Truly not stand in the way of sinners
It is not difficult to merely read and pray following the book of Psalms, but to really live a life according to what we read and pray is totally different. I stumbled at this for a very long time. In the book of psalms, God speak to man first;
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD;
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
If anyone is serious about what is written, he would have to try not to live like a sinner (don’t love God with all the heart, mind and soul), and he would try meditating day and night on the word of God. In that case Jesus is the perfect example, it means to follow the example of Christ as close as possible. In the beginning, I did read and pray this Psalm many times, but somehow had no serious intention to imitate Jesus, and made little effort to even meditate day and night, the result is quite like a hypocrite, pray for one thing and live in another way.
It is written; But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Now I can see that it is so easy to deceive ourselves. After reading Psalms lots of times the Spirit slowly opened my eyes to see the meanings hidden in the Scripture. In chapter one; do not stand in the way of sinners. This is a call to follow the example of Jesus, to stay away from sin. Same teaching in First Corinthians 11; Imitate me, as I do the Messiah. Again in Ephesians 5:1; So be imitators of God, as his dear children. Live lovingly, just as the Messiah also loved us and gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice, a fragrant aroma to God. It is in the process of imitate Jesus we can live a life of love, so that we wouldn’t stand in the way of sinners.
Truth in Prayer
Jesus said in John 4:23, the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The same for prayer, we need to pay more attention to what’s in the prayer, it needs to be sincere and true, otherwise there is no truth in them. For example, Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, to some people this verse is only a nice piece of poem, not reality. Because there is no true intention to live according to verse 5, My steps have been held in Your paths, so that my footsteps have not slipped. Those who can truly say my steps have been held in Your paths would have to, at least, try or make some effect to obey the word of God.
If someone knows the Scripture said (1Ti 6:8); But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. Or another Scripture (Heb 13:5); Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” If someone don’t like what is written or decide anyhow to continuously seeking more and more material things of the world, there would be no truth when he pray; “my steps have been held in Your paths.” Psalm 17:8 will remain as poem until he repents.
Thanks