"Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds." This is the line from the old country song about a rambling cowboy. He has left his worries behind. His home is on the range where he can roam about freely like the tumbleweeds. This may sound like the good life for a lonely cowboy, but not for a Christian.
The book of Psalms opens by presenting a contrast between the righteous and the ungodly. Instead of filling his heart with the counsel of the wicked, the righteous person delights in and meditates upon the law of the Lord both day and night (Ps. 1:2). This time spent in serious contemplation of God's word allows him to "be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper" (v. 3). In contrast, "the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away" (v. 4).
Chaff is the husk that surrounds a kernel of grain. "In winnowing, grain is threshed in order to separate the kernel of grain from the husk and straw. The mixture is thrown into the air with a winnowing fork or shovel. The wind blows the light husks away, the heavier straw falls near the edge of the threshing floor, and the grain falls back to the floor to be collected. Both the light husks and the heavier straw are referred to in the words translated 'chaff' in the Bible" (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery 136).
The primary contrast between these two individuals is that of stability and instability. A tree with strong and deep roots is stable. It can withstand the winds that blow upon the landscape and remain fruitful. Chaff is already dead. It is weightless and without an anchor. It has no stability, but instead is subject to every wind that blows upon it.
What is wrong with being like chaff? Why shouldn't we want to drift along through life like a tumbling tumbleweed? This psalm tells us that "the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment" (v. 5) but instead "shall perish" (v. 6).
Judgment comes on a small scale many different times throughout one's life. Every temptation and trial of life is like a wind that blows upon us. How do we manage in the storms of life? Are we like a tree? Do we have deep roots that sustain us through these judgments and allow us to remain alive and fruitful? Or are we like a tumbleweed - hopelessly driven about by every problem that arises against us?
In addition to the temporal judgments experienced in this life, we know that final judgment will come upon all of us on the last day. The wheat will be gathered into the barn, but the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire (Matt. 3:12).
The choice is up to us. Psalm 1 tells us the difference between the two individuals is their attitude towards God's word. If we will delight in and meditate upon God's word, we will have the stability and nourishment needed to withstand the storms of life. However, if we neglect God's word in favor of the counsel of the wicked, we are already dead and defenseless against the storms of life.
Do you delight in God's law? Do you make time to read and seriously think about the Word of God? Are you a doer of the word (James 1:22)? How will you stand in the judgment? Think about these things.
Are you a tree or a tumbleweed?