In Psalm 1 is a progression of potential sin that the righteous person avoids. Often the devil does not solicit our cooperation with his evil deeds immediately but tries to lead us down a path by increments. This creates a contrast between the righteous person and the ungodly person.
The progression into deeper sin is pictured as just walking in a spiritually unhealthy direction. Afterwards, the righteous person decides to stand where he should not because he could succumb to the temptations of the devil that surrounds him. Once the backsliding person has succeeded in his downfall, we find that person sitting in a field of sin.
Likewise, the ungodly offers further wayward counsel to the person being tempted. After experiencing that temptation, the backsliding person finds himself in the direction that sin will take him. The progression goes from ungodly to sinful to scornful where the person who enjoys abiding in sin.
The reason that the righteous man does not follow this descent into further sin is that he delights in the law of God on which he concentrates throughout the day. He is compared to a healthy tree near a river so that he can produce fruit making him prosper.
The doom of the ungodly is so unstable that the slightest breath of judgment blows him away. This means that the ungodly person does not have the ability to withstand God’s response or before the congregation of righteous people. God knows the difference between the righteous and the ungodly. He is aware of their way of life. He has a future for both.
Observing the Psalm, the person who wishes to live for God puts himself in a place that differentiates his life from where he knows the Lord would not have him to be. He also is wise enough to know that association with sin is a plunging vortex.
Christian Writer 