The wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away - chaff is the rubbish that needed to be discarded during harvest time. Chaff describes the hopeless state of the wicked. The grain is tossed into the air with winnowing forks, so that the wind which blew in the afternoons, blew away the straw and the chaff, leaving the grain at the winnower’s feet. Wickedness, is worthless, with no future, of no substance - chaff is carried away by the lightest wind, any ripple will rock you if you carry wickedness in your heart

"Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away …" - Psalm 1:4

The extreme contrasts found between the first 3 verses of the first Psalm and the last 3 verses are a confronting reminder of the realities of living life with ’IN’ Christ … or withOUT Christ.

Verse 4… uses CHAFF to describe the hopeless state of the wicked.

Lets talk about CHAFF!!

Chaff … is the ‘rubbish’ that needed to be discarded during harvest time.

Harvesting grain (barley and wheat) in ancient Canaan involved these steps..

– cutting grain with hand sickles– binding the grain into sheaves.

– gleaning, gathering left over stalks

– transporting the sheaves by donkey or cart to the threshing floor

– the loosening of grain from the straw – usually done by cattle…

* MAIN POINT

– winnowing… (tossing the grain into the air with winnowing forks, so that the wind which blew in the afternoons, BLEW away the straw and the CHAFF, leaving the grain (INCOME, LIVELIHOOD, FUTURE!!) at the winnower’s feet.

Wickedness, is described here as worthless, with no future, of no substance, etc … BUT

If left unattended to … has the ability to COVER the valuable grain within.

The Psalm stresses the need to flee, run away, from any form of wickedness, as it will destroy your future.

CHAFF is carried away by the lightest wind, (any ripple will rock you) if you carry wickedness in your heart.

Notice, that to be rid of Chaff, there is a cleansing process that must take place.

Psalm 24:4 says … ‘Who may ascend the hill of the Lord, who may stand in His holy place? He who has CLEAN HANDS and a PURE HEART!!’

Pureness is a process …Message Bible … ‘You’re not at all like the wicked, who are mere windblown dust – Without defense in court, unfit company for innocent people.’

Give an example of how strife, challenge, etc. has allowed the chaff to be removed from your life, and made your heart stronger!!

Be blessed!

Love Darls

Darlene Zschech Devotion

WIFE, MUM, PASTOR, WORSHIP LEADER, COMPOSER, SPEAKER & AUTHOR

Australian Darlene Zschech is acclaimed all over the world as a composer, worship leader, pastor, author and speaker, and became most well known for her involvement in the worship team at Hillsong Church, Sydney, Australia over many years. Although she has achieved numerous gold albums and her songs are sung in many nations of the world, Darlene’s success simply stands as a testimony to her life’s passion for serving God and people with all her heart. Alongside her husband Mark, they are the Senior Pastors of Hope Unlimited Church (HopeUC) on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, which has now grown into India and the USA.

As a composer, Darlene is perhaps most famous for the chorus “Shout to the Lord”, a song that is sung by millions of churchgoers every week and has been covered by many other artists. In addition to “Shout to the Lord”, Darlene has written many songs through solo projects: “Kiss of Heaven”, “Change Your World”, “You Are Love”, “In Jesus Name” and “Revealing Jesus”, a live worship album recorded with the Grammy Award winning Israel Houghton. Through the Compassionart project in 2008, Darlene was honoured to have the privilege of writing with some of the most generous-hearted worship writers and leaders of our day.

darlenezschech.com

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