Worthless

“I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me.”  Psalm 101:3

We know what “worthless” means.  It means “good for nothing, garbage, trash.”  Of course, in these days of recycling, garbage and trash might actually be worth something.  That’s why we need to see a little deeper into this word.

The Hebrew word beliyya’al is an emphatic word.  This is not an off-hand evaluation.  It is a strong pronouncement about the character of the thing described.  And in every case but two, this word is used to describe people.  It is about moral character.  These are people who practice and promote disobedience to God and man.  In God’s assessment, they are worthless.  No wonder it is a strong word!  How would you like God to look at your life and judge it “worthless”? 

This Psalm is one of the two times that the word does not describe a person.  But the sense of it is the same.  David tells us that he isn’t about to look on anything that God has determined is worthless.  He won’t even look at what practices and promotes disobedience and rebellion against God.  Why?  Because David knows (from personal experience) just how “sticky” these things can be (see tomorrow’s word). 

Have you ever tried to get rid of images in your mind that remind you of worthless things you once did or observed?  Sometimes it seems as though those images are the only photographic memories we all have.  They seem to be permanent fixtures hanging in our personal galleries of sin.  David knew all about this.  He said, “I’m not going to add anything more images of sinful reminders.  I’m going to stop collecting worthless things.” 

The day comes when all the closets are opened.  The old picture albums are pulled from the hidden shelves.  God begins to sort through those images with us, throwing away the worthless parts of our collection.  It takes a long time to do a clean sweep.  But it’s worth it.

Today:  Pull one album off the shelf and give it to God.  He knows what to do with worthless things.  Just make sure you really give it away.  Don’t expect it to come back.