Somebody quipped: "There are two kinds of people: those who divide things into two categories and those who don't." In this gateway to the book of Psalms, the writer offers us wisdom about two distinctive ways of life which lead to two different destinations.
I once asked young people how to keep other young people out of trouble. Their response was, "Whatever their friends do, they will do." Such is the power of peer pressure. The Psalmist says those who walk in step with the wicked, stand in the way that sinners take and sit in the company of mockers will find themselves in trouble. Notice the progression to becoming comfortable with sin: walk, stand and sit. It sounds like Lot, pitching his tent toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and then moving right into town.
In stark contrast is the person who delights in God's law and meditates in it day and night. Is God's word drudgery, duty or delight to us? The more we read it the more we will take delight in it. The computer experts say, "Garbage in, garbage out." If you put bad information into a computer, bad information will come out. So also our souls! What if we saturated our lives with God's word, day and night? What would come forth from our lives when we faced stress? Awaken to scripture every day. Let it pillow your head every night. "Beautiful truth in, beautiful truth out." When we are bumped we spill whatever fills us.