Displacing Wicked Counsel

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Ever had thoughts like these running through your head? “What must they think about me?” “It’s hopeless.” “I’m worthless.” “I deserve better.” “It isn’t fair!”

Thoughts like these are ungodly. But how do we get them out of our heads?

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1–2)

Psalm 1 tells us that the alternative to following ungodly counsel is to delight in and meditate on God’s counsel in His word. Let’s take a specific example:

Have you ever had someone sin against you? How about when it really cost you? How about when the hurt was intended? Thoughts like “I’m never going to forget what he did to me!” or “I’m going to pay her back!” are godless, but they can be persistent. Therefore, replace them with persistent (‘day and night’) meditation on Godly counsel from God’s word. Here are three passages in God’s word that have helped me:

When I don’t want to forgive someone, I run Jesus’ stark warning through my head: “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. … For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:12, 14–15). Withholding my forgiveness from others will withhold God’s forgiveness from me. My ungodly anger wilts before the fear of God.

When it feels unjust for me to leave someone’s sin unpunished, I meditate on Paul’s application of Deuteronomy 32:35: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” (Romans 12:19). God will punish all sin far better than I could. If the person who sinned against me is in Christ, then Jesus paid for that sin on the cross; that sin is GONE. Jesus’ death is enough. And if the people who wronged me die outside of Christ, then they will suffer in Hell forever; they are GONNERS. There is no need for me to add my 1 cent to God’s infinite wrath. Hell is enough. Meditating on this passage helps me to let go of my desire to take justice into my own hands, because in this passage I hear my Heavenly Father saying to me, “I’ve got this one. Let me handle it.”

And for myself, the most helpful passage to meditate on is the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23–35. Yes, this person sinned against me. And yes, it hurts; 100 denarii are 3 months’ wages! … BUT I have sinned against the king an absolutely, ridiculously, impossibly unpayable debt (10,000 talents is 164,000 years’ wages!) – and the king forgave me completely. What this other person did to me is NOTHING in comparison to what I have been forgiven by the king. I can afford to write that debt off, because I have been forgiven so much more. When I meditate on how much I have been forgiven, I physically feel the tension and weight of my anger evaporate off my back. I have been forgiven so much more. So, I can forgive this thing.

As another example of wicked counsel, at one point two weeks ago I was feeling sorry for myself. Unappreciated. Unloved. Pretty pathetic, isn’t it? Hopefully you are too mature in Christ to ever feel that way. I wish I was. Anyway, how did I fight it? When my self-pity party was ramping up, the Lord brought to my mind Jeremiah 31:3 “I have loved you with an everlasting love” and Isaiah 43:4 “You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you.” Running those verses through my head over and over replaced my ridiculous self-pity with feeling the warmth of God’s love for me.

Whatever wicked thoughts and feelings plague us, we should meditate on specific scriptures to fight against that specific wicked counsel. Find those scriptures. Study them. Memorize them. Pray them. Run them through our heads over and over, pleading with God to change us through His Word, as He has promised: “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Psalm 19:7). Having experienced God reviving our souls through His word, we will want that again, so we will increasingly imitate the Psalm 1 man: “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

John Beckman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Old Testament

 

Prayer Requests:

  1. Pray that we each would delight in the Lord and the scriptures as we increasingly grow in Christ-likeness.
  2. Pray for those planning, preparing, and attending Serious Joy: The Bethlehem Conference for Pastors.
  3. Pray for the full funding of The Serious Joy Scholarships needed to support this year’s students.