Oct 09 2009
What Makes You Happy? - Part Two
As we saw last time, true happiness is a double pronged fork. True happiness is found by avoiding something and by pursuing something else. We are to avoid sinfulness - even more particularly, we are to avoid getting our advise and patterning our lives after the world. John Calvin put it this way, “. . .it is necessary to remember that the world is fraught with deadly corruption, and that the first step to living well is to renounce the company of the ungodly, otherwise it is sure to infect us with its own pollution.”
However, Christianity is more than a list of ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’. While we are certainly commanded in Scripture to avoid certain things, we are admonished over and over again to pursue certain things. What we are to pursue is always Godward. In other words, a right relationship with God should always be our goal - and in THIS we find true happiness.
Thus after warning us to avoid the ungodly, the Psalmist says in verse 2 of Psalm 1: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
The word, delight, speaks of where we find our pleasure or that which we long to do. Can you say that? Can you say you long to read God’s word? Can you say your greatest source of pleasure is the time you spend learning of and communing with your God?
Ouch - an honest evaluation of those questions hurt! We ‘delight’ in many things: our family. Our friends. Our possessions. Our position. Our success. But, do we delight in our God? I fear this is something almost alien to the American Christian.
There is a reason why Ezra (who most believe compiled the Psalms) put Psalm 1 first. The Psalms were not written in ‘chronological order.’ In other words, while a book like Genesis is written to show the passing of time and the events in the order in which they occurred, or a book like Galatians is written in letter form by one author to express the writer’s thoughts to the recipient, the Psalms were written by several people and then compiled as Israel’s song book.
Ezra placed Psalms 1 first, most likely, because it reveals the underlying theme of the entire collection. Thus we read in Psalms 19:9-10: “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.”
What should we desire above all else? The judgements of the Lord (God’s word). How valuable should they be to us? More than fine gold. (Remember the parable of the pearl of great price and the one of the treasure in the field - if you don’t, take a look. There you will see this same theme reiterated by Jesus, himself).
What is the longest chapter in the Bible? It is a Psalm. Psalm 119. It has 176 verses all focused on one theme. Do you know the theme? The word of God. For 176 verses this Psalm extols the wonder and greatness and goodness of God’s word. Take verses 47 and 48: “And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.”
What does the Psalmist love? God’s commandments. What does he delight in? God’s commandments. What does he meditate on? God’s statutes (laws). Sounds like Psalm 1 verse 2, doesn’t it?
So what does it mean to delight in God’s law? Adam Clarke says, “. . .his will, desire, affection, every motive in his heart, and every moving principle in his soul, are on the side of God and his truth. He takes up the law of the Lord as the rule of his life; he brings all his actions and affections to this holy standard. He looketh into the perfect law of liberty; and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word; and is therefore blessed in his deed. He not only reads to gain knowledge from the Divine oracles, but he meditates on what he has read, feeds on it; and thus receiving the sincere milk of the word, he grows thereby unto eternal life. This is not an occasional study to him; it is his work day and night. As his heart is in it, the employment must be frequent, and the disposition to it perpetual.”
So, it brings us to the real happiness question: How important is God’s word to me? How much do I really want to know God?
Sometimes we can fool ourselves into thinking we really want to know God - if we only had more time. We don’t spend much time in God’s word, but, then again, life is busy. If I just weren’t so busy - that is what I would do.
Is it?
Take a little ‘down time’ inventory. What do you do with your down time? How many hours to you watch TV a week? How many novels have you read in the last month? Do you really want to be happy? The answer is not found in anything the world has to offer.
Furthermore, just reading God’s word - information in, information out - is not the goal. We must meditate on it. Look at what the Psalmist said - he meditates DAY and NIGHT.
What do you think about? I’m not talking about every thought that passes through your head. We all have to remember to put gas in the car, swing by the grocery store and pick up a gallon of milk, get Susie to school on time or pick up Timmy from practice or do the laundry or prepare for the meeting at work. But, let’s revisit our ‘down time’.
When your mind wanders, where does it go? When you wake at night, what do you think about? As you go to sleep, where are your thoughts?
Romans 8 says our thoughts reveal not only a lot about what is most important to us, it also reveals our ultimate destiny. Verses 5 and 6 say, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Are you really happy? Where is your life headed? Death? Life and peace? Your thoughts will tell you.
