Psalm 1


Our text is a Psalm that I am sure most of you are quite familiar with.
You've probably heard sermons on it before or spent time studying it. It
really is well known. And yet, as you know, there are depths to the Word
that we will never plumb. So, we take another look at this Psalm but from a
different perspective in the hope of seeing a bit more of what it holds. And
we'll do that by taking a closer look at the first word. There are two
Hebrew words that are translated 'blessed'. There is the one that is used in
the sense of, 'You bless the righteous, O Lord.' [Psalm 5.12] But that isn't
the word in our text. The word that starts our text is elsewhere translated,
'happy'. One of Jacob's sons was named 'Asher' because at his birth his
mother, Leah, said, 'Happy am I! For women have called me happy.' [Genesis
30.13] Asher is 'happy' in Hebrew. That's our word. 'Happy is the man who
walks not...' Our Psalm is about happiness and that's what I want us to
consider this morning, God's desire for your happiness.

The Psalm is about two groups of people: the righteous and the wicked. There
are some things that the two groups have in common and other things that are
different about them. One thing in common is that they both want to be
happy. The is true of everyone. We all want to be happy. And that should be
no surprise. We are all created to be happy. What is different is how we
pursue this goal. According to this Psalm, the righteous are those who
pursue happiness by pursuing Jesus. I can say this from this Psalm because
devotion to God's Law one way or another always brings you to Jesus. Always.
On the other hand, the wicked are those who pursue happiness by any other
means. And so, the wicked are not these repulsive people who do obviously
shameful things. No, the wicked include some very pleasant and, in many
ways, very attractive people. It's just that they pursue happiness by some
means other than pursuing Jesus. It's helpful to remember this as you
interact with various people from day to day. They are all just like you.
They desire to be happy. It's just that most of the people you know go about
it in the wrong way. They do not see that happiness is only found in Jesus.

This points us back to the Garden and Satan's temptation there. What was
going on when he tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit? He was offering them
an alternate way to be happy. There was God's way to happiness, 'Don't eat'
and all the reasons that went with that command, and Satan's way, 'Eat', and
all the reasons that went with that temptation. Two ways to happiness. And
it's been the same down to our own day. So, from one perspective, the heart
of being a Christian boils down to this. 'Jesus, I trust You for my
happiness.' People outside trust something or someone other than Jesus when
it comes to being happy. And so, every time you face a temptation of
whatever sort the key question is simply this: Whom will you trust when it
comes to your hope of happiness? If you will say, 'Jesus, I believe You when
You tell me that You will make me happy. I trust You with my happiness',
then you will refuse to give in to the temptation. On the other hand, you
give in to temptation because you believe Satan's lie. 'You will be happier
if you do this rather than doing what Jesus says in His Law.' Do you see,
then, what is at risk in being a Christian? You risk your happiness by
following Jesus.

Now, consider Abraham when Isaac was to be sacrificed. Bear in mind who
Isaac was: the promised son, the one for whom Abraham had waited for years
and years. Bear in mind the joy and the happiness at his birth. And then God
says, 'Kill him.' When he lifted the knife to plunge it into his son's body
Abraham was putting his happiness at risk in a very concrete way. By his
actions he said, 'I trust you, Jesus, to make me happy.' So, did he choose
wisely? Imagine someone – a stranger to Jesus and the Gospel – watching him.
Pick one of your neighbors. What do you think he would say? 'What in the
world is he doing? Abraham's crazy! That's no way to become happy. It makes
absolutely no sense.' Both Abraham and your neighbor want to be happy. And
yet, as this situation shows, they hold to diametrically opposed ideas on
how to attain that happiness. For the righteous, happiness is attained by
following Jesus and trusting Him in every situation. For the wicked, being
religious is all well and good, and it may even play a part in attaining
happiness, but happiness isn't found by following Jesus in the way that
Abraham did. It just isn't. There is a profound and fundamental difference
between the righteous and the wicked when it comes to this question of how
to be happy. We need to recognize this and beware. Our ideas of happiness
are very different and our notions on how to pursue it are very different. A
question for each of us to ponder is how should that difference show.

This idea of comparing the righteous and the wicked moves us to the little
parable in verse three. 'He is like a tree planted by streams of water that
yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he
does, he prospers. But the wicked are not so.' So, unlike the wicked, the
righteous are like a leaf that is always green. Does that mean he is always
smiling? And that the wicked never do? As I thought about this, I must
admit, it gave me pause. It didn't feel right. My own experience told me
that this isn't the way life happens. Asaph had the same problem. 'Truly God
is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet
had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the
arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.' [Psalm 73:1-3] He, the
righteous one, struggled with the fact that the wicked were happy, happier
than he. That is, 'until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned
their end.' [Psalm 73:17] Asaph learned that you need to interpret the
middle of the story in light of the end. To make this clearer, ask yourself
this question. Whom do you think was happier, Jesus, as He hung on that
cross, slowly dying, or the chief priests who were watching? But then add
this from Asaph's Psalm. Who's happier now? We need to say that at any given
moment, many wicked are smiling and happy while many righteous are filled
with sorrow and grief. [Jesus speaks to this in Luke 6.] So, we need to
understand that little parable in our Psalm in terms of the big picture. We
need to look at the whole life. Does that mean we need to say, 'On balance,
the righteous are happier than the wicked'? Do we add it all up, the happy
times and the sad times, and say that for us the happy times outweigh the
sad? No! It's much better than that. You need to see that even the sadness
we experience is actually part of the process of making us a happy people. I
refer once again to the profound bit of Scripture in Hebrews. 'Although he
was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.' [Hebrews 5:8]
From one vantage point, the suffering Jesus endured throughout His life was
wrong, evil and worthy of being crushed. But from another perspective that
evil was sent to Him from the Father to do Him good, to make Him happier.
You need to see the evil that dogs your steps every day within the larger
context of God's plan for your life. This makes no sense to the outsider.
'How can someone say that God is doing good when something terrible has just
happened to him?' They don't get it and actually can't get it. But we can
get it because we have already said, 'Jesus, I trust You for my happiness.'

I've left for the end something that you would have thought fit better at
the beginning: a definition of happiness. What does it mean to be happy?
Here, I want to employ a theme from Scripture. It's the theme of
satisfaction. Listen to yet another Psalm. 'Let them thank Yahweh for his
steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! For he
satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.'
[Psalm 107:8-9] We all – you, your extended family, your neighbors and
co-workers and the person on the other side of the globe you've never met –
we all are hungry souls. We have a deep hunger. And we long to be satisfied,
deeply. That is the goal. That is what happiness is all about: being
satisfied deeply within, not with some passing something but rather with a
satisfaction that lasts. But what do those outside do in response to this
deep hunger? Listen to Isaiah. 'Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the
waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which
is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?' [Isaiah
55:1-2] Your neighbors are as hungry as you are. Yet they pursue what will
not satisfy. Only Jesus satisfies. His miracles were acted out parables with
lessons about the Gospel. Listen to the tail end of the feeding of the five
thousand. 'And they all ate and were satisfied.' [Mark 6:42] That's talking
about more than having a full belly. Jesus satisfies. Only Jesus satisfies.
You – and your neighbor – will gain happiness, real satisfaction, being
filled with good things like love, joy and peace, only by pursuing Jesus.

I have three closing thoughts. If you understand this, then you are able to
understand the people around you. They are all trying to be happy. You
might think that they are going about it all wrong. But remember, they think
the same about you, as you follow Jesus. But if you can understand this
about them, then you can sympathize with them. They are hungry and want to
be filled – just like you. But they will never be happy unless they are
satisfied by Jesus. Secondly, consider your own soul. There are times when
you are fooled by the evil one to choose his alternative plan for a happy
life. You need to fight that. Remember that he is a liar and has been from
the beginning. As an aid, remind yourself over and over that his plan will
not satisfy, not really. What he offers is what the Bible calls the fleeting
pleasures of sin. And as you remind yourself of that, pursue Jesus all the
more. As you do that, you will find that real satisfaction is found in Him.
Last thought. Complete happiness will not happen here, so don't expect it
here. Complete happiness will occur only when Jesus comes back for us. But
consider what that will mean. No more hunger. Your soul will be full. You
will be fully satisfied because of Jesus. That is something worth striving
for.