Psalm 1:4
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
This verse stands in stark contrast to verse 3. The different between a great tree, rooted and flourishing, and the flimsy chaff that is discarded as the grain is harvested couldn’t be greater. Life as one of God’s people isn’t just a minor upgrade on the usual human experience – it’s a completely different kind of life. The
unbeliever is not simply a slightly less sturdy tree, a bit smaller, a bit less fruitful, but more or less the same. They are ‘chaff’. That is, they have no lasting strength. They will be carried off on the breeze and there will be nothing left to show that they were ever there. It’s not that they don’t have any value – we know that everyone is made in the image of God and so has dignity and purpose. It’s just that their life is so empty and fleeting, compared to a life lived in relationship with God, now and in eternity, that it
is ‘chaff’ by comparison.
Only, of course, that’s not how it looks or feels – either to us, or to them. We are so convinced by what we can see and touch and hold right now that we THINK this life, in the material world, is all that there is. Or, at least, we think that spiritual life now, and eternity to come, are just the icing on the cake, and that this life we’re in right now is still the most significant part of our experience. This verse tells us we’re wrong. The forever life that comes from belonging to God is as much superior to our present experience as a 100-year-old oak tree is to an empty husk, floating in the breeze.
Let’s praise God today that because we belong to him we have a completely different life to live, compared to those who don’t know him. And let’s ask for his help to really believe that and to rightly value the privilege that it is.
