Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. – Psalm 1:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 8, 2013): Psalm 1 & 2

In the television trailer for the latest zombie game “The Last of Us” Ellie explains a bit of what is going to have to be done in the body of the game. Her words are - "He tells me that on this journey you either hang onto your morals and die or do whatever it takes to survive." It is a comment that I admit bothers me more than a little. I mean, I understand it, but I don’t like it – and actually it is very short sighted. An unprincipled approach to life often gives what seems to be the right answer in the short term, but when we take a longer look at the journey we recognize that it is a different response that life requires.

The psalmist describes the righteous man or the one who lives his life according principles as being like a tree planted beside a source of water. It grows strong and unmovable. It might sway in the wind, it might bend, but it would stand firm. In contrast, the wicked does not have that strength. It is like chaff; dry husks that blow in the wind until they are reduced to dust and disappear totally. In the short, the chaff seems to have the right idea, to simply give up its will and allow the wind to take it where it will, but in the end, long after the chaff has crumbled, it is only the tree that has decided to fight against the wind and continues to stand.

The truth is that we need more people that are like the tree. We need more people that are willing to stand up against the wind and refuse to let it take it where it wants to go. And the reality is that when there are enough trees that are willing to stand together – they can change the course of the wind. Chaff never attempts to do that.

For players of the “The Last of Us,” you have an interesting journey ahead of you in the game. Joel comments that at least the zombies are predictable and that it is the normal people that scare him. But in the final frame the game forces you to make an interesting moral choice. One that is in line with the original prediction – “you either hang onto your morals and die or do whatever it takes to survive." The question is this – is it the tree or the chaff that makes the right decision. And in life that is never an easy question, but it is a question that each one of us needs to answer.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 33