Our reading for today is Psalm 1:1
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.”
Have you ever had to descend down a mountain trail? There’s something quietly terrifying about that first step down. Not because it’s dangerous—it’s just one small step. But because of the next step and the next step.
The psalmist understood this when he painted the picture of gradual spiritual decline. First, we walk in the counsel of the wicked—perhaps just listening. We tell ourselves that we are just passing through, that we’re being open-minded. Then we linger, standing in the way of sinners, our pace slowing as their words begin to resonate. Finally, we settle in, sitting with the scornful, fully at home in their company.
Psalms one is not the story of people who awake one morning and decide to abandon their faith. It is the story of a thousand small compromises, each one seeming harmless, each one making the next decision seem reasonable.
Sin is patient. It doesn’t demand we jump off the cliff all at once. It simply asks us to take one step closer to the edge, then another, then another. Before we know it, we’re not just visiting darkness—we’re residents.
I’m Lonnie Davis, and these are thoughts worth thinking.