How do you seek happiness?

Psalm 1 (October 26, 2008)

1) The Text

1Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; 2but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. 3They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. 4The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

2) The Context

Psalms is a collection of collections. The psalms were written over many centuries, stretching from the days of Solomon's temple (about 950 BC) to after the Exile (about 350 BC.) Psalms are of five types: hymns of praise, laments, thanksgiving psalms, royal psalms, and wisdom psalms. Within the book, there are five "books"; there is a doxology ("Blessed be ... Amen and Amen") at the end of each book.

In Psalm 1, a wisdom psalm, the character and condition, and the present and future destiny, of the pious and the wicked are described and contrasted, teaching that true piety is the source of ultimate happiness, and sin of misery. This psalm is an introduction to the book of Psalms; it contrasts the fate of the godly and the ungodly. Vv. 1-3 speaks of the happiness of the godly. They do not live as the ungodly do; rather they constantly (“day and night”, v. 2) and joyfully study and observe Mosaic law; their well-being is like trees which bear fruit. They are prosperous. But, on the other hand, the ungodly are “like chaff” (v. 4) in manual threshing: the crushed sheaves were tossed into the air, where the wind blew the chaff away. So, say vv. 5-6, their fate will be disaster: they will be excluded from the fellowship enjoyed by those who follow God’s ways, and will suffer – unlike the godly, over whom God keeps watch.

3) Interpretation

Several principles for life can be garnered from this portion of God’s word. First, as Christians we need to be meditating on the truth of God as often as we can. The more we meditate on God’s truth the more we delight in it. The less we do so, the less we enjoy it. We are not just referring here to knowing a lot about the Bible. Such a goal is rather easy to accomplish. We are, instead, talking about thinking hard about the truth of God and how it applies to my life. The goal of meditation is to know God better and to apply his word to our lives. This reaches well beyond just knowing facts about the Bible. It calls us to trust the God of the Bible.

Second, growth in character and righteousness takes time. The psalmist says that the tree will bear fruit in its season, perhaps not right away. We have to be patient and continue to maintain an honest and pure heart as well as commit ourselves to doing what is right. Paul said it this way: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” The harvest Paul is referring to is a harvest of righteousness.

Third, there is a cost at the present time for those who engage in wickedness and there will be a cost to pay in the future as well. At the present time men and women do experience the wrath of God as Paul discussed in Romans 1:18-32. In the future men and women who have not trusted Christ as savior will be permanently separated from God. The good news in the book of Romans and indeed the entire New Testament is that God’s wrath has been completely satiated by the sacrifice of Christ and anyone who trusts in Christ can be forgiven for his/her sin and moved out from under the judgment of God into the sphere of his blessing.

Fourth, for those who love the Lord and want to live a life pleasing to him, they need to know that God is the one who will keep them to the end and present them in his presence blameless and free from accusation (Jude 24-25). Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). We know that “the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Finally, many people go through life seeking happiness, only to find it elude their grasp. Others always seem to be happy, even in the face of tragedy. Why is this so? Psalm 1 proposed happiness was the result of a lifestyle. The happy person made God and his will (found in the Torah) the primary goal of life; “feeling good” was a secondary effect of faith. By implicit contrast, the unhappy person was the cynic and evil-doer, the one who cared little for God’s will, the one who thought he could make himself happy. By extending this logic a little further, the happy person placed God above self and lived for God; the unhappy person lived only for the self. The way to happiness, then, was to live according to God’s commands in every conscious moment (1:2b). Notice this dedication to God was more than a commitment; it was a lifestyle and a value to pass on to the next generation. The result of that lifestyle created consistency and growth. (1:3) By contrast, the self-centered shot from fad to fad in the search of fulfillment; their lifestyle was like “chaff that blew away with the wind” (1:4). In the end, God would favor the faithful, not those who placed self above all. The faithful would gather together with him (the “assembly of the just”) while the self-absorbed would find judgment and ruin.

4) Thought Exercise

How can you use meditation to know God better and apply that knowledge to your life?
How is your faith and love for God the cause of your happiness?