Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
God's Prescription for Happiness
Psalm 1:1–3
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
In most instances I like to leave myself a little theological wiggle room, a loophole, if you will, a measure of flexibility that affords me the opportunity of qualifying some statement that I've made. In fact, it's often the failure to provide nuance and clarification to our declarations that gets us in trouble or boxes us in to a position that on more mature reflection clearly calls for less inflammatory language or more charity to those who might take a different stance.
I say this only to prepare you for something Jonathan Edwards declared in a remarkable sermon entitled, "Nothing upon Earth Can Represent the Glories of Heaven." It is utterly lacking in nuance. Its boldness is breathtaking and its ramifications are profound. And it provides a perfect introduction to our series of meditations on selected psalms. Said Edwards, "God created man for nothing else but happiness. He created him only that he might communicate happiness to him."
Would you have preferred that he not say "nothing else" but happiness? Or would it have been easier to swallow had he chosen a word other than "only"? Well, that's Edwards for you.
I'm convinced that once we understand what Edwards meant by "happiness" and how our experience of it relates to the glory of God, objections will cease. By "happiness" Edwards didn't mean giddiness or frivolity or fame or fortune. Few of the things that constitute happiness for people today were in view when Edwards wrote and preached this sermon.
Let me define the term by appealing to what I wrote in chapter 1 of my book One Thing.
When I speak of human happiness I'm not talking about physical comfort or a six-figure salary or emotional stability or the absence of conflict or sexual gratification or any such earthly or temporal achievement. That's not to say such things are inherently wrong. In their proper place they may well be expressions of divine benevolence. But we greatly err if they become foundational to human happiness. We should be grateful for them, but happiness is still within our grasp despite their absence.
The happiness for which we are eternally destined is a state of soul in which we experience and express optimum ecstasy in God. Happiness is the whole soul resting in God and rejoicing that so beautiful and glorious a Being is ours. Happiness, as John Piper says, is the privilege of being enabled by God's grace to enjoy making much of him forever. I'm talking about the ineffable and unending pleasure of blissful union with and the joyful celebration of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is a joy of such transcendent quality that no persecution or pain or deprivation can diminish, nor wealth or success or prosperity can enhance. It's what Paul had in mind in Philippians 4:11 when he spoke of a satisfaction in Christ that was beyond the reach of either adversity or abundance.
In another of Edwards's sermons (actually, the first formal sermon he ever preached), he put it this way:
The pleasures of loving and obeying, loving and adoring, blessing and praising the Infinite Being, the Best of Beings, the Eternal Jehovah; the pleasures of trusting in Jesus Christ, in contemplating his beau-ties, excellencies, and glories; in contemplating his love to mankind and to us, in contemplating his infinite goodness and astonishing loving-kindness; the pleasures of [the] communion of the Holy Ghost in conversing with God, the maker and governor of the world; the pleasure that results from the doing of our duty, in acting worthily and excellently; ... these are the pleasures that are worthy of so noble a creature as a man is.
I've gone to the trouble of making this point because I believe this is what the psalmist had in mind when he wrote of being "blessed" (Ps. 1:1a), a word that occurs twenty-six times in the Psalter. In fact, Psalm 1 begins with the word blessed and God's prescription for its attainment.
Believe it or not, happiness or blessedness can be found in some-thing negative! There is joy in saying no. But to whom or what do we respond with a resolute no? According to the psalmist, it is to the counsel of the wicked (a reference to what we believe), the way of sinners (a reference to the way we behave), and the seat of scoffers (a reference to the place we belong).
The psalmist speaks of the "counsel" of the wicked, not of their "error" or "falsehood." "The wicked" are often careful to cast their system of thought and their advice for life in ways that initially appear wise and coherent. But there is a fundamental flaw in their thinking, and their values are warped. Happiness is contingent, therefore, on discernment.
Sinners have a "way" that, again, often appears clever and insightful on first glance. Rarely do the wicked exert an influence by taking on the overt barbarism of a Jeffrey Dahmer or a Saddam Hussein. More often they are quietly pragmatic in their methods, morally slippery in their lifestyle, and cool rather than openly resistant toward any notion of biblical authority.
Yes, there are those who are more explicit and unashamed in their denial of the faith. These are the "scoffers," the "mockers," seen most recently in the brazen atheism of Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion; and Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation.
The psalmist is not suggesting that we cease to engage "the wicked" in dialogue, far less that we decline to pray for their conversion. But beware of too close association with such folk. Be wary of lingering long in their presence. Don't be a party to their parties.
But simply saying no to the ways of this world is only half the prescription for happiness, and not even the better half. When our no stands alone and isolated, our resolve to rejoice in God will gradually erode under the incessant force of temptation and trial. God's prescription for our happiness, to his glory, is dependent on a yes to the beauty and splendor of his Word.
We can't afford to stop with detesting the ways of the world. We must "delight" in the "law of the Lord"! Refusing to eat the food of folly and wickedness will not in itself fill our spiritual bellies. We need the meat of God's Word, the balanced diet of the whole counsel of God. That feast awaits us in the next meditation.
CHAPTER 2
Read to Rejoice
Psalm 1:1–3
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
While in England in February 2007, I had the privilege of speaking yet again at the Life in the Spirit conference. During one of the messages given by fellow speaker Dave Smith, he made passing reference to my book Pleasures Evermore, and articulated in a most refreshing and poignant way its principal theme. "When it comes to living a successful Christian life," said Dave, "and resisting the power of temptation, simply saying 'No! No! No!' won't suffice. We must learn to say 'Oh! Oh! Oh!'"
I like that. His point was that, by itself, fear has limited capacity to deter our hearts from sin. To it must be added fascination. Resisting is empowered by rejoicing. By all means detest the ugly and revolting and destructive elements in life. But by what means? Delight!
Make no mistake: we need to be warned. But we must first be wooed. Fear drives us, but fascination draws us. The psalmist's strategy for blessedness is not mere avoidance but allurement.
I don't want you to miss this, so look again at Psalm 1:1–3. De-light, not mere duty, should characterize our study of God's Word. Reading the law of God is for the purpose of rejoicing in what is read.
This is a stretch for many Christians. They've grown up thinking and being taught that there is an inescapable tension, if not contradiction, between pleasure and principles, between rejoicing and rules. It comes as nothing short of a jolt to read of delighting in the law of God. God's law, or revealed instruction, has often been viewed as oppressive, restrictive, and burdensome, hardly the sort of thing to evoke joy or excitement.
This will always be the case until we understand the motive of the Lawgiver. What did God have in mind when he put his Word in the mouth of his prophets? To what did God aspire when he moved to inspire the biblical authors? Did he take note of what brings great-est joy to the human heart and then stir Moses, for example, to say no? Off limits! Out of bounds!
Would it surprise you to discover that God's primary agenda in the giving of his law is your optimal and most durable delight? God's strategy in disclosing his will and ways, whether in the form of rules, prohibitions, commandments, or exhortations isn't to muzzle human joy but to maximize it.
The precepts and principles of his Word, even those in the Pentateuch, which is probably what the psalmist had in mind with his use of the word "law," are designed to guard us from anything that might dull our spiritual senses and thus inhibit us from seeing and savoring the sweetness of God's glory. In other words, when God prohibits or prescribes, dictates or directs, it is always with a view to enhancing our highest and most satisfying enjoyment of him.
God wants nothing more than to heighten and sharpen our sensible awareness of his revelation of himself. And he knows what we don't, namely, that sin anesthetizes our souls and renders us dull and numb to his presence. Every commandment in Scripture, every precept, every prohibition or principle is lovingly designed to lead us away from what otherwise might spoil our appetite for God.
Is it unsettling for you to hear the words of the psalmist: "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth" (Ps. 119:103)? Sweet, not sour. God's words taste good! If there is any initial pain in embracing the dictates of God's law, do so with a view to interminable pleasure. Whatever short-term sacrifice one makes must always be with a view to the increase and intensification of long-term, indeed eternal and heavenly, reward.
Be it noted that the psalmist is far from advocating a study of the biblical text as an end in itself. We delight in the law of the Lord because that is how we get God. We do not worship pen or parchment. Ink on a page is not our aim but the God who inspired it. We read it because it tells us of him. We study words because they show us the Word. When we read the stories and hear the poetry and tremble at his truth, the Spirit awakens us to the beauty of their author and deepens our experience of his love and kindness and power and goodness.
But merely possessing the Word of God accomplishes nothing. We must meditate upon it, not momentarily or fitfully, but day and night. The point is, according to Jonathan Edwards, that we must "endeavor to increase spiritual appetites by meditating on spiritual objects." When we surrender our minds to base and sordid things their grip on our lives is intensified. There's no way to decrease our affinity for sinful pleasure apart from a concentrated fixation on the spiritually sublime.
God's Word is a powerful and life-giving antidote to the spiritual infection caused by sin. But merely affirming that to be true heals no one. More is needed than merely defending God's Word as worthy of our affection. We must actually "think" (Phil. 4:8) about it, ponder it, pore over it, and become vulnerable to the power God has invested in his revelation to transform our values and feelings and to energize our wills.
We must "store up" or "treasure" God's Word in our hearts if it is to exert its power in keeping us from sin (Ps. 119:11). When this happens the Holy Spirit enables our souls to believe and behave in conformity with its dictates.
A passing glance at God's Word will hardly suffice. Day-and-night meditation is called for. We meditate when we slowly read, prayerfully imbibe, and humbly rely upon what God has revealed to us in the Scriptures. Meditation, then, is being attentive to God through conscious, continuous engagement of the mind with his revealed Word.
The psalmist has narrowed our options to two. Either we find satisfaction in the truth of God's law, trusting the power of his Word to make known his person, or we heed the counsel of the wicked and walk in their ways. The former yields a fruitful, enduring, and prosperous life (vv. 2–3). The latter suffers the fate of chaff that is blown in the wind (vv. 4–6).
CHAPTER 3
The Lifter of My Head
Psalm 3:3
But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,
Absalom was David's third son. His second son, Chileab, is never mentioned after reference to his birth, and the assumption is that he died early on. David's firstborn son was Amnon. The story of how Amnon died is a sordid one.
Amnon raped his half-sister, Tamar, and Absalom, Tamar's brother, swore revenge. It took two years but finally Absalom arranged for Amnon to be killed. Fearing punishment, Absalom went into exile for three years. When he finally returned to Jerusalem, David refused to see him. Two more years passed before David and his son were reunited, although even then they weren't reconciled.
Absalom's plot to take the throne from his father probably emerged gradually. He began by currying favor with the people (2 Sam. 15:1–6). He portrayed himself as one who was interested in people by telling them he was far more capable of helping them with their troubles and securing justice for their complaints than was David. According to 2 Samuel 15:6, "Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel."
Once Absalom felt secure in his position, he made his move. He went to Hebron, assembled his followers, and had himself anointed king (2 Sam. 15:7–12). With a considerable army behind him, he marched against his father in Jerusalem and forced David to flee (2 Sam. 15:13–17). Following a shameful period of absence from his throne, the armies of David eventually prevailed. Absalom was killed, contrary to his father's express wishes, serving only to intensify the latter's pain.
What an amazing scene: David, driven from his throne, subjected to indescribable humiliation, not by a pagan Gentile king but by his own son! Absalom's treachery and rebellion must have crushed David's heart. Here is the important point: it was while David was fleeing the armies of Absalom, broken by the spiteful betrayal of his own child, that he sat down and wrote the words of Psalm 3.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "More Precious Than Gold"
by .
Copyright © 2008 Enjoying God Ministries.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
