The Happy Life

Scripture Reading

Psalm 146:5-10

Message Audio

 

Message Text

What is the happy life?  At the end of the day, we are all pursuing a happy life, are we not?  We all want to be happy.

There are many things that make us feel happy in that moment:

• Getting a nice gift from someone
• Someone says something nice to you
• You get a good mark on a test
• When a guy or girl that you like says hi to you

These things make us feel good.  But they are temporary.  In today’s passage, when the author says “happy”, he is talking about joy.  Joy is underlying state of being content and fulfilled in life, even though there will be moments when life is hard, not happy and difficult.

V.5: Happy (joyful) are those whose help is in the God of Jacob, and whose help is in the Lord their God.  There are two elements here of joyful people:

1. Those whose help is the God of Jacob
2. Those whose hope is in the Lord their God

So I have a question for you:

• What helps you in your times of difficulty?
• What do you put your hope in to get you through those difficult moments?

This stage of your life can be difficult.  You’re going through so many changes.  Your body is and has been changing a lot, your hormones are changing, and your personalities have been affected and changed.  All of these changes cause many emotional ups and downs as well.  One day you can be very hopeful and optimistic about things, the next day you can be very down and depressed.

The teenage years are when a lot of depression starts to hit.  You look on life and see the things that are bad, not good and dreary.

So where does your help come from?

For some of us, friends are a good source of support.  If you have some good and trusted friends, then you’re fortunate.  But even friends are not always reliable.  You may have experienced that.  Because your peers are also going through so many of these changes in life, maybe they’ve also changed and their personalities are different from when you became friends.

Some of us may turn to diversions to get our minds off of things: a lot of guys play video games, or play sports.  Girls may turn to books, social media and other things like that.  

What do we put our hope in to get us through difficult moments?

Some of us turn to getting good marks in school, getting into a good program in the future and establishing a successful career.  Some of us seek respect, admiration and acknowledgement as a motivation to drive us.  

What is the common thread from these things that we turn to?  They are all temporary and conditional.  These things we turn to may be here today and gone tomorrow.  

Is that really a solid way to find help and hope?  Isn’t it much better to find help and place our hope in something much more solid?  

This something solid is God.  God is eternal, God is ever faithful, God is always there for us.  God is someone we can place our hope in at all times, for all of eternity.

We find our help in God and we place our hope in God.  

The psalmist describes the nature and character of God in today’s passage.

God is the real deal: He’s the one made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them.  God is the source of all life and all things.  He is our Creator and our Father and Mother.  

But not only that, God is faithful.  If we reach out to God, we may not hear Him at first, or God may seem distant, but if we trust God, God is ever faithful, and in His own time, in His own way, He will provide comfort and direction for us.  This is the God we praise and the God we worship. 

But there’s more: God is a caring and compassionate God.  God brings justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.  God cares about suffering in this world.  If we are going through difficult moments, God cares and God’s heart grieves and breaks with us.  

God lifts up those who are bowed down.  This is such a moving statement for me.  God loves those who are humble in heart.  God does not want us to be strong and have everything together before Him.  No, God desires a humble and contrite heart – a broken heart.  That means we come before God with all of our heartaches, our worries, our fears, our disappointments.  God takes all that in.  God loves us in spite of our brokenness.  Isn’t that a wonderful God that we worship?  A merciful God, a God who loves us unconditionally.

My friends, I want you to remember this as you go through each day.  We are always being told that we are not good enough, or that only when you achieve this are you okay.  And we bring that attitude to God.  Only if I’m “good” enough will God love me.  Well, God doesn’t work that way.  God wants us to be real before Him.  To come just as we are so that He can tell us that He loves us.

It’s interesting how this passage was chosen during the Christmas season.  During this Advent season, we wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus.  Jesus was the coming into the world of God through history.  

Jesus demonstrated God’s will here on earth.  Jesus lived a life of compassion, of seeking out the lost, the broken and the outcast.  He displayed his humility all the way to the cross. As we wait on Jesus, we are called to place our hope in this God.  

As the year draws to a close, let us reflect on our lives right now.  Let us think on the difficult moments we’ve had, and where we’ve found our hope.  Let us ask God to come into our hearts and guide us through each moment in our lives.