A Blessed Life (Psalm 1)

My sister has a two-year old apo who greets people with the words, “Happy ka ba?”

Psalm 1 begins with the words, “Blessed is the man..” or as the Good News Bible puts it, “Happy are those…”

We all want to be blessed or happy. “Happiness is that which all seek.” says the great philosopher Aristotle. But what does it take to make a person truly happy? People define and look for happiness in different ways and in different places.

One way is …

THE WAY OF THE UNGODLY

The ungodly people seek happiness through the 4 Ps: prestige, position, power and possessions.

There is nothing wrong in having them. Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus condemn wealth or fame. According to Luke the Gospel writer, in chapter 8, Jesus even had disciples who were influential and of no small means who contributed regularly to his ministry.

What is wrong is when we allow these to have us instead of us having them. When we will do anything to have them even to the point of sacrificing our principles and moral values, then those things already have us.

We are to love God and people and use things. But when we begin to use people and God to get, preserve or perpetuate the things that we love – like the 4 Ps- then those things already have us.

When they become our life’s goal and main source of security, they have already taken the place of God in our life.

And there are those who have made the 4 Ps their god. They have sold their souls to the devil. Consequently, their consciences no longer bother them when they cut corners, when they bribe other people, when they shamelessly ask for bribe and favors in the pursuit of self-aggrandizement.

Sadly, this has reached monstrous proportions in our country so that for 2 consecutive years now in surveys done by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy group (PERC), Philippines has been perceived by the international business community as the most corrupt country in Asia.

The corruption problem is so serious that the Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno could not help but admit the inadequacy of our legal system to control it.

A. What it seems

And those who have been enriching themselves with dirty money seem to be enjoying the best time of their life.

The wicked seem to have it all: Position, power and influence, and possessions.

They are arrogant and they shamelessly flaunt their wealth. Their house is often one of the biggest, if not the biggest, in the neighborhood. They have the latest model of luxury vehicles. They send their children to study in exclusive schools or even in schools abroad. Their families go on tour to other countries every now and then. The best seem to always come their way.

The writer of Psalm 73 made a similar observation. He writes,

I had nearly lost confidence; my faith was almost gone because I was jealous of the proud when I saw that things go well for the wicked. They do not suffer pain; they are strong and healthy. They do not suffer as other people do; they do not have the troubles that others have. And so they wear pride like a necklace and violence like a robe… (2-6, GNB)

We cannot help but ask God the question, “Lord, why do the unrighteous prosper?” That is, if we set our eyes only on the present.

B. What its final end will be

The promise of true happiness through the world’s goods, however, is a lie.

There are many who have taken this route in life and it ends in tragedy. Lee Yoon-hyung appeared to have everything. She was young and beautiful, only 26 years of age. She had social status, being the daughter of billionaire former Samsung Group chief Lee Kun-hee, She was rich in her own right, estimated to be worth US$191 million, mostly from her Samsung shares, She was one of the wealthiest women in South Korea, but she was not happy. She hanged herself at her luxurious Astor Place apartment in Manhattan, New York.[1]

German Billionaire Adolf Merckle, one of the world’s richest, committed suicide because of the prospect of seeing his business empire crumble.[2] Because of wrong investment he slid from an estimated worth of US$12 billion down to US$9 billion. US$9 billion was not enough for Mr. Merckle. Money so consumed his life to the point that he felt it is worth more than his own life.

Biographies of great personalities at the end of their lives often reveal sadness and disillusionment as they face an unknown future if they are not at peace with God. That is sad!

History tells us that dictators and corrupt leaders eventually met their sad and tragic deaths. Adolf Hitler of Germany, Nocolae Ceausescu of Romania, Augusto Pinochet of Chile, and Slobodan Milosovic of Serbia and Yugoslavia, to cite a few.

As the Psalmist says in Psalm 1, Evil people are like straw that the wind blows away (4b)…The evil are on the way to their doom. (6b, GNB)

There is a better way to find true happiness. It is…

II. THE WAY OF THE GODLY

The Psalmist writes,

Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God. (v.1 GNB)

A. What it is not

The godly do not follow the example of the ungodly. The happiness that the godly have is not dependent on the same self-centered and possession-based happiness of the ungodly.

They may be in life’s worst circumstances and still appear to be blessed, contented and joyful.

A fabled king was unhappy and asked a wise man how to find happiness. “Find the happiest person in your kingdom,” the sage advised. “Then borrow his shirt and wear it.”

So the king gave orders to conduct a search throughout his kingdom for the happiest person. Finally, they found a woodcutter who seemed supremely happy.

The men who made the search went back to the king to tell him about their find.

The king was delighted about the news. He then asked, “But where is his shirt?”

His men replied, “Dear King, the man has no shirt.”

What is the godly’s source of joy and happiness?

B. What it is

The Psalmist writes of the godly,

“they find joy in obeying the law of the Lord and they meditate on it day and night.” (v.2)

The NIV Study Bible comments that,

“The godliness spoken of in Psalm 1 is a faithful response to God’s revealed and written directive in life – the path that leads to blessing.” [3]

The Scriptures must ever be our resource for finding how we should live in the light of God’s standards.

Instead of listening to the “counsel of the wicked”, the godly consult God through His written Word. Instead of living sinful lives and following their own will, the godly seek and obey God’s will. All their decisions in life are guided by God through His word, even if it might lead to problems or persecution. The psalmist says the secret of true happiness is a daily experience - "day and night" - of fellowship with God

As a consequence, those who seek to know and obey God’s will and desire for their lives will be blessed. According to the Psalmist, they will be “like trees that grow beside a stream.”

The point the psalmist is making about being "planted by streams of water" is that it is suggestive of God’s full provision for all of life’s needs. Rivers and streams are areas of fertility. In other words, the psalmist assures us that we will be in God’s care.

CONCLUSION

Happiness found in communion with God through His Word is the most fun one can have without necessarily laughing.

It gives a sense of peace and security which the world cannot give and which the world cannot take away.

“Happy ka ba?”

Read more of Rev. Deslate's Sermons at the Ellinwood Malate Church's site.

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[1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-high-life-and-lonely-death-of-lee-yoonhyung-517563.html

[2] http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/topstories/topstories/view/20090107-181887/German-billionaire-commits-suicide

[3] NIV Study Bible, p.787