Jump Start # 3772
Psalms 128:1 How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.”
I look at this Psalm as a “happy Psalm.” So many of the Psalms deal with troubles, fear, loneliness and enemies. The cry for help. Dealing with God’s silence. Fighting fears from enemies. Those become the themes of many of the Psalms. One can get the impression that people rarely smiled back then. How difficult the journey of faith was for them.
But, then we have wonderful little Psalms like what we find today. My “Happy Psalm.” It speaks of eating from the fruit of your hand. Your wife is a fruitful vine. Your children are like olive plants. You will be happy and it will be well with you, shouts the second verse. It ends with, ‘may you see our children’s children,’ or grandkids, as we call them. Six verses. Six sentences. Just a handful of words. But, what a pleasant spirit and thankful heart and rejoicing attitude it shows us.
Here are some things for us to consider:
First, fearing the Lord bookmarks this Psalm. Found, first in verse one, and then again in verse 4, fear the Lord is the basis and the reason why this person found joy and thankfulness in his heart. It wasn’t that he was prosperous, his kids were healthy and life was good. Those things without the Lord, leads to selfishness and arrogance. But a life made in the fear of the Lord, recognizes that every avenue of life is molded, guided and shaped by the Lord. Life is good because of the Lord.
Don’t miss this. Many are looking for a good life. They view such as being trouble free, or pain free. They see the good life as having few responsibilities and the freedom to do whatever one wishes. Sleep in until ten in the morning, travel the world, shop until you drop, fun, fun, fun, that’s how many frame the good life. Not here. In this Psalm, it’s centered around the Lord. So we can expect such a person to be worshipping the Lord, not just once in a while, but all the time. We can expect such a person to be obedient to God’s word. We expect such a person to be prayerful, kind and generous. You just know, around that house, that the Lord was talked about all the time. Those children, that are likened to olive plants, knew about the Lord.
Second, it’s ok to be happy. Things do not always have to be bad, wrong, broken or messed up. The gloomy faces that many Christians carry makes one wonder if God is not right or they are not right. Of all people on this planet, the child of God ought to be the happiest, most eager, and most optimistic. And, we preachers do well to think about this. So often we are always looking at things that could be better. Talking about things that are wrong. Talking about how to step up our game and make improvements. One can get the impression that we are never satisfied and never happy.
You will be happy—what a wonderful reminder to all of us, including this writer. And, we don’t have to apologize for being happy, nor be ashamed because we are happy. It’s rather inconsistent to sing, “I’m happy today,” when we have a frown on our faces and gloom in our hearts. Because someone else is not happy, does not mean that I must be sad like they are.
There is a Biblical difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is based upon my surroundings. It is defined by what “happens.” Joy is much deeper and longer lasting. Joy comes from knowing the Lord. We can tell ourselves that we have joy, while hiding behind an excuse to not be happy. I have joy but I am not happy, sure seems odd in my book of thinking. Our verse says, You will be happy.
Third, happiness spreads. I have a staring game I play with my grandkids. We get our faces real close to each other and just look at each other. The first one to smile loses. Most of them can’t last two seconds without smiling. But we all smile and laugh together. It’s hard to beat a smiling face and a hand extended to welcome you on a Sunday morning. But, frowns also tend to spread. Bitterness spreads between people and others pick up on it and share it with others.
Don’t you think that our Psalmist from our passage today had things that bothered him? Do you think he had worries? Do you think he and his wife always were on the same page about things? Do you think, as a parent, he ever fussed with his kids? Certainly. All of those things. That’s life. That’s the way it is. But, those things do not have to define us, enclose us and limit us. Happy, even with those things going on. Happy, knowing that the Lord is the One that we love. Happy and thankful.
A little boy was standing on a pew one Sunday morning, looking at the people behind him. He was smiling and waving at the people. His mother saw that, and pulled him down and slapped his little leg. With tears rolling down his cheeks, his mother said, “Now, that’s the way we are to be in church.” Really? Given the choice, I’d take the smiling, waving little boy who seemed so happy. Maybe it’s us adults who need to learn a lesson from the little ones.
I was glad when they said let us go to the house of the Lord, Psalms 122 begins. Maybe what we need are more smiles and less finger pointing. More smiles and less whispering. More smiles that reflect hearts that are happy to be with the Lord.
Happy in the Lord. I hope you are…
Roger