In this ongoing series, the Psalms have shown us numerous vital truths about our happiness. Your happiness starts with the forgiveness God provides in Jesus. You daily receive joy from meditating on God’s word instead of listening to those who do not love the Lord. Living in obedience to God’s word by practically loving and serving others also is a source of lasting happiness.
Of course, there are always the false paths to happiness which tempt us daily: money, power, fame, success. All these false paths to happiness are centered around you. The Psalms, on the other hand, attach your happiness completely and entirely first and foremost to God and your relationship with Him.
It is not enough to merely seek for your own happiness: you must seek the God of happiness first.
And today, I want to emphasize this point by looking at Psalm 65, focusing on verses 3-4 in particular:
When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.
Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!
Psalm 65:3-4, ESV emphasis added
It is living in the Lord’s presence that brings lasting blessing and happiness. There are three points I want to emphasize.
Point 1: God chooses who lives in His presence
The blessing of being near to God
The first reality I want to draw your attention to is God chooses who lives in His presence. Now, in the Psalms, God’s presence and dwelling place are referred to as places of blessing:
Psalm 16:11 “In your presence there is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore“
Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”
Psalm 140:14 “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence.”
There are other passages, but the point to see living in the Lord’s presence is something the Psalmist desires. Certainly God is “omnipresent” as Psalm 139 describes, but there is a special blessing of intimate closeness with God. Indeed, Psalm 65 verses 5-13 describes God’s care for all of His creation. But here in Psalm 65:3-4 the focus is on “God’s courts”.
This is referring to the temple, the dwelling place of God, where His presence rested. Although God is always present, the Psalmist here and in the other Psalms above are making the point that closeness to God is where joy is found. So, if there is a special joy in knowing God, in closeness with God, in worshiping the Lord in His presence, the question follows “how do I get close to the Lord?”
Psalm 65:4 answers us: it is the one God chooses and brings near that experiences the blessing of His goodness. I have written before about the blessing of belonging to God. It is a similar point here: the one God chooses has a special privilege and happiness. It is not enough to merely “know God exists.” James says the demons know that much about God. To experience the blessing of living in the Lord’s presence you must first be admitted by the Lord himself.
Ephesians 2:13 makes the exact same point:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:13, ESV emphasis added
Because God is holy, no one can force their way into God’s presence. It is in Christ and His blood that anyone is brought near to the Lord’s presence. Therefore, it is only those who the Lord has saved that experience that happiness Psalm 65 presents.
God must choose you and bring you near to Himself in order for you to experience true happiness
Application: You cannot force or earn your way into God’s presence
If Psalm 65:3-4 is true, your happiness starts with your humility: humility in recognizing you cannot achieve joy by your own effort or will. God alone holds the happiness you desire. You cannot approach Him by your own efforts or just because you want to be happy. God must choose you, God must act if you are to be truly happy.
The rest of Scripture, especially Revelation, reveals that those who ultimately will live in the Lord’s presence forever are those who are saved by Jesus’ sacrifice. It is not those who work the hardest, who do the most good works, who want it the most. The humbled person who recognizes they have no claim on the Lord’s presence, who knows they cannot approach God by their own efforts are those who end up eternally happy. Why? Because they see Jesus is the only way God provided for them to approach God’s presence.
Point 2: God satisfies with His goodness and holiness
God’s presence and the temple
The second important truth to see in Psalm 65:3-4 is God’s goodness and holiness satisfies. The joy of living in the Lord’s presence is not tied to what God gives us. It is tied to who God is. God’s temple was the place where God dwelt in Old Testament Israel. Everything in the temple was centered around the worship of God: singing, sacrifices, and everything else prescribed in the Old Testament law. The Psalms don’t see this activity as mere “obedience for its own sake”. Worship of the Lord in His temple is seen as the highest privilege a person could have.
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Psalm 84:10, ESV
By comparison, no other place on earth is better than where the Lord dwells. Why is this the case? Psalm 65 answers: God’s goodness and holiness satisfies. You didn’t go to the temple to get “stuff”; you went to the temple to get God Himself. Now, one of the greatest truths of the New Testament is God now dwells in His people, not in a building built by human hands. But God Himself has not changed, nor has the reality Psalm 65:4 gives us:
It is God who satisfies, not material things God gives us
Application: Satisfaction cannot be found in anything apart from God
You will never be satisfied if you only ever want God to give you more things, solve more of your problems, or make your life easier. Non-Christians want these things same things, they just seek them without attaching “God” to it. The amazing thing about the Biblical worldview is everything in the universe centers on God. Including your happiness, your satisfaction, your lasting peace.
For the Christian, every happiness starts and ends with who God is. The Christian enjoys all the good gifts God gives because it is an avenue to thank and praise God for who He is.
Enjoying a walk outside? Christians see God’s power in creation and worship God for it.
Eating a good meal? Christians thank God for His provision and for the ability to taste.
Love your family? Christians are humbled that God would provide them with the warmth of the love of others, knowing it is a small picture of His love for them.
I could go on. Living in the Lord’s presence means seeing Him and enjoying Him above all things. That means you connect all things back to Him and His glory. Nothing you have or hope to have will bring you any joy unless you connect it to God.
Point 3: God alone atones for rebellion
What atonement means
The final point I want to emphasize is found in Psalm 65:3. God alone atones for His people’s transgressions. Why is this important in the context of living in the Lord’s presence? Psalm 15 gives a hint.
Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart;
Psalm 15:1b-2, ESV
It is only those who are holy that can approach a holy God. But no one walks blamelessly, no one always does what is right or always speaks truth in his heart. Humans transgress the law of God every day. So how can God forgive? How can sinful humans approach the Lord if He is just?
The answer is “atonement”. This word means “to cover” or “to reconcile”. God must deal with our transgressions against Him. As we saw in the first point, it is God who chooses and brings people into His court. How God does this is by providing atonement. In the Old Testament, this atonement was through the blood of rams and goats as prescribed in the sacrificial system.
However, the blood of rams and goats could not actually take away sin. The sacrificial system was a picture of the ultimate reconciliation Christ would bring. This reconciliation is explained most clearly in 2 Corinthians.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God
2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV
Christ bears our transgression, we receive Christ’s righteousness. The result? Reconciliation with God.
Application: God has provided all you need for your happiness now and forever
The logic of Psalm 65:3-4 could be summarized as follows:
Satisfaction and happiness is found living in the Lord’s presence.
No human can enter the Lord’s presence because of their rebellion.
God alone can atone for a person’s rebellion and choose to bring them close to Him.
Therefore, God alone provides what you need for your happiness and you cannot get happiness by your own effort.
What good news! You need not wear yourself out to be happy. Long hours at work, more money, fancy vacations, comfort and health all won’t provide you with happiness. But God can. And God has. God has, at infinite cost to Himself, made a way for you to enter His presence.
Jesus said to him “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.”
John 14:6, ESV
Living in the Lord’s presence is impossible by our own effort. But all things are possible for God. And God has chosen to provide us with a way to lasting joy, a joy not based in circumstances and not dependent on our effort. It is a joy bought by the blood of Christ.
Any path to happiness that does not go through Jesus and the cross will disappoint.
Happiness is possible in this world. Despite the pain, suffering, and disappointment, God has revealed in His word the path to true, lasting, objective happiness. Thus far, I have shown you a number of Psalms which connect our happiness to our relationship to God. Now, Psalm 41 is going to connect your happiness to how you relate to others. In particular, this Psalm will explain how helping the poor impacts your happiness.
Happy is one who cares for the poor; the Lord will save him in a day of adversity. The Lord will keep him and preserve him; he will be blessed in the land.
Psalm 41:1-2a, HCSB emphasis added
I have found that discussions on how Christians relate to the poor can become heated and unprofitable. Psalm 41 does not give a list of ways to care for the poor. It simply gives the objective statement that your happiness is somewhat dependent on how you relate to those around you, particularly to those who are in need.
For this post, I want to first look at Psalm 41:1 and the following verses to see what truths it reveals. Then, I want to put Psalm 41:1 in the context of the Old Testament and the New Testament before drawing some applications for us. The most important instruction for how believers are to go about helping the poor is contained in Scripture.
If you desire happiness, you would do well to understand how the Lord wants you to relate to those in need around you.
Helping the poor: insight from Psalm 41
After declaring “happy is one who cares for the poor”, Psalm 41 gives a couple effects. In a sense, the Psalmist answers immediately the question “how can helping the poor make me happy?” From verses 1-3, there are at least three outcomes of helping the poor that the Psalmist lists: the Lord’s protection, the Lord’s blessing, and the Lord sustaining power in sickness.
The Lord’s protection
The Psalmist first declares that the one who cares for the poor will experience the Lord’s protection.
…the Lord will save him in a day of adversity. The Lord will keep him and preserve him…
Psalm 41:1b-2a, HCSB
Notice the flow of the sentence: it is the one who cares for the poor that the Lord will save. The Lord will keep and preserve the one who is helping the poor. Now, if you read the rest of Psalm 41, you can see that the Psalmist is dealing with a number of enemies. Enemies are planning to harm the Psalmist, and one of the Psalmist’s closest friends has betrayed him. It is in this context that the Psalmist declares:
You will not give him over to the desire of his enemies
Psalm 41:2b, HCSB
The “him” is still referring to the one who cares for the poor. So, the one who cares for the poor is happy first because God will protect him. The question is, how can the Psalmist connect caring for the poor with the promise of God’s protection? The answer to this question is found in the larger OT context. For now, simply understand that the Psalmist is confident that God will deliver Him from His enemies in part because the Psalmist has cared for the poor.
The Lord’s blessing
Next, the Psalmist declares the one who cares for the poor will experience God’s blessing.
The Lord will keep him and preserve him; he will be blessed in the land
Psalm 41:2, HCSB
The Psalmist does not emphasize what in particular that blessing is. But he does emphasize where the blessing will occur: in the land. Again, in order to understand how the Psalmist can say this, you must look at the larger OT context. For now it is enough to acknowledge that Psalm 41 connects helping the poor with God’s blessing.
The Lord’s sustaining power
Finally, Psalm 41 says
The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed; You will heal him on the bed where he lies
Psalm 41:3, HCSB
As if it wasn’t enough for the Psalmist to connect helping the poor to God’s deliverance and blessing, now the Psalmist connects it to God’s sustaining during sickness. Notice that this verse connects with verse 8 a little ways later
“Lethal poison has been poured into him, and he won’t rise again from where he lies!”
Psalm 41:8, HCSB
The Psalmist enemies are either plotting to poison the Psalmist or have already poisoned him. And in the face of this mortal danger to his life, the Psalmist declares God will heal him. Sustain him. Why? because it is part of the happiness reserved for the one who cares for the poor.
Now, Psalm 41 is a good example of a passage that you can draw false implications from if you don’t place it in the overall context of Scripture. If all you do is read Psalm 41 and immediately apply it to yourself without any further thought, you will expect God to always protect you, bless you, and heal you in thanks for you helping the poor. There are indeed implications for us from Psalm 41. But a broader look at Scripture must come first.
Compare every application and implication you get from a text with the rest of the Bible. If you are accurate, the rest of Scripture will confirm you. If not, Scripture will correct you.
Helping the poor: OT context
Now that we have seen the outcomes of helping the poor from Psalm 41, I will do a quick OT survey to help reveal why Psalm 41 can connect helping the poor to happiness. With just a brief look at the OT, three points come up: God makes provision for the poor in the Law, helping the poor is connected to the heart, and how one treats the poor reveals part of one’s relationship with God.
God makes provision for the poor in the Law
And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:10, ESV
In the Law, God provides instruction for how Israel is to provide for the poor. If you are familiar with the book of Ruth, you will know how this works. When harvesting their field, Israel was not to scrape every last bit of produce. Instead, they were to leave some behind for the poor and foreigners to come and get. Notice, the poor would have had to come and work to get the leftover food. But God has provide a means by which the poor could be fed.
If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.
Leviticus 25:35, ESV
God then takes it a step further. Not only does He set up a way for the poor to be fed and support themselves, He commands Israel to house any Israelite who cannot support themselves. It is interesting to note the text says “becomes poor” indicating possibly a tragedy or life event that causes poverty. Widows and orphans are good examples of people who would “become poor” because of a tragic life event in OT times. The emphasis here is God does not want someone who suddenly becomes poor to be rejected or neglected. His chosen people are to care for each other, whether poor or not.
Helping the poor is connected to the heart
Deuteronomy 15:7-8 repeats the previous command from Leviticus 25:35, but adds a new dimension.
If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be
Deuteronomy 15:7-8, ESV emphasis added
The command is the same as before: provide for fellow Israelites who fall into poverty. But this time, God connects withholding help from the poor to hardening your heart. The alternative to hardening your heart is to lend the person what they need. And lest Israel thinks hardening their hearts towards the poor is a light thing, God defines this hardness as evil and sin in the next verse.
Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin.
Deuteronomy 15:9, ESV emphasis added
In this verse, the person has an excuse for not helping the poor person and so does not help him. The result? The poor person will call out to God and the hard-hearted well-to-do person will be guilty of sin. So, God views a hard heart and withholding attitude towards those in need, particularly a fellow Israelite, as sin.
You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
Deuteronomy 15:10-11, ESV emphasis added
Now, God gives the alternative to hard-hearted withholding: cheerful giving to those in need. Again God emphasizes Israel’s hearts should be happy to give to those in need. What is interesting is here God connects giving to the poor to His blessing. This is the same thing the Psalmist does in Psalm 41.
God promises blessing to those who are open and generous with their resources.
Notice, God is not emphasizing here that Israel will end poverty through giving to the poor. He says quite the opposite: there will always be poor in the land. Jesus actually repeats this in Matthew 26:11. God does not say you can end poverty. But He does command abundant generosity to those in need.
The emphasis in Deuteronomy 15 is the heart. To give or withhold free support to those in need is connected to the heart. Guilt for sin is reserved for the hard-hearted or those who give with the wrong attitude while blessing is promised to those who give with an open hand and heart.
How you treat the poor shows something of your relationship with God
The book of Proverbs takes this idea of generosity to the poor revealing your heart and goes a step further.
Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
Proverbs 14:31, ESV
This Proverb connects how one reacts to the poor with how one reacts to God. Oppressing the poor is insulting God, while generosity to the poor honors the Lord. This connection is the final step you need to understand Psalm 41:1. How can the Psalmist call those who help the poor happy? How can the Psalmist see God’s protection, blessing, and sustaining power all connected to helping the poor? We now have the answer.
How you treat those who are in need reveals both your own heart and your relationship with the Lord.
A person who turns away from those in need dishonors the Lord. But the one who loves the Lord and wants to honor him is a cheerful giver. A person who withholds or oppresses those in need is acting like the poor are lesser human beings. But the person who loves the Lord knows all people are made in God’s image. Therefore, the one who loves the Lord treats those in need with dignity and love.
So, the Psalmist in Psalm 41 can trust in God’s blessing and protection not because giving to the poor is a box to check or a lever to pull to get God’s blessing. Instead, Psalm 41 is saying the one who gives to the poor is happy and receives God’s favor because generosity towards those in need reveals a proper heart attitude towards God and towards others. That sentence bears repeating because it is of vital importance.
The one who gives to the poor is happy and received God’s favor because generosity towards those in need reveals a proper heart attitude towards God and towards others.
Blessing comes from helping the poor in the same way blessing comes from any time you live in obedience to God’s word. Happiness comes from helping the poor just as happiness comes whenever you live according to how God has ordained the world rather than living according to self-centered motives.
Helping the poor: what the NT says
The OT survey helped unlock the meaning of Psalm 41:1. But before I apply it, we must look at what the NT says on the subject. How does the NT Church understand poverty? A lot of the OT texts we looked at referred to how Israel was to care for those within their covenant community. Does the NT clarify how these principles apply to the Church? There are too many NT texts to go into here, but three points stand out.
The Gospel and how Jesus gave to the poor
What I find interesting is when Paul was encouraging the Corinthian Church to give to another Church in need, he didn’t quote any of the OT passages we studied above. Paul didn’t cite Deuteronomy 15. He did not quote Psalm 41:1 or any Proverbs. Instead, Paul went straight to Jesus and the gospel.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9, ESV
Why should the Church give to those in need? Because that is exactly what Jesus did for believers at a cosmic scale. Jesus lacked nothing, had everything, was One with the Father from eternity past. And yet, Jesus made Himself of no reputation and came in the form of a servant. Why would Jesus condescend? Why would Jesus bear the shame of dying on the cross?
So that all who would believe in Him would become rich. You see, every human being is spiritually poor.
Even in America where wealth abounds, every single human being has not a penny of righteousness before a holy God.
What can make us right before God? It isn’t anything we earn. You and I cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps in the spiritual realm. You may believe the idea of the “self made person”, you may say “I don’t want any handouts,” you may think you have enough to live off of in a physical sense. But spiritually, every human being is in desperate need of God’s generosity.
And guess what? The good news of the Gospel is Jesus has provided a way you can become rich spiritually. Not through hard work. Through faith, belief, acceptance of His own wealth of righteousness. And it is free, not based on anything you have done or can do. Jesus became poor for you so that you might become rich. He is the only way you can acquire the righteousness you need.
And Paul takes this glorious gospel and says “If Jesus was THIS generous to you at a spiritual level, then everyone in the Church should be chomping at the bit to give even a little of what they have to those in need at a physical level.” Paul connects the two.
Those who have received God’s generosity in Christ on a spiritual level will become generous people on a physical level.
So the question becomes for the Christian, why am I not generous towards others? Why do I harden my heart to those in need? The answer to that question may be because you have not meditated enough on the riches Christ gave up for you so that you might never have to stand poor and spiritually bankrupt before a holy God.
There is still blessing reserved for those who give
A question you might ask after our OT overview is “Well, I’m glad God blessed Israel when they cared for the poor back then. But how can I be sure there God still blesses generosity these days?” Thankfully, God answers that question.
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
Acts 20:35, ESV emphasis added
More blessing comes from giving and helping others than in receiving. There still remains a blessing from God which comes from giving to others. What is interesting is Paul (here talking to the Ephesian elders) connects working with giving to others. He made the same connection in his letter to the Ephesians.
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Ephesians 4:28, ESV emphasis added
So for Christians, part of the reason for working is so you have something to give to those in need. Why? Because there is more blessing in giving what you have earned away to those in need than in simply receiving those wages and spending it all on yourself.
If you are spending all your money on yourself rather than giving to those in need, you are actually robbing yourself of happiness and blessing.
So when you read of the happiness and blessing of giving to the poor in Psalm 41:1 and following, don’t for a second think the principle does not still apply. You have a greater motivation to give to others because you understand the gospel. You also are told there is still blessing in giving to those in need.
Now, time does not permit me to go into other NT principles like those who are unwilling to work should not eat or making sure you are providing for your own household in addition to giving to others. But in light of the gospel and NT teaching, you should at this point see the connection between happiness and helping the poor. With all we have looked at in mind, I will close with some final general principles.
General applications for the Church today
Those who love God will love what He loves. Therefore, you should have a particular care for those in need in your Church and community
The moral and natural law of God both reflect His character. In the OT, God commanded Israel to care for the poor in their midst because God cares about the poor in their midst. As a Christian, the Bible says you know God and should imitate Christ. Therefore, part of your sanctification is progressively loving what God loves and hating what God hates.
If we did a survey of the OT prophets, you would see God’s heart towards the poor and vulnerable even more clearly. But even in this brief study today, it is apparent God cares about the poor. You might ask “If God cares about the poor so much, why doesn’t He do something about it?”
He has.
God has commanded you who are called to display His glory and reflect His values to care for the poor. The book of James goes as far as to call caring for orphans and widows (two very needy groups of people in NT times) as part of “pure and undefiled religion before God.”
Christians should have a particular heart towards those in needs, both for those in need within the Church and those in need in the community. God’s character has not changed. Now, if you want a resource to help you further understand the different categories of “the poor”, I recommend reading this brief and insightful article. I cannot recommend this article enough for thinking through how the Church should wisely and practically care for the poor.
There will always be poverty in the world. Therefore, there should always be generous Christians helping the poor
There will not come a time while this earth remains where poverty will be eradicated. Sound cynical? We have already seen in both the OT and NT that God has said it will be this way. The point of these verses is not to cause you to be fatalistic or hopeless. On the contrary: because there will always be poverty in the world, there is always work to be done.
Ignoring poverty or hoping to eradicate it from the globe are both not the answers. Instead, Churches should reach out to those in need in their community. With what? Both the gospel AND with items to deal with physical needs. Too often I hear arguments over whether the best way to help the poor is to simply preach the gospel to them or to simply give them food and clothing. This is a ridiculous false dichotomy.
The Bible is clear: the physically poor in this world need both the hope of the Gospel and the physical help of food and clothing. Both are in Scripture.
Oftentimes, helping someone with their physical needs will open up opportunities to speak about the generosity of Jesus. There will always be poor people to bless with physical care. That should encourage and spark zealous action among Christians! God has already said it is more blessed to give than to receive. So go pursue the happiness that comes from helping the poor and those in need.
Cheerful generosity will lead to blessing because you are living in accordance with God’s word. If you close your hearts towards those in need, don’t be surprised if happiness is also closed to you.
Let me conclude my going full circle back to Psalm 41. Happy is the man who cares for the poor. From the OT to the NT we have seen that this principle is true. Why? Because you were made to live under God’s rule. Anytime you instead try to rule yourself, you have lost your one path to happiness.
Because God cares for the poor and wants their needs to be met, don’t expect happiness to come when you are hard-hearted or indifferent to those in need.God is the source of all happiness. He has ordered the world so that you cannot find happiness apart from Him. Therefore, as you read what His word has to say about happiness, the only response should be ordering your life according to what God says.
And that includes what God says in Psalm 41:1. May God work in both your heart and my heart so that we are generous to the poor and needy around us!
The pursuit of happiness is a fundamental axiom of our culture. People propose all sorts of ways to achieve joy. However, God has declared happiness is possible only through Him and His word. Psalm 40 connects your happiness to trust in the Lord. But the question remains: what does trusting in the Lord actually mean?
In our study of the Psalms so far, we have seen a number of truths about happiness. It depends on whether you are on the world’s side or Jesus side. Belonging to God leads to happiness. Those who have God as their refuge are happy. Amazingly, the Psalms have still have more to say about happiness. But thus far, we could summarize the Psalms teaching about happiness as
Your happiness is directly dependent on the state of your relationship to God.
Every Psalm thus far has fleshed out this fundamental truth. It isn’t your circumstances that determine your happiness. Happiness is found in God alone and therefore how happy you are is dependent on how you relate to the one who created you.
Psalm 40 expounds on this principle further. The Psalm is full of thanksgiving, praise, and petition. But what shines most clearly is the Psalmists relationship with the Lord. In the second section of the Psalm, the author connects happiness to trust in the Lord. You can read the whole Psalm, or read verse 4 below.
How happy is the man who has put his trust in the Lord and has not turned to the proud or to those who run after lies!
Psalm 40:4, HCSB
If this verse was given out of context, it would not be very helpful. But from the surrounding verses, there are at least 4 clarifying truths which define for you what trust in the Lord really looks like.
1. The alternatives to trusting the Lord
Turning to the proud for help
This is the first of two “counterfeits” Psalm 40:4 gives to trusting the Lord. “Turning to the proud” simply means running to those who do not rely on the Lord for help in times of trouble. The proud don’t need the Lord. Pride keeps us from humble dependence on the one who created us. It is an attitude of self-sufficiency. Even though you can know that pride is a sin, in times of difficulty, stress, or trial, it can be tempting to turn to prideful people for help.
Where do you go when times are difficult? Oftentimes it is so easy to go to anyone but the Lord. Psalm 40 warns you: if you seek help from people who don’t love the Lord, you will not end up happy. Even though people who don’t seem to need the Lord appear to have their lives together, self-sufficient people cannot ultimately aid you in your time of need.
The best help you can give someone in suffering or difficulty is pointing them back to the Lord. God-dependent people encourage others to depend on God.
Turing to lies for help
The second “counterfeit” is turning to lies. I take “lies” in this passage to mean “anything that claims authority but is contrary to God’s revealed instruction”. As soon as times get difficult you are bombarded with solutions and worldviews which seek to help you. They may sound incredibly appealing. Some promise quick fixes or support. But Psalm 40 says if you run after those things, happiness will elude you.
How can the Psalmist say this? Because anything contrary to God’s word is contrary to reality. The Bible doesn’t claim to be a nice book that is sometimes helpful. No, God’s word claims to reveal what the world really is like. It is not enough to read your Bible when times are good but run to worldly thinking in times of difficulty. If a teaching or an ideology is contrary to the Bible, it is a lie. Running after a lie will send you on the fast track away from the Lord and away from happiness.
Both self-sufficiency and living according to teaching contrary to Scripture demonstrate a heart which is not trusting the Lord.
2. Trust in the Lord means waiting on the Lord
Psalm 40 starts out with an example of trusting the Lord. The Psalmist simply waits patiently. If you read the following verses, it seems the Psalmist had been crying out to God for help during an adverse circumstance. But the phrase “I waited patiently for the Lord” points to the reality that God did not deliver the Psalmist right away. So the Psalmist had to wait.
The normal posture of the Christian life is waiting.
Deepak Reju
What a helpful quote. I think a lot of times it is easy to make your trust in the Lord conditional on whether He solves your problems right away or not. You might think to yourself “I’m trusting the Lord! So why hasn’t He removed (fill in the blank difficulty, trial, etc.)?” Such a heart attitude fails to recognize a major part of trusting the Lord is waiting patiently for Him to act.
Isaiah 30:18 even further clarifies this point.
Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. All who wait patiently for Him are happy.
Isaiah 30:18, HCSB emphasis added
God does not promise to act in your timing. He doesn’t follow your schedule or remove every burden the very second you desire it removed. But look at what He does promise! You can be happy in the waiting. Why? Because waiting on the Lord to act means you are trusting, relying, and depending on God not yourself. And if God is the one in control, what do you have to fear? He will either deal with your problem in due time or change you so that you can bear the problem.
3. Trust in the Lord means delighting in His word
Verses 6-8 give another picture of what trusting the Lord looks like. Rather than listening to the lies of the world around him, the Psalmist instead has God’s instruction living within Him. The Psalmist even goes farther than that and says he delights to do God’s will. What is the significance of this?
If you are trusting in the Lord, you will be one of those people who is always consulting their Bible.
Oftentimes, “trust in the Lord” is an abstract thing. It can be very hard to discern whether you are trusting God or something else. Want to know a simple check to see what you are trusting? Ask yourself what you listen to. Who you listen to. What you read. Those who trust the Lord are humbly dependent on God’s word and it is their delight. They see the value of it.
If you trust the Lord, His word will be your primary “counselor” as it says in Psalm 119:24.
Your decrees are my delight and my counselors.
Psalm 119:24
Who do you consult first when something goes wrong? Which people do you contact? The writer of Psalm 119 consulted God’s word. You will not find happiness until you trust the Lord. And you will not truly trust the Lord unless you run to His word in every circumstance.
4. Trust in the Lord means sharing Him with others
Waiting patiently on the Lord and consulting His word are both very private and personal ways you actively trust God. However, Biblical faith never stays private. If you read verses 9-10 of Psalm 40, you see the Psalmist proclaiming God’s greatness. Why?
Hide God’s word in your heart. Reveal God’s greatness with your praise.
When the Psalmist saw God’s worth, when God delivered him from distress, the only logical outcome was for the Psalmist to publicly praise the Lord. The words used in Psalm 40:9-10 are “proclaim”, “did not hide”, “spoke about,” and “did not conceal”. The Psalmist is making it evident to his hearers that God is worthy.
What is the goal of all this praise and proclamation? Verse 16 of the Psalm gives the answer:
Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let those who love Your salvation continually say, “The Lord is great!”
Psalm 40:16, HCSB
When you are trusting the Lord and you see the happiness that comes from trusting the Lord, you should want to share it with others. Your heart should want other people to realize the Lord is great and to put their trust in Him. Evangelism and sharing God’s word with others should not be a difficult burdensome task. Not for a person who has trusted in God.
An analogy might be helpful. Imagine you have some terminal illness. You decide to try out a new, experimental treatment. Then imagine that treatment completely cures you. Now, if you knew that there were other people who had that same illness and were in need of that same treatment, would you need anyone to force you to tell other people?
For those who have trusted in the Lord and tasted His goodness, it is no great sacrifice or difficulty to proclaim to others how great God is. How faithful His love is to those who fear His name. In fact, one of the ways to tell if you are actually trusting in the Lord is to examine how yous speak about Him to others. Do you speak about His love towards you with others? Is there a desire in your heart for everyone to say “Yes! You are right. God is great. I shall trust in Him alone?”
Conclusion
Trusting the Lord isn’t some abstract thing. It is immensely practical. You cannot be truly happy without it. Trust in the Lord is simply abandoning self-sufficiency and other “quick fixes” and patiently waiting for the Lord to act. In the meantime you make God’s word your instruction. And when the Lord does act, you praise Him publicly so others are reminded to put their trust in Him.
If you feel that happiness eludes you, ask yourself honestly before the Lord “Who or what am I trusting?”
What is “taking refuge in God?” It is a phrase used throughout the Bible, particularly in the Psalms. Psalm 34 gives us several answers. These answers are crucial for knowing how to have happiness in an uncertain world.
Incredibly, Psalm 34 also discusses happiness. If you have time, read the whole Psalm. Otherwise, the key verse to zoom in on is verse 8:
Taste and see that the Lord is good! How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!
Psalm 34:8 HCSB
Psalm 34 is a favorite for many people, and for good reasons: the whole Psalm brims with both worshipful adoration and practical instruction.
The New Testament authors also seemed to love Psalm 34. 1 Peter references Psalm 34 twice, and some verses from the Psalm are alluded to in the gospels as well. But in this famous and amazing Psalm, verse 8 stands out.
The Psalmist lays it out pretty simply: if you take refuge in the Lord, you will find happiness. So, if you and I are to find happiness, we must first understand what “refuge in God” means.
The question we must answer in this Psalm is what does it mean to take refuge in God?
The Psalm itself gives many answers.
Answer 1: Don’t merely know about the goodness of God. Experience it deeply in your life.
The analogy the Psalmist uses in verse 8 is “taste and see”. Obviously one cannot do either of these literally with God. What is the point then?
If I told you I was a good cook, you could agree or disagree. But if I prepared you a five star meal and you tasted my cooking, then you would “see” that I was a good cook.
That is the analogy here. Reading about the goodness of God, hearing about his goodness from others is great. But the Psalmist is calling us to something more.
Something personal. Experiential.
The Psalmist is praising the Lord for His deliverance and then turns and invites his readers to join both the praise and the joyful dependence on the Lord.
Then the Psalmist goes further. In Verse 10, he declares that those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing. Does that mean those who seek the Lord won’t suffer? Of course not. The Psalms are full of prayers to God to deliver from suffering.
The point the Psalmist makes here is those who seek the Lord will experience God’s goodness. Not just know about it. Not just have a head-knowledge that the Lord is good. But truly experience that “every good and perfect gift is from above.”
The greatest good you get from seeking God is simply God Himself.
Psalm 16 makes that point beautifully. It opens up with the request “preserve me O God for in you I take refuge.” What is that refuge like? “I have no good apart from you…The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup…”
Those who seek and fear the Lord will lack nothing because they have the goodness of God to satisfy them.
When you experience the Lord’s goodness, it increases your trust and reliance on Him. God isn’t calling us to a blind faith. An empty faith. A faith of well-wishes. The bible declares that there is a God who is sovereignly working all things together for those who are called according to His purpose.
Do you see that in your life? Have you tasted God’s goodness? Can you truly say you have no good apart from God?
Those who take refuge in God are happy because God demonstrates His goodness to them. Even in difficulties, even in suffering, you can rest on God’s goodness.
Application 1: Reflect back on your life. Do you see God’s faithfulness? What specific ways has He shown His goodness to you? Let your heart be stirred to joy and thank Him for those ways He has provided for you.
Answer 2: Fear the Lord
Go through Psalm 34 and circle every time it mentions the fear of the Lord. It shows up several times throughout the Psalm. The first time fear shows up is in verse 4 where the Psalmist says the Lord delivered him from all his fears. I have elsewhere discussed there is a type of fear that is sinful, a faithless fear of man. God saves the Psalmist from that fear, but then verse 7 says the Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear the Lord.
Then again in verse 9: those who fear the Lord lack nothing. In verse 11 the Psalmist calls upon children to come and learn the fear of the Lord so they can enjoy life and what is good.
The principle is this: taking refuge in the Lord means you fear the Lord more than your circumstances or other people. The question you must ask yourself is “what does my heart fear the most? Other people? Finding myself in a less-than-ideal circumstance? Or does my heart fear displeasing the Lord more than all that?”
The reality is what you fear most will drive your behavior. You might think fearing the Lord sounds incompatible with knowing God’s love. But it isn’t. The Psalmist here is praising God’s goodness, calling others to experience God’s favor while at the same time calling us readers to also fear God.
Fearing the Lord isn’t contrary to experiencing God’s goodness. Fear of the Lord is foundational to it.
The question of verse 12 hits everyone who reads this Psalm: Do you delight in life? Do you want to live long? Enjoy the good things of life? Then you must behave in a way consistent with God’s word.
We saw this truth in Psalm 1. Happiness doesn’t come from living in rebellion to God and His word. It comes from submitting your whole life to His standard. That is when you experience true happiness.
And submitting to God’s standards and Word starts with a fear of the Lord. An awe of who He is. A recognition that He is God, and you are not. When you see yourself as a dependent creature rather than your own god, all of a sudden your life changes. You stop worrying about what you think about yourself or what others think about you. Instead, your mind is preoccupied with what God thinks of you and your life.
How can you know if you are fearing the Lord? Verse 13-14 give some ways to reflect on your normal behavior.
Application 2: Examine your normal day to day behavior. What kind of words come out of your mouth? Do you pursue conflict or peace? Do you do what God says is evil? Or do you delight in what God calls good?
Your normal behavior is a barometer for whether you truly fear the Lord.
You will never be happy in your life without fearing the Lord. That truth is taught consistently from cover to cover of the Bible.
Answer 3: Depend on the Lord
Your prayer life will reveal whether you are taking refuge in the Lord or not. Verse 17 says “The righteous cry out and the Lord hears and delivers them from all their troubles.” When circumstances get difficult, that is when your heart’s true refuge is revealed.
And Psalm 34 calls on its readers to cry out to God. In verse 15, its says God’s eyes and ears are set on the righteous. God is ready to hear their calls for help. What is more practical and comforting?
The difficulties of life often suck away your happiness. But this Psalm says there is a God who is there willing to hear your cries. Taking refuge in God means you aren’t self dependent. You aren’t indifferent to your circumstances. You simply take everything to the Lord in prayer.
How can you be sure God will care about your pain? Verse 18 says God is near the brokenhearted. The crushed in spirit. If you asked Christians in your local Church about their experiences of suffering, many of the older saints will tell how those sufferings brought them closer to God. Those sufferings gave them a deeper experience of God’s goodness and love.
Often times, it is in suffering that you taste and see that the Lord is good.
There is an excellent application of all this.
Application 3: Where do you go when life gets difficult? Your refuge isn’t the place you just go when times are good; your refuges in the one you depend on when your life falls apart.
The dependent person will be a praying person.
Finally, Psalm 34 describes the type of person who takes refuge in God
Taking refuge in the Lord means experiencing God’s goodness, fearing Him, and depending on Him. But there is one more point the Psalmist makes in the last verse. In a profound conclusion to an incredible Psalm, verse 22 says all those who take refuge in God will not be punished.
This connects back to Psalm 2. There it said all who take refuge in God’s anointed King are happy. This happiness in Psalm 2 is linked to not facing God’s judgment on the nations.
It is the same point here in Psalm 34. Verse 21 says evil brings death to the wicked and punishment comes to those who hate the righteous. But in verse 22, God will not punish those who take refuge in Him. God will redeem the life of His servants.
The point here is simple: refuge from God doesn’t just affect your happiness. It is the only way to avoid just punishment for your sin. The reality is “there is none righteous, no not one.” You and I have all fallen short.
You don’t keep God’s law perfectly. Your self-love is often greater than your love for God and others. The only one who can deliver you and I from punishment for these things is God Himself. Refuge in God means relying on God for grace and mercy. Both of these are ultimately found in Jesus Christ.
Application 4: Have your sins been covered? Are you a part of God’s people? If not, you don’t just need God to be a refuge from external problems. You need God to redeem you from your own rebellion.
God is a refuge to the righteous. But the only refuge that makes you righteous is the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, in conclusion, Psalm 34 has a number of truths about taking refuge in God. It brings happiness, it is linked to fear of God and dependence on God, and God is the only refuge which keeps you from punishment. I pray you will taste God’s goodness today and every day as you seek to take refuge in Him, not any lesser thing.
Want to better apply Bible passages like Psalm 34 to your life? I created this tool to help you ask good questions of yourself and the text you are studying.
Psalm 33 also presents a truth that once you understand, your happiness will become more rooted and constant in this ever changing world.
Psalm 33 reveals that true, lasting happiness comes from belonging to God. From being a part of God’s people.
Take a few moments to read through Psalm 33. There are a few things I want you to notice from the Psalm.
Observe how great a God this Psalm describes
This Psalm focuses intensely on the greatness of the Lord.
The first verses call the reader to praise God. Why? Because the Lord is righteous and just and loving.
There are many attributes of God on display in this Psalm. But the two most prominent are God as creator and God as sovereign.
God as creator
Verses 6-9 are a reflection on the creation account in Genesis. The emphasis here is the same emphasis in Genesis 1: God merely spoke and all things were created.
The God of the Bible is not a weak God. He intentionally created the world for His own glory.
You see that in verse 8. The proper response to God’s power is to stand in awe of the Lord.
The world was not an accident.
The result of chance.
The result of randomness.
The earth was created by God, for God.
Understanding this changes your view of yourself. God created you for a purpose. Your life belongs to God.
Belonging to God gives you confidence that your life has purpose and meaning.
And that purpose is not decided by you. It is decided by the powerful God who created you and all of creation.
God as sovereign
God didn’t just create the world and abandon it. Verses 10-11 display the sovereignty of God. God is presently ruling over the world and what happens to it.
The Psalm presents God’s sovereign rule in the form of a contrast.
You would think that the plans of the people and countries of the world would determine what happens. Think of the world’s most powerful countries. The United Nations.
The decisions people make when they are President or King seem to determine so much of what happens in the world.
This Psalm turns that belief on its head. Read verses 10 and 11.
God frustrates and thwarts the plans of the world’s leaders. They don’t ultimately determine the course of the world.
Who does? The Lord.
God’s plan for the world is what will come to pass. It cannot be stopped. It is as certain as the sun rising every day.
You and I live in a world that focuses on power. What political party has power. Getting more power at work, more followers on social media, more money so you can buy what you want.
When you read Psalm 33, however, you are reminded all the earthly powers are nothing compared with God. This reality is one Psalm 2 makes clear as well.
Belonging to God frees you from self-rule
And so Psalm 33 calls us to praise and stand amazed at this God who created everything and rules everything.
The question to ask yourself at this point is:
What do you think of God? Are you indifferent to the truths of this Psalm? Or is your heart moved when you realize there is a God who is ordering all things for His will?
You and I live in a culture full of self-rule and self-focus.
We are told from every media outlet that the only thing keeping you from achieving your dreams is you.
Work harder. Be better. You determine your fate.
And we think following these lies will lead us to happiness.
But so much of the Bible is perspective-shifting. This Psalm doesn’t leave you thinking about your plans and goals for your life.
It changes your gaze from yourself to a God so much bigger than you. To His plans. To His glory and power.
If your view of God is small or secondary to your own desires, don’t be surprised if you never achieve the happiness you crave.
God did not create the world so you could think highly of yourself. He created you and all the earth to reflect how great He is.
Observe the blessing of belonging to that great and sovereign God
Once you have meditated on how amazing God is, verse 12 of this Psalm makes perfect sense.
If God is exceedingly great and created all things and rules all things, then it makes sense that happiness comes from belonging to that God.
“Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen to be His own possession”
And here we have an incredibly important point:
The people who belong to God are the people God has chosen to belong to Him.
This makes sense when you think of the original audience of this Psalm: the nation of Israel. God redeemed them from slavery in Egypt.
Why? So they could be His people, a people who would stand out from all the other countries around them.
Why? So nations would look to Israel and be drawn to the Lord through them. Deuteronomy 4:5-7 lays this purpose out clearly:
“Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?”
Now, the vital question is: why was Israel the nation God chose to belong to Him? Were they better than the other countries around them? Did God foresee that they would serve Him particularly well?
No. In Deuteronomy 7:6 God declares that He chose Israel and then immediately in the next verse (7:7) He clarifies
“The Lord was devoted to you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all the peoples. For you were the fewest of all the peoples.”
And in Deuteronomy 9:6 when God is leading Israel into the promised land He says:
“Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.”
Finally, when you read the rest of the Old Testament, you see Israel was extremely disobedient and unfaithful to the God who chose them. To read more about that, go study Nehemiah 9.
The principle to extract from all this is:
God does not choose people based on their past works, on the power/resources they possess, nor based on their future faithfulness. God chooses out of His love.
It is an undeserved, redeeming love.
We saw it on display in Psalm 32 where God forgives sinners.
It is in Deuteronomy 7:8 where God declares He chose Israel based on His redeeming love.
No one has ever deserved to be a part of God’s people. You cannot force your way into His people through your good works or your abilities. God must sovereignly choose you.
Observe how you come to belong to that God
Now, if God sovereignly chooses who belongs to His people and in the Old Testament the people of God is explicitly Israel, how can you and I have any hope of happiness?
The answer the Psalm gives is your happiness is determined by your hope.
Hope and happiness are interrelated.
In the Bible, hope is not a wish for something you may or may not get. It is related to faith.
Trust in God. Hoping in God’s promises.
Verses 13-17 talk about false hope.
It isn’t having power or resources that leads to happiness.
This is shocking to read. After all, life is uncertain, wouldn’t it make sense to get a larger bank account? Get more insurance? Protect your assets?
If you are trusting in money, power, or ability to give you security and happiness in this uncertain world, you have mis-invested your hope.
The alternative to this false hope is given in verses 18-22.
It is the fear of the Lord and dependence on His faithful love that gives hope.
How is this better than power or money or resources? It is because of God’s covenant.
That word translated “faithful love” is the Hebrew word which signifies God’s covenant love. It is God’s undeserved commitment to loving and showing mercy.
Belonging to God means you have His unfixed, unchanging love.
Think about that for a minute.
The great, all-powerful Creator who upholds everything keeps His eye on those who fear Him.
If you actually believe this, the implications are amazing.
If you have God’s covenant love, then…
Why would you ever be anxious or fearful?
Why would circumstances destroy your happiness?
Why would you despair then things don’t go your way?
How do you come to experience this faithful love? For us who have the whole of Scripture, we know it comes from believing in Christ.
1 Peter 1:3 says
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
Your hope determines your happiness. And the best hope you can have is God’ love for you in Christ.
Psalm 33 gives us a big view of God. But in the end of the Psalm, the faithful love of God is emphasized.
As the Heidelberg Catechism says:
What is thy only comfort in life and death?
That I with body and soul, both in life and death am not my own, but belong unto my faithful saviour Jesus Christ…
Belonging to God gives you hope and happiness in life and in death. May we say with the Psalmist
May your faithful love rest on us Lord, for we put our hope in you
Interested in seeing more posts in this series? Check them out here.
Are you happy? Is happiness possible in this world?
The world promises dozens of paths to happiness. Some are easy. Some require a whole life’s investment.
The question is: which path will actually lead to happiness?
In my last post, we found in Psalm 1 that your happiness is highly dependent on who you spend your time with and who you listen to.
God has declared happiness is possible, just not in the ways you would expect.
Today, I will walk you through what Psalm 2 has to say about your happiness. Psalm 1 opened with “how happy is the man…” and Psalm 2 ends with “All who take refuge in Him are happy.”
Read Psalm 2. There is a lot here. When I was asked to preach my first sermon at my Church, I chose this Psalm to preach. It is that important.
Psalm 2 is not only central to understanding the book of Psalms, but is central to understand God’s plan for the world.
If God has a plan for the world, knowing that plan and living in light of it will help your happiness. Rebelling against that plan will lead you to misery.
Base your expectations for your life on what God has revealed about the world in the Bible.
There are three crucial insights about the world Psalm 2 makes. Understanding each one is crucial for your happiness
Insight 1: The world is in rebellion against the Lord
The Psalm starts with a picture of the world. It is a relevant picture. A contemporary picture. Verses 1 to 3 lay it out clear as crystal.
Rebellion.
Plotting.
Conspiring against the Lord.
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible lays out that sin is rebellion against God.
Instead of submitting, obeying, joyfully living under God’s loving care and direction, humans do what they want. Decide for themselves what is right. Do what is right in their own eyes.
Verse 3 in particular helps you see what rebellion against God is like.
Humans view God’s rule as chains, as restraining, as limiting.
And so, you and I do what is expected: we try to break free. Free from God, free from His standard, free from His truth. And we substitute our own wisdom. “Man is the measure of all things.” “There is no absolute truth.” “God is dead.”
This is the world you live in.
A world created by a loving, good, perfect God. But a world who hates that God.
Until you see this fundamental truth about the world, you will look for happiness in all the wrong places.
That self help book you read, that social media influencer who has 7 proven tips for success, that movie you watched as a kid that told you to follow your dreams…
…all of these were made by a culture hatefully rebelling against the God who made them.
Once you understand what this world is like, you start to be wary about quick fixes. “Proven” paths to success.
The reason why is found in the next insight the Psalm gives us.
Insight 2: The world’s rebellion is doomed to fail
God’s thoughts on humanity’s rebellion are given in verses 4 to 6.
God finds it laughable. Ridiculous.
You may think you are the master of your own fate, that you can ignore God’s rule, that God’s plan for the world has no bearing on your life. But that doesn’t matter to God.
An all powerful God. A sovereign God.
Our rebellion is worthy of nothing but God’s anger and amusement.
In the face of our rebellion, God declares His plan for the world. Verses 6 through 9 lays it out.
You want to live without God’s rule? God will establish His king anyway.
You want to be free of God? God will give the nations to His king.
You want to break the commands God has given you? God’s King will have the power to break you. Like a pot.
Your plans and goals and dreams are not ultimate in the world. God’s plans are.
And God’s plans involve establishing an eternal rule. Humanity’s rebellion won’t get the final say.
In the face of our culture’s rejection of God, God simply responds with a laugh and a declaration of what will certainly happen.
Which brings us to the central decision which will determine your eternal happiness.
Insight 3: Your happiness depends on what side you take
Amazingly the Psalm doesn’t end there. Rather than crushing rebellious humanity immediately, God ends with an offer.
A life changing offer.
A merciful offer.
An offer which will determine your happiness now and forever.
You either submit to God’s anointed king. Or you will be destroyed with those who rebel.
The Psalm tells you what the wise choice is. Serve the Lord, not yourself. Fear the Lord instead of ignoring Him. Join the kingdom of the Son.
You will only find happiness in the safety of the Lord’s loving rule.
The only other option is just punishment.
Look at those who break the law in your country. Does it go well for them? When they are caught and punished, are they happy? Are their lives happy?
How much more will you be unhappy if you are breaking the laws of the God of the entire universe?
God is and has been exceedingly merciful and loving towards His creation. This Psalm gives you an opportunity to leave the rebellion and join in relationship with the God who created you.
Here are two questions to ask yourself in light of this passage:
Do you see the danger you are in?
If your house was on fire and you didn’t realize it, the fire would do more damage than if you noticed it early.
God has graciously warned you in this Psalm about the trajectory of the world. About the rebellion of our culture. The world tells you to follow its paths to happiness. But God tells you that path is based in rebellion.
Do you live as if you were ruler of your life? Have you forgotten God?
If you have been, stop! Stop your rebellion! Stop listening to the world! As we learned in Psalm 1, start reading God’s word and aligning yourself to His plan!
The Psalm offers you a place to flee. A safe refuge that also contains the happiness you seek.
Have you submitted to Jesus?
Psalm 2 doesn’t identify who the anointed King is. The King who God calls a Son. The King who will rule the nations. But the rest of scripture reveals who this King is: Jesus.
In Acts 4:23-30, the early Church identified Jesus as the one who God anointed, as the promised Messiah and King of the Old Testament.
And in Revelation 2:26-27, Jesus declares God the Father gave Him the authority to rule the nations. The same authority promised here in Psalm 2.
If you are interested in how Psalm 2 relates to God’s plan in Jesus, this book has several helpful chapters.
But for today, recognize Jesus is the King God has raised up.
Jesus is the King you must submit to. You must run to. The King who has the happiness you seek.
Why?
Jesus didn’t crush the nations. He was crushed for the happiness of the nations.
When Jesus first came, He didn’t come to punish the humans who rebelled. Jesus came to bear the punishment for everyone who would believe in Him.
He didn’t just die as an example. As an illustration of God’s love.
He died to bear God’s wrath. The wrath the rebellious nations deserve.
The wrath you and I deserve.
The reality laid out in this Psalm is if you don’t kiss the son, you yourself will bear that wrath.
So, the most important question for your happiness is simply
Have you submitted to Jesus? Or are you still living in rebellion against God?
There is a reason the book of Psalms opens with this Psalm. It is the single most important thing related to your happiness.
God has declared happiness is possible. Just not in the ways you would expect.
This post, I will start working through the Psalms to see what they tell us about happiness. Interestingly, the very first two Psalms open with giving us truths about happiness. Let’s start with Psalm 1.
Read through it once. Then again. If you don’t have a Bible handy, find the Psalm here.
There are a couple truths this Psalm makes about happiness.
Truth 1: Your happiness is dependent on your company
Interestingly, the Psalm starts out with the wrong place to look for happiness.
Happiness doesn’t come from following the advice of the wicked, taking the path of sinners, or joining in a group of mockers. The alternative to these false paths to happiness is to delight in the Lord’s instruction.
What does this mean?
Your happiness is affected by the company you keep. If the people around you, if the books you read, if the media you consume turns you away from the Lord and towards sin, your happiness is in jeopardy.
If you make the word of God your company, your counselor, your source of truth, then this Psalm says you are on the path to happiness.
Why is this the case?
The Bible explains it like this: everything and everyone was created by God and for His glory. That simply means God created everything to display how magnificent and wonderful He is.
Sin, on the other hand, is not giving God the glory and honor due Him.
So, since God set up this world so lasting happiness only comes from Him and since sin is rebellion against God, sinning will only lead you further and further away from happiness.
There is an old saying “bad company corrupts good morals.” From this Psalm, you could make the further point “sinful company leads to spiritual death”.
That is where the image of “chaff” blown away in the wind comes from. Chaff is useless. Garbage. Something to discard.
And that is the end of sin. Death.
Often times in scripture, God warns about the company you keep. Most people don’t intend for their friends to lead them into sin.
Keep a watch over people you are around. They are the ones influencing you, for good or for evil.
If you take your happiness seriously, heed the Psalmist’s warning. Hanging around with those who are rebelling against God will only encourage you to do the same.
And where rebellion against God exists, you will not find true, lasting happiness.
Truth 2: Happiness starts with loving God’s word
What is the alternative to keeping company with sinners? What is the way to avoid becoming like chaff?
Delight in God’s instruction instead. Internalize it. Meditate on it.
If you aren’t saturating yourself with God’s word, don’t be surprised if happiness eludes you.
This is a shockingly bold claim the Psalm makes! Happiness comes from a book? From a collection of ancient texts?
The point is, you have to answer the question of who is the authority of in your life before you can even begin to pursue happiness.
In other words, you can’t get happiness by aiming at happiness. You must aim at something greater than your own personal joy.
This Psalm presents God’s word as that aim. Why? Because even though there is much you can know about the Lord through creation, it is only in the Bible that you know who He is.
You find out why God created you.
You find out why there is so much suffering in the world.
You find out why there is still so much good in the world.
You find out what your fundamental problem is.
Once you know all of these, your life changes. Your values change. Your perspective shifts.
How can you find happiness if you don’t even know who you are?
“Start with the word of God”, the Psalm exclaims!
And look at the effect the word of God has: you won’t be like chaff. You will be like a tree.
What a beautiful picture and contrast! Picture a tree by a river with lush fruit hanging off its branches.
The tree is always growing. Always healthy. Always bringing forth fruit.
That is your life when it is centered on God’s word. The water is the word. The tree is you. The fruit is the virtues God produces in your life.
So do you want to find happiness? Here are three practical things to reorient your life:
STOP living your life contrary to God’s word
The Psalm ends with judgement. With separation.
The wicked will not stand. The wicked will not dwell with the righteous.
How do you know what group you belong to? Better take heed to God’s word!
Read the great story of redemption. How humanity rebelled against God, but out of His love, the Lord sent Jesus. Truly man. Truly God.
Jesus bore the wrath your sin and my sin deserved. The punishment for everyone who believes in Him.
Read the call of the gospels and the NT epistles “The kingdom of God is at hand! Repent and believe in the gospel!”
Want to be happy? You are going to need to go to war. War against anything inside you that is contrary to the word of God.
You can’t have happiness without the gospel. You can’t have happiness without repentance. You can’t have happiness without obedience.
And you only know these things from the word of God. Therefore,
START reading God’s word
There is no better investment in your present and eternal happiness then opening the Bible and starting to read it.
Nothing else could be better. As soon as you drop the list of excuses and reasons for why you can’t read God’s word, you will find there is no other power to change the trajectory of your life apart from the Bible.
Read the last verse from Psalm 1 again.
God knows the way of the righteous. You learn about this way in the Bible.
The way of the wicked leads to ruin. You learn what wickedness is in the Bible.
You can try to figure out which way leads to God and happiness, and which way leads to ruin without the Bible.
But you won’t figure it out.
God has graciously and lovingly told us all we need to know. You and I don’t have to guess how to live our lives. We can know for sure.
And it starts with a simple choice: Pick up the Bible and start reading.
And once you do,
CONTINUE diligently internalizing God’s word
Now, here is where it gets important: if a plant is only watered every so often, what happens to it?
It dies.
Withers.
Doesn’t produce fruit.
The blessing of lasting happiness doesn’t come from occasional Bible reading. It comes from Bible meditation.
The word “meditate” literally means to “murmur” something to yourself.
Meditating on God’s word does not mean reading your morning devotions and going on with your day. It doesn’t even mean reading through the Bible in a year.
Meditating on God’s word means repeating it over and over again in your mind until you internalize it, believe it, and live it out.
One reason I developed the sermon meditation book is to help myself and fellow Church members repeat again and again the truths we hear.
When you learn a truth and look at it from different angles and “murmur” it to yourself throughout the day, something amazing happens.
Your focus changes.
You gain more insights into the text.
And you start seeing times throughout the day when you can either share that truth with someone else or live out that truth.
That is the key to this Psalm. Lasting happiness doesn’t just come from merely reading God’s word and checking the box.
It comes from God transforming you through His word.
So keep reading. Keep studying. Keep thinking about what you read throughout the day. And pray that God would produce fruit in your life.
Interested in digging deeper into Psalm 1? One of the best sermon series on the Psalm can be found here.
I don’t think I have. Whether a believer or an unbeliever, rich or poor, smart or not, hard-working or lazy, liberal or conservative EVERYONE I have met thus far in my life is pursuing happiness.
It is one of our “inalienable rights” as Americans. Go to the bookstore or the library. Type in “how to be happy” in your search engine. How much ink is spent on trying to convince you how to achieve happiness?
Some say you need to be a certain type of person. Some say you just have to be yourself.
It is the fundamental truth of our culture: pursue happiness as whatever cost.
It is in the air we breathe. Pursuing happiness is so fundamental to your and my thinking, we hardly notice it day to day.
For a lot of people, pursuing happiness is about pursuing money. The more money you have, the more power you have to choose to do things that make you happy. Seems simple enough.
Another potential avenue for happiness is finding your “dream job”. People spend their whole lives chasing a job that gives them flexibility and control. The old saying “if you love what you do, you don’t work a day in your life” has become many people’s creed. Their quest.
Fame is another road that promises to lead to happiness. The more people who are interested in you, the more validated you feel. You want to be the respected one. The expert. The person setting the trends and calling the shots. And when you feel good about yourself, you supposedly find joy.
If you turn on the television, another option for happiness is presented: things. Stuff. Objects. Every product on the market promises ease. Pleasure. Beauty. Every advertisement essentially says “If you have THIS thing, you will be happier!”
A final addition to this non-exhaustive list is other people. A spouse will make you happy. Children. Family. Community. Friendship. Someone to share life with you. Someone to love you. Someone to know you.
There are other roads to happiness. More than I could list. Every time someone “discovers” a new road, a book is published and people wonder if THIS road is the answer to the question:
How can I be happy?
The problem with all the roads to happiness our culture promises is there are three important cliffs the roads lead to.
Failure.
Disappointment.
Loss.
Whether you are pursuing money, your dream job, fame, stuff, or fellowship with people, if is not certain you will get what you are pursuing. You can try hard. You can dedicate your life to obtaining these things.
But we live in an uncertain world. There are infinite factors, circumstances, and events that are outside the smallest bit of our control.
If your happiness is attached to getting any of these things, you might neverachieve it. You might fail to get them.
But maybe you will get them. Maybe you’ll get your dream job. Maybe the person of your dreams enters your life. Maybe you get money and recognition.
That means you’ll be happy, right?
Perhaps. Perhaps not.
What if your dream job ends up not being exactly what you thought it would be?
What if having more money doesn’t actually make you feel any better?
What if the praise and attention of strangers feels hollow?
If your happiness is attached to getting any of these things, you might never have happiness. You might be disappointed when you get them.
But what if they don’t disappoint you. What if your dream job really is your dream job? Your money does allow you to do stuff you enjoy? Your spouse really IS everything you dreamed they would be and more?
This is when the biggest enemy to your pursuit of happiness enters: loss.
Having something today doesn’t guarantee having it tomorrow. Death, difficulty, and disasters all assault even those castles of happiness you think are the most safe and secure.
If your happiness is attached to getting any of these things, you will never have happiness. You will inevitably lose them at some point.
So is pursuing happiness as pursuing the wind? Should you cling tighter and tighter around anything that gives you the slightest bit of pleasure?
Is your happiness doomed for hopelessness?
No.
In the face of failure, disappointment, and loss the book of Psalms has the audacity to announce
“Happy is the man…”
And then Psalm 2 chimes in “all who take refuge in Him, are happy”.
And again and again the Psalms present happiness as possible. As obtainable.
The God who made this world has declared happiness is possible. Just not in the ways you would expect.
Starting next week, I will share a brief study of what the Psalms say about happiness. Every person wants to be happy.
So every person should seek to find what God says about happiness.
Any thoughts, comments, or questions? Reach out to me here.
