converted man certainly has the better of the situation in the above contrast. The reason why he walks not "in the counsel of the ungodly," is that "his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night." As a consequence he is like a tree planted by the waters — his roots find the moisture, and his leaf withers not; whatsoever he does prospers.

The prosperity here mentioned is the direct opposite of the prosperity mentioned in Psalm 73. The latter is the kind that prospers "in the world" "like a green bay-tree;" while the prosperity spoken of in Psalm 1 is that which follows the intelligent efforts of the godly to do the right. "Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper," and he is careful not to undertake anything not in harmony with that law upon which he "meditates day and night." He it is to whom the promises are given, and of him do we read upon every page of the Book. He it is who may with the psalmist say: "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me." Ps. 3: 4, 5. He it is about whom the angels encamp "to deliver them;" and to him are the angels sent as "ministering spirits" to serve him. It is the righteous man who finally overcomes and enters the undefiled kingdom, there to abide forever.

But the ungodly are not so. Like the chaff before the wind are they driven away and scattered, and "thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." They can not stand in the judgment, nor can they demand a place in the congregation of the righteous. He it is who has rejected all that a wise and just God — full of love and compassion and of tender mercy — could do for his salvation. He has spurned the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus; and he has done despite to the spirit of grace. He reaps the fruit of his own sowing.

This phase of the contrast is so very sad and melancholy that we forbear to follow it farther. Verily, he who meditates upon the law of God day and night, tho suffering adversity in this world, is far better situated than are the ungodly "whose end is destruction," and whose present existence is "like the troubled sea, when it can not rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Isa. 57: 20, 21.

Newark, Ohio.