"How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers!"
~Psalm 1:1
I returned home Sunday afternoon from an amazing and truly life-changing weekend retreat with a dear friend of mine. While there, I experienced a powerful moment of finally surrendering in an area of my life that I knew the Lord had been calling me to lay down for some time now (an area, I might add, that I had stubbornly held on to for so long, always trying to explain away the God-nudges and constantly trying to come up with excuses as to why I didn't actually have to obey).
That area was my social media use and the fact that watching IG Stories every night before bed had become an obsession, even befitting the qualifications for being defined as a full-blown addiction.
That may sound dramatic, but I can assure you it isn't.
Every night, I would regularly spend hours (literally, 2 hours was no rarity!) scrolling through Instastories, watching one after another after another, obsessing over being sure I didn't miss anyone's content. In those precious hours before bed when I should have been winding down and preparing myself for a peaceful evening, I was instead doom-scrolling and being bombarded by news updates, divisive debates, personal attacks being leveled against one believer by another, and more.
To be sure, I was walking in the advice of the wicked, standing in the pathway with sinners, and (most definitely in the case of social media!) sitting in the company of mockers. For hours on end. Every. single. night.
And I wasn't happy. That obsession was, in fact, breeding the exact opposite of happiness - I was being stressed by constant news updates from all over the world, my brain was being frazzled by the obsession to keep taking in more information, I was confused by all the differing opinions out there, I found myself disrespecting my fellow image bearers as I kept company with online mockers, and, as a content creator, I found myself being ping-ponged back and forth between what the Lord was calling me to say online and what I knew would be the nay-saying opinions of some of the people who would read my words.
Let me tell you, friend, that the words of Psalm 1:1 are, in fact, true. When you "walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers", you will not be happy. I sure wasn't.
As we continue on in our study of Psalm 1 over the next several weeks, we will begin to see the positive aspects - how it is that we do gain happiness. But as a bit of a teaser into the rest of this Psalm, may we first remember this today: it is impossible for us to gain happiness through keeping company with mockers, scoffers, and those who sin against God's ways. Satan will try to tempt us into believing it is, but that is a lie straight from the father of lies. And the sooner we realize and embrace this truth, the better!
Reflection Questions:
1) Are there any ways in which you are currently walk[ing] in the advice of the wicked or stand[ing] in the pathway with sinners or sitt[ing] in the company of mockers"?
2) What is the Lord leading you to do about this?
3) Where do you usually look for happiness?
4) How happy are you right now?
This was exactly what I needed to hear. I spend the first part of my morning scrolling through IG when I could - should- be praying. Now I’m definitely going to stay off of the app.
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