Psalm 1 - can we really live happily ever after?

"Do what makes you happy."

"I'm just not happy."

"I just want to find myself."

When we are kids, we enjoy hearing stories that "end happily ever after." But when we grow up, we realize that life isn't often like that. Life is complex. There are good times and bad. There are problems as well as sweet times. There are sorrows along with the joys.

Can anyone really live happily ever after?

Let's look around here in America. It's an experiment in governing, and it's been developing now on this continent for over three hundred years. It was founded on some inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Let's look at the people around us; whether in America, the United Kingdom, or anywhere else on this globe, what do people want out of life? Many will reply, "I want to be happy." But for all of this chasing after happiness, we humans are not doing so well. Some try to find happiness in love and marriage, but we have a divorce rate that says we are not finding happiness there. Couples hope that having a family will bring them happiness, but often their children will cause them more pain than they do pleasure! Others try to find happiness in their career. Or recreational activities. Or alcohol or drugs. Very few would say that they have found lasting happiness.

Even believers struggle with this. We may feel that we are "supposed" to be happy. But if we are honest with ourselves, we may admit that we have times where we are unhappy, and that it frustrates us in our faith walk.

I've been told that I'm a bit simplistic, and that I'm a puzzle because I don't spend a great deal of time thinking about the past. But I can say this: most of the time, I'm a happy girl! I don't mean that I'm never sad. Or that I don't shed tears. But in Jesus, I find contentment. Now, I DON'T mean to boast -- I simply want to point all of us to God's Word, because there is where we find the promise of true happiness . . . . to all who follow what it says. Now, either it's a "happily ever after" fairy tale, or it speaks the truth of how to have real contentment.

I believe in Psalm 1, we find the key: if we want to live happily ever after, we must build our lives on God and His Word. Only God can satisfy us, not things, not relationships if they don't include God. Pleasures and self-centered goals cannot satisfy us, either. True happiness can only come from building our lives on God and obedience to His Word.

Psalm One is such a treasure! 

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. (Psalm 1, NIV)

There's SO MUCH packed into these six verses! Even more than meets the eye! For example, the first verse begins with the word "blessed." In the Hebrew, this is a word of intensity. It's like the author really emphasized the word, as if he said, "Oh, how truly happy is the person...." or maybe he wanted to say, "Oh, the happiness of the person...." The root of the word is a verb that means to go on or to advance. So if we want to advance, or move forward, to the fullest measure of happiness, we need to look further at Psalm 1.

I kinda think that if the writer had done like today, I know what his "subtitle" might have been. You know what I mean; all the books today have a major title emblazoned on the cover, like "Priscilla and her Passions," and then in smaller letters we see a subtitle, like "Why Priscilla Mugglewhump did the things she did." 

The author of Psalm One could have written this subtitle after "Book One, Psalm One" . . . "choices have consequences."

Why do I say that? 

Because he begins by telling us some things that the happy person DOES NOT do. Our happiness (now and in eternity) depends on our choice of one of two ways. We are going to choose one and reject the other, right? The psalmist begins with what we must reject in order to be happy: we won't find happiness or contentment in a life that leaves God out. If we push God out of our lives and reject what we read in His Word, there's no way to find true happiness.

The psalmist shows us three ways that we leave God out of our lives -- and that's where we will begin next time. I hope we will all find time to re-read Psalm One this week as we study. Maybe add it to our Bible study times, ok? See you soon!