Wind
“The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”
Review: If a person is to be blessed they:
1. Do not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of mockers.
2. In other words, they do not seek the wicked for advice, they do not stay far from Jesus, nor do they sit as a judge against Jesus.
3. But their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law they meditate day and night.
4. In other words, they rejoice in the truth, in what Jesus says, and they think about it habitually whenever it is time for them to meet with Jesus.
5. They are like a strong, healthy tree planted between rivers, that grows ripe wholesome goodness on its branches.
6. In other words, they are put where they are specifically for Jesus’ purposes – to be healthy, connected, and having Jesus’ character at heart.
The wicked are not so! But are like chaff that the wind drives away!
Let me help bring this home to you guys. I want you to look through the back windows. You can see the wind blowing through the tops of the trees out there. Now when the writer says “tree,” I would imagine he’s referring to a palm tree. In Israel there were not forests of trees like we have in the mountains here. The Psalmist wasn’t looking upon scores of Evergreens. The thing about strong trees is that they take a few years to start producing fruit. And so this is not a baby tree being spoken of, but a strong adult tree with a trunk. Trunks don’t sway in the wind – branches do. If you’ve seen a hurricane or tropical storm on TV or in person, you notice that palm trees will bend over to the ground when everything else is being blown away That’s because those palm trees have three-quarters of their body in the ground!
You aren’t even seeing half of those trees bending over in tropical storms. Those trees can handle 100 MPH winds tearing at them and not fall!
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind drives away. Funny word, wind. This Psalm is found in the Hebrew language. In the Hebrew language the word wind means many things. Wind is one of them, and so is life, and breath. See how poetic this Psalm is?! It’s filled with wholesome goodness! It’s like a fresh grilled waffle! Not so the wicked – they’re nasty. So the wicked can be blown away by the wind. They can be blown away by life, or even by a single breath!
Trees are a little easier to relate to than chaff, but I have a way. Most of you are unfamiliar with chaff. Let me explain. When their farmers would gather their wheat, they would swing blades through the wheat, chopping the head of grain off the stalk, and chopping the stalk into straw at the same time. This process, called threshing, was done on the threshing floor. Now when this was accomplished you had wheat, straw, and chaff left all over the ground all mixed together. Because straw doesn’t taste good in wheat bread, they needed a way to separate out the straw from the wheat and chaff.
Now they could have sat on the ground and separated it piece by piece, but that makes no sense. What they did was throw it up wholesale into the wind. This was accomplished with the help of a tool called a winnowing fork. The grain would fall straight down, and the straw would blow a few yards away, which is more than enough distance to separate the straw from the grain. And, the straw is all together at the end of the threshing floor. So by the end of the process, so you have a pile of grain and a pile feed for your livestock. Cool huh? And the chaff? The chaff is just this fine dust – it’s the light wheat husks and miniscule bits of straw from the threshed wheat stalks. It’s just this fine dust that blows away in the wind! The man who is blessed is like a tree that no wind can uproot. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff that the wind drives away.
That is why you must seek Him early and seek Him often! Do not be like the wicked who ignore God, or like the sinner who purposefully stays away, or the scoffer who judges God! No! Have faith in Jesus. Cry out to Him! This same Psalmist says the only difference between the wicked and the righteous is this: the righteous cry out to God! That’s it! They trust God! That’s it!
Seek the Lord! For those who do not will be blown away by the very breath that gave them life.
Review: If a person is to be blessed they:
1. Do not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of mockers.
2. In other words, they do not seek the wicked for advice, they do not stay far from Jesus, nor do they sit as a judge against Jesus.
3. But their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law they meditate day and night.
4. In other words, they rejoice in the truth, in what Jesus says, and they think about it habitually whenever it is time for them to meet with Jesus.
5. They are like a strong, healthy tree planted between rivers, that grows ripe wholesome goodness on its branches.
6. In other words, they are put where they are specifically for Jesus’ purposes – to be healthy, connected, and having Jesus’ character at heart.
The wicked are not so! But are like chaff that the wind drives away!
Let me help bring this home to you guys. I want you to look through the back windows. You can see the wind blowing through the tops of the trees out there. Now when the writer says “tree,” I would imagine he’s referring to a palm tree. In Israel there were not forests of trees like we have in the mountains here. The Psalmist wasn’t looking upon scores of Evergreens. The thing about strong trees is that they take a few years to start producing fruit. And so this is not a baby tree being spoken of, but a strong adult tree with a trunk. Trunks don’t sway in the wind – branches do. If you’ve seen a hurricane or tropical storm on TV or in person, you notice that palm trees will bend over to the ground when everything else is being blown away That’s because those palm trees have three-quarters of their body in the ground!
You aren’t even seeing half of those trees bending over in tropical storms. Those trees can handle 100 MPH winds tearing at them and not fall!
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind drives away. Funny word, wind. This Psalm is found in the Hebrew language. In the Hebrew language the word wind means many things. Wind is one of them, and so is life, and breath. See how poetic this Psalm is?! It’s filled with wholesome goodness! It’s like a fresh grilled waffle! Not so the wicked – they’re nasty. So the wicked can be blown away by the wind. They can be blown away by life, or even by a single breath!
Trees are a little easier to relate to than chaff, but I have a way. Most of you are unfamiliar with chaff. Let me explain. When their farmers would gather their wheat, they would swing blades through the wheat, chopping the head of grain off the stalk, and chopping the stalk into straw at the same time. This process, called threshing, was done on the threshing floor. Now when this was accomplished you had wheat, straw, and chaff left all over the ground all mixed together. Because straw doesn’t taste good in wheat bread, they needed a way to separate out the straw from the wheat and chaff.
Now they could have sat on the ground and separated it piece by piece, but that makes no sense. What they did was throw it up wholesale into the wind. This was accomplished with the help of a tool called a winnowing fork. The grain would fall straight down, and the straw would blow a few yards away, which is more than enough distance to separate the straw from the grain. And, the straw is all together at the end of the threshing floor. So by the end of the process, so you have a pile of grain and a pile feed for your livestock. Cool huh? And the chaff? The chaff is just this fine dust – it’s the light wheat husks and miniscule bits of straw from the threshed wheat stalks. It’s just this fine dust that blows away in the wind! The man who is blessed is like a tree that no wind can uproot. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff that the wind drives away.
That is why you must seek Him early and seek Him often! Do not be like the wicked who ignore God, or like the sinner who purposefully stays away, or the scoffer who judges God! No! Have faith in Jesus. Cry out to Him! This same Psalmist says the only difference between the wicked and the righteous is this: the righteous cry out to God! That’s it! They trust God! That’s it!
Seek the Lord! For those who do not will be blown away by the very breath that gave them life.
