Don’t Stand in the Way

The phrase “don’t stand in my way” might bring to mind a scene like the one in which Robin Hood and Little John are at a standoff on a narrow bridge. Neither will yield until someone gets knocked into the drink.

But the phrase “stands in the path of sinners” from Psalm 1:1 (NKJV) is a Hebrew figure of speech that gets lost in translation. To stand in the path of sinners is a Hebrew expression that means to stand in the way the ungodly stand. It means that you live your life with only the horizontal in view.

When we read the word ungodly in Scripture, we may think of people who do despicable, horrible things. But the people this psalm is describing as ungodly have absolutely no interest whatsoever in spiritual things, in eternal things. They don’t believe in life after death. And if they do, it is very vague and fuzzy.

They may be very pleasant. But when it comes to the things of God, when you engage them in spiritual conversation, you find them at odds with what the Bible teaches. They live their lives for the here and now. They don’t consider what is to come. They don’t consider the purpose and meaning of their lives. They are what this psalm describes as ungodly. They are living with just this world in view. They have no consideration or knowledge of God whatsoever.

To stand in the way of the ungodly is to think in the terms of the ungodly. It is to think only about the here and now and the pleasures of the moment, without the repercussions that come later.

We should not be that way. We should live with the end in sight. The godly person will not stand in the way of sinners.