Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. I trust in You, my God! Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord Point out the right road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me for You are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in You. Remember O Lord your unfailing love and compassion which you have shown from long ages past. Forgive the rebellious sins of my youth…Archive for Happiness
Happy are those who trust in You
It’s been a real while since I’ve posted anything about my mostly-daily reading of the Bible, but I’m mostly through Psalms when I read at the very end of Psalms 84:
A single day in your courts
is better than a thousand anywhere else!
I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.
For the Lord God is our light and protector.
He gives us grace and glory.
No good thing will the Lord withhold
from those who do what is right.
O Lord Almighty,
happy are those who trust in you.
I’ve struggled over the years on this topic of “happiness”. I can recall years ago at our Ohio church home a message that talked completely on the Beatitudes (wrote about it under the specific application of Controlling your Reactions) and the relationship between when Jesus says “blessed are ____” and how that related to true “happiness”. I understood it then, but it’s become a bit faded in memory. In the Beatitudes, Jesus lays out a few things that if we do, we will be “blessed” (translate=happy):
- poor in spirit
- who mourn
- meek
- hunger and thirst for righteousness
- merciful
- pure in heart
- peacemakers
- persecuted
Well, none of that really say if we trust in God, but I really can’t see myself being merciful or persecuted or hunger and thirst for righteousness, without really trusting in God. What would be the point really in any of it (other than for selfish reasons – i.e pride)?
It’s simple – just trust in God and then you’ll be happy. Right? Of course the ‘concept’ is simple but living it sure isn’t.
Trust God to put my awesome wife Isa first – in time and priority. Date nights, talking about the little things that so easily get skipped. Truly loving her but in time and in actions. Knowing her deeply and intently.
Trust God to put my kids second in my life – and enjoy all the cool little things. Just yesterday my son J and I biked around our cul-de-sac for awhile mainly doing circles. He talked about the ’sharks’ that are where the sewer cover is and they will ‘get us’ but how his bike can fly with wings… just awesome and something so small that I have missed several times thinking it’s no big deal.
Trust God in my finances – I’m not talking for myself about my savings and the stock market but totally know several people that are really wondering what to do. I’m talking about not wanting to give/share sometimes because it doesn’t “fit” with my plan to build an emergency savings fund; I’m talking about skimping whenever I feel we can on buying things.
Yeah I struggle with this on so many fronts; the ones that come to my head in particular are patience (specifically not trusting in God’s timing and just going ahead and doing when it might be better to wait) and finances (goal is to be ‘frugal’ but many times I’m really just being ‘cheap’ at the sacrifice of others… that’s it’s only post for another day). Oh and dedicating my time more for my family (although I am working towards that better than I have recently) than other things no matter if it is “service” for others.
The good thing is that there are others that write about these topics in various ways that help be an encouragement; there are many excellent books in particular on marriage and parenting, not to mention organizations dedicated to this (one of which I am involved with called Peace in the Home and really could use reviewing the large list of resources they’ve identified).
A better thing is that I have guys I can talk to about these things with; to truly encourage me and then come back and ask me later how it’s going. Call it an accountability group, call it a growth group, call it whatever you want – but I’m talking about some other men that you can confide in and strengthen each other. I’m not the best at explaining this – but Tim is when he wrote G-Men.
The great thing is that I can pray to a God and really rely on something beyond myself. I am well and sure that by myself I really suck at all these things like marriage, parenting and finances. Straight jerk because honestly I get selfish quick. You didn’t say thank you, you didn’t listen to me, we need to save, etc., etc. That’s default me. But through God (specifically Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in me) it doesn’t have to be – there can be another way – another ‘me’. But only if I trust God to work in me … and when I do, I really do know that then I AM HAPPY.
Feeding on the Word and “the Good Life”
I have no doubt another translation will put this in words that make more sense to me – maybe “the good life”? …
“He did it to teach you that people need more than bread for their life; real life comes by feeding on every word of the Lord.”
We can easily go by in life with money, friends (even great ones that are there for us for decades) and great times but still be left unfulfilled. Not really happy. This applies to everyone including Christians.
How? Read the word of the Lord (abbreviated: the Bible) a LOT. Yeah daily seems to be a good goal (but boy are the weekend days a challenge to make time for!). Get further understanding about it – maybe a bible study. My church recently talked about this, and mentioned these life journals (read Wayne’s Supernaturally Pure – he posts just about daily with thoughts from his life journal) that aim at providing a guide for reading through the Bible in a more organized manner and with ways to help you write down your daily understandings, how to apply it, etc. I really would like to get one, but feel like maybe I’m not ready yet. Maybe one more round of reading the Bible from start to finish on my own and I will be ready? I don’t think that’s it – the first time I read it, it was hard and I felt I missed a whole lot (but I did skip some stuff that was just hard to read). Second time around I got a much better understanding. I’m on pass #3 right now.
Another thing that jumped out at me in Deuteronomy 8 was the warning of getting comfortable with His good graces in your life:
“But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations and laws… Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you!”
Now this is Moses speaking to the people of Israel right before they enter the Promised Land, but I find it hard not seeing this parallel Christianity and our salvation. Be careful that even after receiving God’s grace through Jesus, to not become proud and disobey His commands! Now I find it really hard for anyone who truly follows Jesus to ALWAYS obey his commands (because we still sin), but the becoming proud part is ringing a bell. How? Well wasn’t it Jesus who said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God, and then love your neighbor? A song called “If We Are The Body” comes to mind from Casting Crowns (this is just the chorus):
But if we are the Body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren’t His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
There is a way
As always, feel free to comment…
10/19/07 UPDATE: Just read an article in Christianity Today (“The Gospel According to Safeway”) comparing the “good life” in the checkout line to the Gospel’s “good life”…. Very different take but still worth reading.
