Day 91 with David: The company you keep matters.

“Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭101:5-7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Aesop said, “A man is known by the company he keeps.” Aesop was right. Think about it, have you ever known somebody you thought you knew fairly well, but upon meeting some of their friends, you began to wonder if that was so? In other words, their friends, the ones with whom they spent recreational time, seemed to be inconsistent with what you thought the person was about. Well, I will say something that may shock you: don’t discount what kind of friends a person chooses; it can be a window into their private world.

Now, I understand that we sometimes see what we call an “odd couple,” in terms of people who become good friends. But generally, there will be a strong commonality that is not as apparent as their “surface” differences. I have known people who liked to hang around rough or tough people because of their own insecurities. In other words, they wanted to be counted among the “rough-riders,” even though to be such, was inconsistent with other areas of life, and more importantly, inconsistent with the word of God.

Now, I’m not going to take time to digress into explaining how we’re not talking about becoming an island unto yourself, never associating with anybody in the world. We all know that’s not what I’m talking about. What I am talking about is the people with whom we closely associate. Folks like to conflate choosing Godly associates with being judgmental and not witnessing to sinners or helping those in need. They conflate those two totally different situations to defend the fact that they hang out with sinners and participate in their sins (I digressed, after all).

The proverbial writer had a lot to say about bad company. Here are a couple of good examples:

“He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭13:20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go, Lest you learn his ways And set a snare for your soul.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22:24-25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

For the Christian, I think the best known example of advice concerning those with whom we should/shouldn’t associate, comes from the Apostle Paul:

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.””

‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭6:14-17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In our portion from Psalms today we see David vowing to the Lord that he will only choose righteous people to be his associates, even to be those who serve him. Now, David wasn’t doing this in an attitude of how much better he was than everybody else; although it can come across sounding that way to a cynical ear. What he was doing, was aligning himself with God’s desires. Consider this statement David made in another place:

“For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭5:4 NKJV‬‬

David wanted to please the Lord. He knew that part of pleasing the Lord, is walking righteously in ALL areas of our lives, whether out in the public arena or in the privacy of our own homes.

Please understand, with whomever you closely associate for long periods of time, you will find yourself aligning with them in more ways than one. Let’s make sure that our associations reflect godliness so that we can grow thereby.

“As iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens [and influences] another.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭27:17‬ ‭AMP‬‬

For today let us know and understand what David knew:

The company you keep matters.

#100dayswithdavid