In Pursuit of Happiness: Psalm 128

This moment in time is historic.  We will remember the year 2020 as one of the most difficult for many.  A pandemic has impacted the entire world, almost bringing it to its knees.  The United States has experienced injustice, protests, riots, and looting, crippling several major cities around the country.  When you read the news or turn it on and watch it, you find suffering is everywhere.  

What astonishes me about the suffering is that it is so traumatic for Americans. When I talk to people on the streets, at my job, or in other places, they always say they could do better, if the circumstances were more agreeable. Why do Americans take suffering more traumatic than other cultures? Is it because we live in a secular society? Yes, in part.  But I find the genuine reason is the greatest purpose of being American: the pursuit of happiness and freedom.  This pursuit does not allow suffering to fit within it well.  

Since the highest purpose of being an American is the pursuit of freedom and happiness, and we live in a secular society, no longer reliant upon God, the burden of experiencing this chief purpose is the individual. Therefore, we vote for politicians that will make us happy and keep us free, and politicians make it their job to make us happy and comfortable.  

Maybe all the chaos and commotion we are witnessing around the country results from unhappy people trying to find happiness. The pursuit of happiness can be disastrous, or helpful.  Another way to put it is the pursuit of happiness can make you unhappy, or happy.  To avoid becoming unhappy in pursuit of happiness, we need to make sure we are pursuing true happiness.  True happiness is not dependent upon outward circumstances, but an inward disposition.  True happiness, when found, will impact the surrounding people, and, if possible, the surrounding circumstances.  

We can find the prescription for genuine happiness in Psalm 128, “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!” 

Every verse uses the words “blessed” or “bless” except for verses 3 and 6. What I find interesting is that it uses two different Hebrew words, instead of one. Verses 1-2 use the word “asher,” and verses 4-5 use the word “barak.” They use the latter word when God blesses a person or a people; the former word translates most often as “happy” and describes the good fortune that comes when people do what pleases God.  When things are going well, we often feel happy. However, the happiness of verse one does not depend upon the circumstances of life, but the priority of life.  The priority of life reveals that the pursuit of true happiness begins with the individual.  

The Pursuit of Happiness Begins with the Individual

Verse one, “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!” A better translation is “very happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways.” If you want to be “very happy,” in life, then you will need to be in a right relationship with the Lord.  

Relationship 

The Hebrew name for God in verse one is Yahweh. It is always used in a relationship between God and man, specifically a covenant relationship.  Israel was in a covenant relationship with God.  In the same manner, under the New Covenant, we must be in a covenant with the Lord, and this is only possible through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation. This is the starting point for a life of happiness. When we are in a right relationship with the Lord, our lives will reveal it with a proper reverence for the Lord.  

Reverence

The very happy man or women will fear the Lord. We don’t always associate happiness with fear, but not the case with true happiness. When you fear the Lord, you will take the Lord seriously. You understand that he is the sovereign Lord, holy and set apart, in control of all things. When you fear the Lord, you have an extreme reverence, deep respect, and awe for him.  What does that look like?

The Lord becomes the top priority of your life.  Every endeavor you embark on will have him at the center.  He becomes everything we are, or think, or aspire to do. The apostle Paul put it well when he said, “to live is Christ.” We put him first. If we have this reverence, then we will want to please and honor him in everything. The right relationship leads to the right reverence, which leads to the right responsibility. 

Responsibility

If we want to please and honor the Lord in everything, then we will walk in his ways.  Simply put, we will strive to obey him.  We find real freedom and happiness in God’s word. Many people look at the Bible as a book of rules that keep you from freedom and happiness. However, when we live our lives in God’s word and God’s will, we experience freedom and happiness.  Outside of God’s word and will you find guilt, shame, fear, sorrow, and death. 

Before Christ found me, I was wild. I loved to party and used all kinds of stimulates that I thought made me happy. I remember sitting with a friend, drinking beer and smoking marijuana, and the subject of Christianity came up. Not sure how, but it did. I shared with my friend that my brother had become a Christian and his life changed.  I then said to him, I could never become a Christian because I didn’t want to give up the drugs and alcohol that I thought made me happy.  

Not too long after that conversation, the Lord started working in my life.  The things I thought would make me happy, left me empty and unhappy.  I was miserable. Where I once believed becoming a Christian would make me unhappy, the Holy Spirit started impressing upon me the words, “You will never be happy until you become a Christian.” Eventually, I started reading the Bible. One night, while reading Matthew chapter five, I surrendered my life to Jesus with this simple prayer, “Lord, I want to be a Christian, but I can’t do it. I need your help.” The surrender of that night changed my life forever.  It was at the cross of Jesus that I received my sight, and now I’m happy all my days, not because my circumstances are good, but my relationship with the Lord is good.  When we experience true happiness with the Lord, as this first verse describes, it will have an immediate impact on our lives, and the lives of those around us.  

The Experience of True Happiness has an Immediate Impact

When a man or woman fears the Lord and walks in his ways, it will impact character.  

Character 

If you walk in the ways of the Lord, then you will walk in integrity.  A godly character will characterize your life. When our time on earth is over the only things we can take with us are relationships and our character.  Therefore, it is paramount, not only that we witness for God but also walk with him. I pray that when my life is over that my family and friends will remember me as a man who walked in the ways of the Lord. I know that they won't remember my sermons because I can’t remember my own sermons. I want them to remember that I loved Jesus. Another immediate impact will be contentment.  

Contentment

Verse two, “You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.” You shall be happy and well. How many of us want to be happy and well? Well, it begins with a right relationship with the Lord, which in turn impacts our character and our contentment. When you find true happiness in the Lord, he will take care of your needs. 

When we can declare “Our Father in heaven,” he will answer, “give us this day our daily bread.”  The apostle Paul put it this way, “My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  True happiness is a byproduct of a true trust in the Lord.  God will supply all our needs, not necessarily all our wants, although he throws in our wants at times, and then some. 

In the last five years, my wife and I have experienced some financial hardships. Our income is half of what it was five years ago, and to say that we have struggled, would be an understatement. Nonetheless, I can declare to you today, the Lord has provided our daily needs. 

I often see people on street corners asking for money. When I see them I just thank God that my situation has not come to begging on a street corner.  Now, I haven’t begged, but over the last five years, I have had some interesting jobs. I have delivered pizzas, became an Uber driver spending many Friday and Saturday nights making sure drunks made it home from a night out on the town. I have been a car salesman, by far the worse job yet. I worked the night shift for a powerwash company and drove a school bus. Currently, I’m a trash man at a small apartment complex in Little Rock and a chaplain for Arkansas Community Corrections. Through it all, my God has supplied all my needs, and I am content that he will continue to do so.  Why? Because I fear the Lord and walk in his ways, and I’m happy about it.  Another immediate impact is commitment.  

Commitment 

Verse three, “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.” The psalmist moves from work to the home, specifically the family. He addresses the husband and father in this verse because he is the leader. However, it implies the wife and children of the home as well because he speaks of “everyone” in verse one.  

A happily married man or woman will be committed to the marriage. For the husband, if you want a happy life, you will need a happy wife.  That means to treat her the same way that Christ treats the church. You love her, sacrificially. You provide for her; you keep her safe; you lead her spiritually. Likewise, a happy wife will do all she can to make Christ the center of home and family.  

You might think, “I don’t have a family. How does this apply to me?” If you are walking with the Lord, then you will be committed to honoring the Lord in all your relationships.  You will strive to love your neighbor as yourself.  You will treat others how you want to be treated.  You will put the interest of others before your own.  Then you have an immediate impact upon those around you.  Genuine happiness will make an immediate impact upon you, and the surrounding people. The immediate impact must have an extended influence.  

True Happiness must have an Extended Influence 

Verse four, “Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.” In verse four, we move from the Hebrew word “asher,” used in verses 1-2, to the word “barak,” which means “blessed by God.”  The Lord will bless the man or woman who seeks true happiness in the Lord. The blessings of God are never intended to stop with the individual or immediate family.  God’s blessings fall short if they don’t involve others.  God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others.  

God begins with the center, the individual, and moves out from there to the home and work, and as we will see a happy home and work extends to the church.  

Church

Verse five, “The Lord bless you from Zion!” Zion represents the house of God, the mountain of God, the place where God dwells amongst his people. This is a glorious reminder that our fruitfulness is from God. One way that God blesses us is through the church, and the way the church becomes a blessing is when you have the people of God walking with God, which becomes a blessing to the home, resulting in a blessing to the church. When the church becomes a source of blessing, it will move outward to the community.  

Community

In the last part of verse five, “May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!” As the church goes, the city goes.  Can I give you something to think about? What if all the chaos that we are experiencing locally and nationally is the result of the pitiful condition that the church is in today, which is a direct result of the pitiful condition of the home and family, which is a result of people in pursuit of happiness in all the wrong places? 

When the individual finds true happiness in the Lord, God will bless, and then God will bless the home and family.  When the home and family are blessed by God, God will bless the church.  When the church is blessed by God, God will bless the community. When the community is blessed by God, God will bless the country.  

Country 

Verse six, “May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!” The Hebrew word for peace can also translate “wholeness.”  Wholeness upon the nation.  

Our nation needs peace to be upon it! It needs wholeness! Peace and wholeness will not come from Washington. It won’t come from the voting booth. It won’t come from Hollywood.  It will only come from the Lord.  The reason our nation is falling apart is the fact that people are looking for freedom and happiness in the wrong place. It starts with the individual, with me and you. It starts with a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ, resulting in a life pursuing happiness in the Lord.  Do you want to see peace in America? You want our nation whole again? It will begin with the individual and a changed heart.  That is our only hope.  

Testing and Teaching: Judges 2:20-3:6

Four years ago, my wife began her career as a high school English teacher. As a result, we see education from a unique perspective. We have had many discussions on teaching, testing, grading, and classroom management. Several times standardized testing has been a discussion.  

A standardized test comprises a set of common questions for students to answer with the purpose of assessment.  For example, the reading part of the test will help teachers understand what the reading level of a certain grade is at the time of the test.  The results enable them to adjust what they are teaching so that the students can improve on a particular subject. When I was in school, standardized tests didn’t bother as much as tests that determined my grade. 

During my college and seminary days, I had professors that tested every class. I will confess, I spent most of my time cramming for a test about fifteen minutes before class. I didn’t really enjoy tests, but I understood their purpose. If a professor or teacher didn’t test, I don’t believe I would pay attention unless the subject captivated my attention. Tests also reminded me that the class has purpose and meaning.  

If you think about it, we can’t limit teaching and testing to the realm of education only. Teaching and testing characterize every aspect of life. This is especially true of the Christian life.  Open your Bible, Old and New Testaments, and you will find God causes and allows teaching and testing in the journey of faith. In the believer's life teaching and testing that takes place daily.  

The daily teaching and testing experienced by believers are not purposeless or meaningless. If they were, God would come across as a cruel God. We find a highly explicit text concerning the purpose and meaning of such experiences in chapters two and three of the book of Judges. Unfortunately, the text takes place in a period of Israel’s history that reveals the apostasy of God’s people repeatedly.    

The book of Judges comprises two introductions. The first introduction starts at verse one of chapter one and ends at verse five of chapter five. The second introduction begins at verse six of chapter two and ends with verse six of chapter three. Why two introductions? The writer introduces the book from two perspectives. The first is from the perspective of Israel, and the second from the perspective of God.  

From God’s perspective, we are able to see the outline of the book of Judges. It’s a downward spiral that begins with God’s people turning from God, followed by God’s judgment upon his people, resulting in God’s people crying out, and God answering the cries with mercy by providing a judge to deliver them. This pattern runs to the end of the book.  Interestingly, this pattern of God’s judgment of mercy is best understood when we look at the cross of Jesus Christ, for it shows the judgment and mercy of God in the death of Jesus Christ.  

In setting the context of our text, we will need to understand God’s people have entered the Promise Land through the leadership of Joshua.  Unfortunately, they did not remove all the inhabitants of the land, as God commanded, resulting in God allowing the inhabitants to live among the Israelites. Leaving the inhabitants was the consequence of their sin. You could say that their sin became their reward.  God would not waste this tragedy. He determined to use the enemy in the land to test and teach his people. 

Notice verses twenty through twenty-two of the second chapter of Judges, “So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them.” God will use the inhabitants to test Israel. Again in verse one of chapter three, “Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them.” And again in verse four, “They were for the testing of Israel.” 

How do the enemies of ancient Israel in the Promise Land translate into our modern-day experiences? Every day, we face enemies that attack our faith, our finances, our families, our relationships, our courage, and the list goes on and on.  These enemies come to invade our lives from the inside, the outside, and the unseen, usually through circumstances, situations, and struggles, which God uses for teaching and testing. Therefore, it is important for us to understand these enemies and their purpose and meaning in our lives. As we look at the chosen passage, we notice how the Lord tests us to teach us. 

The Lord tests us to teach us.  

In verse one of chapter three, we read, “Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.”  We see some purpose for tests in these two verses.  There is a connection between “test,” and “know.”  Testing is used to teach.  Here, the lesson was about how to fight in a war.  

However, the lessons taught were more than just tactical procedures for war. I’m reminded of the four-week training that they required me to take when I became a chaplain in the correctional setting. I spent the time learning how to defend myself when a situation called for it. The greatest lesson I learned is the fact that I’m a chaplain, and if a riot breaks out in the prison, I’m running.  The lessons were for protection only, and a way for the state to avoid lawsuits.  God’s training for war was much more theological than tactical.  What God wanted to know from the wars with the inhabitants was a greater knowledge of his person.  

His person

By this, I mean his character and nature.  God left in the land as a judgment for the Israelites’ disobedience.  Every war they fought with these inhabitants would be a reminder of God’s judgment upon their sin. The reason God judged their sin is his holy nature.  

God is without sin, holy. Therefore, he must deal with sin. Tests that come as discipline for sin remind us of God’s holy nature. We never sin and get away with it. God disciplines his children, which is a display of his loving nature.  

God disciplines his children for our own holiness. You might be one of those parents that don’t discipline your children, but God is not. If you don’t discipline your child can you say you love your child? God loves his children, and he disciplines his children because he loves them.  God’s love puts our ultimate and greatest good at the top of his agenda.  God tests us so we can know his nature and character, but God is not wanting us to have just head knowledge of who he is. No, at the heart of these tests is God’s desire to teach us about his presence.  

His presence

God’s desire for his children is a close and personal relationship with them. It is all about relationships and constantly walking and enjoying his presence. God was to teach us so we can know, experientially, his presence in our lives. Some of the greatest tests God has allowed me to experience have been the greatest moments of experiencing his tangible presence in my life. Yes, he teaches us to know him more intimately through the invasions of the inside, outside, and unseen enemies in our lives.  And while we experience his presence, we also experience his power.   

His power

God wanted Israel to know war, not in the traditional tactical way, but his way.  When we fight God’s fight we don’t rely on our own power, but his power.  We don’t trust in our abilities, but his abilities. God allows tests to teach us to trust in his power to overcome the trials that the test brings.   

When Pharaoh and the Egyptian army had Moses and the Israelites up against the Red Sea, God said, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Trust the Lord, for it is his fight and his battle. 

When an elite army came against King Jehoshaphat and Juda, the king and Judah poured out their hearts to God. There was no way they could beat this army with their own resources or resolve. They cried out to God, and he told them to stand firm and watch.  The next morning, Jehoshaphat and his army stood before the enemy and worshiped, and while they worshiped God destroyed the army.  

We learn through tests we don’t fight with our own abilities or strengths but by the power of God.  We learn to cast our concerns on the Lord and watch him sustain us, knowing that he will not allow his children to stumble. We learn through tests that we when battles not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord.  

I wonder how many times God has brought events into my life for the purpose of teaching me something? Do I look at teachable moments as chance, or do I see them from the providential hand of God?  I imagine when I stand before God and he replays my life he will probably show me some teachable moments that I missed.  

As a father, I have learned that everything I try to teach my children won’t always be accepted by them. The many times I have warned them of a dead-end road, but they took it anyway.  It causes me to sit back and think about my relationship with the Lord, and I imagine he feels the same way I do when I miss his teachable moments he brings through tests, and how I try to do things in my flesh, and not his power. 

How is God working in your life? What methods is he using to test and teach? Are you learning more about his person, his presence, and his power? If we are not careful, we will miss out on a teachable moment that God uses for our ultimate good.  Next, we notice how the Lord tests us to assess us.  

The Lord tests us to assess us. 

Earlier, I spoke about standardized testing and how its purpose is to assess the students.  Likewise, God tests us to assess us, not for himself, he already knows what’s in us, but for ourselves.  The one thing God wants to assess is our allegiance to him. 

Allegiance 

In chapter two, verse twenty-two, we read, “in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” Notice also in chapter three, verse four, “They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.” What does God want from us? He wants obedience, faithfulness to our relationship with him.

True worship of God demands exclusive allegiance.  It’s amazing how tests will often reveal where our trust lives. When we lose our paycheck, where is our trust? When a pandemic hits, where is our trust? It’s stunning how a test reveals where our allegiance lies. Do we trust in God’s promises? Or do we act like spiritual illiterates? Do we believe God exists and believe in his promises? Or do we act as a functional atheist?   Tests have a way of showing where our allegiance is.  

Unfortunately, verses five and six reveal the Israelites failed to pass the test. Instead of fighting the enemy, they slept with the enemy.  Literally, they intermarried with the inhabitants and started serving their gods.  They received a big F. 

Our stories don’t have to end the same way. In fact, there is another test found in the Old Testament, one passed with flying colors. It’s found in Genesis chapter twenty-two, verse one, “After these things God tested Abraham and said, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take you son, you only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains on which I shall tell you.” 

What a test! God wanted Abraham to take the promised child, Isaac, and offer him up as a burnt offering. The rest of the chapter reveals that he passed the test. And because of his exclusive allegiance to God, the Lord provided a ram to replace Isaac as the burnt offering.  He passed the assessment.  How? Abraham in obedience trusted the Lord and drew upon the resources of his almighty love.  

How can we pass the tests that come our way every day? Daily, we have to take our lives to the altar of God and offer them up to God as a holy and acceptable sacrifice to him, giving him our full allegiance. When we do, God will bless us beyond what we ever think or imagine.   

Recently, I observed an interaction between a little girl, around five years old, and her father.  The girl wanted to carry an enormous box.  She said, “Daddy, I want to carry the box.” She could pick it up, but it was too big for her to walk with. Her father responds, “No, you will fall trying to carry it.” She kept on insisting, saying that she had a plan.  The father gave in and she picked up the box.  She then told her father, “Okay daddy, now you carry me.”  

God, doesn't just want to take our burdens. No, he wants to carry us and give us all we need from his resources. All we have to do is give our allegiance to him.   Will you come to the altar today? 

   

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