December 29, 2024 Preaching | Bro. Julius Consulta
What can make us happy?
A survey asking this question resulted in top five answers that people assume can make them happy.
- Financial stability
- Better relationships
- Good health
- Achieving personal goals
- Peace of mind/ Spiritual fulfillment
But the truth is, we can’t rely on circumstances to make us happy. Financial prosperity may turn to poverty. A good relationship can turn into a hostile one. Good health may disguise a fatal disease. Achieving a personal goal is a temporary high that soon comes crashing down. As to peace of mind and spiritual fulfillment – whom should we turn to for these?
The answer is found in Psalms 1 which paints a portrait of the truly happy man. Bear in mind that in the original Hebrew the word “blessed” also means “happy”. Try substituting the word “blessed” with “happy” as you read it:
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.
From this psalm, we learn that a happy man has three consistent behaviours.
First, a happy man declines to be influenced by ungodly people (Psalm 1:1). He does this by not walking in “the counsel of the wicked” – an example would be those who recommend separation from a spouse for the most minor of altercations between them in the belief that one deserves to be happy even for the most selfish of reasons. The happy man does not stand in the path of sinners; he does not encourage those who are living in sin to continue in their ways. Lastly, he does not “sit in the seat of scoffers”; he does not join his voice with those who arrogantly mock God or claim that He does not exist.
(Notice how the verbs “walk”, “stand” and “sit” suggest a progression further and further into sin. First, we walk by the wicked. Then we hear something that they said that tickles our ears. So instead of walking past them, we stand beside them. Then we begin to entertain their sinful ideas until we sit down beside them and become one of them. Peter found himself in this same situation in Matthew 26:69-75 – the night when Jesus was arrested. Instead of walking past those who were mocking Jesus, he stood beside them. Then he sat with them. Until he found himself denying Jesus three times.)
It is important to note that the psalmist is not telling us to never associate with unbelievers. Because how would people know who God is if we don’t spend time with them or if we alienate ourselves from them? The way we live our life is most likely the only Bible that they read. But we need to ascertain who is influencing who. Are they more likely to drag us towards sin? Or are we more likely to lead them to Jesus?
Second, a happy man delights to feed on God’s Word (Psalm 1:2). The proof that a man delights in the law of the Lord, which refers to the whole Bible, is that “…in his law he meditates day and night” For the world, meditating is a process of emptying one’s mind. But for us, believers, meditating is the opposite; it’s the process of filling our minds with God’s Word so that in everything that we do, we will know His perspective. The more God’s Word is in us, the more useful we will be to Him.
Are we still excited to read the Bible? How can we hear from God if we don’t read it? It should be the first thing we do every morning.
Third, a happy man connects to God by being deeply rooted in His Word (Psalm 1:3). The psalmist compares the happy man to a healthy tree. Like a tree that “yields its fruit in its season”, he is able to produce beneficial results. Like a leaf that does not wither, the happy man perseveres. Lastly, he prospers and succeeds “in whatever he does”.
But to achieve these results, we must be like a tree “firmly planted by streams of water”. “Water” here refers to the Word of God. How rooted and connected are we to the life-giving water of the Word? Our rootedness leads to our readiness to serve God.
From this psalm we learn that if we want to be happy, we should not pursue happiness; instead, we should pursue God. Because true happiness is a by-product of the pursuit of God. It is only possible through a personal, deep and firm relationship with Him.
Psalm 1 ends by talking about the wicked man. It’s as if the psalmist is asking us to choose between two paths. Will we choose the path of blessedness that leads to life? Or the path of wickedness that leads to perishing?
There’s good news and bad news.
First, the bad news: Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” “All” means all. None of us is exempted. Every one of us has sinned. No one perfectly measures up to the perfect and holy standards of God.
And because God is perfectly righteous, His perfect justice demands the perfect punishment of sins. Thus, we sinners, have a problem: The punishment of our sins is death (Romans 6:23). The word “death” in Romans 6:23 refers not just to physical death but to spiritual death in hell for all eternity.
Even worse, we cannot save ourselves with our best efforts nor by our own righteousness (Ephesians 2:8-9). For even our best “righteousness” and good works are like “filthy rags” in His eyes (Isaiah 64:6). Nor do we deserve to be saved because whether we admit it or not, the fact remains that we are innately selfish, envious, covetous, self-righteous, greedy, and immoral sinners (Genesis 8:21, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8, 1 John 1:8, 1 John 1:10). That is the bad news – that we are sinners who deserve to be condemned to hell forever.
Now here’s the good news: God has always known that we could not save ourselves even with our own best, most self-righteous efforts. Therefore, He made The Way to save us (Isaiah 12:2, John 3:16-18, John 14:6, Acts 4:12,) . John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” The good news is that God gave His only Son to die on our behalf on the cross in Calvary so that we can exchange our wickedness for His goodness, our tainted self-righteousness for His sinless righteousness, our sins for His holiness, and lastly, our physical and spiritual death for His eternal life.
What an unfair exchange! But that’s how good God is. When we surrender our sins and ourselves to Him, and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, not only does He give us His righteousness but He also gives us a new heart and a new spirit that only wants to please Him.
The salvation that Jesus Christ offers is a gift. But it’s a gift that cannot be ours unless we accept it. If we want to accept this gift, let’s pray thus, with all sincerity and mindful of the cost of following Jesus – our whole being and our everything: Heavenly Father, I humbly acknowledge that I am a sinner. I humbly admit that I have fallen short of Your perfect standards far too many times. Please help me surrender to You wholeheartedly. Please draw me near to Your Son, the Lord Jesus. Help me to truly accept Him as my Lord and Saviour. Help me to truly surrender my life to Him. Help me to be a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.