Psalms 1:1-3 (CSB) 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! 2 Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

We encounter all types of people in life… wicked, sinners, mockers, and other unsavory types. I do not believe it is possible to be completely free of those who want to distract or cause us to stumble in our walk with God. We cannot live in a cave… or maybe I should say we should not live in a cave.

God has called you. Yes, you read that correctly. God has called you! We are to reach for the lost and pray for the hurting and broken. We give our time, talent, ability, and money in pointing them to God. This can be exhausting, and even the best of us get tired and weary.

But our delight is in the Lord… in His instruction. Yes, when our relationship is where it needs to be with God, we will delight in His instruction. We will find strength in His Word, and we will find ourselves meditating on it throughout the day.

When we lose sight of this, we will not meditate on it. This causes us to have weak roots, and life’s circumstances then have the ability to make us fall! The smallest wind can knock us down and even leave us for dead.

The psalmist understood this principle, and in the very first chapter of Psalms we are encouraged to not be distracted. Distractions take us away from God’s instructions. I think it is safe to say that when life is the hardest, we should lean in and listen to what He has to say to us. We will find strength to endure.