Passage Read: Psalm 23-26
Meditation Verses: 26:4-5
Thought
Deceivers, pretenders, evildoers and the wicked, David will not spend time with. He hates their gatherings and will not listen to their conversation. It is not just those that plot evil and carry it out, but it is also those who pretend to be good and love God, he wants nothing to do with them. Hypocrites are as dangerous to the man who loves God and desires to please Him as those who purposefully harm and take advantage of others. Those who deceive, whether pretending to love God or actively scheming against others, David has nothing in common with them and no possibility of fellowship. David has nothing he wants to learn from them, nor does he want to be unconsciously influenced by them. That helps him keep away from evil and see clearly what is good and right.
Application
The company of wicked men is obviously not beneficial to me, if I desire to know and please God. They need the Gospel, so I need to go to them and share it. But to spend time with them, to make friends of them exposes me to their thinking and clouds my understanding of truth and righteousness. Those who pretend to be good but have no true love for God are just as dangerous to me. Those who claim to be Christian be have excused their unrighteous behavior and justify themselves and others who put no real effort into knowing and walking with God, their influence on me is just as dangerous. They can put out my own zeal and cool my earnestness to seek God. I need to avoid them as well. They may actually be the hardest to help, because they have already created a framework through which they can see themselves as righteous without any desire to grow in righteousness. And I would hate for them to influence my thinking, so that I become like them, someone who claims love for God while their heart is far from Him. I don't need that kind of help.