How to be Happy

Psalm 84 (NIV)

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty!

2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God.

4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.

8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob.

9 Look on our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.

10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

12 Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.

Introduction

Do you know what one of the most effective scam is today? You’ve won a prize. And we can’t wait for you to claim it. Or you’re in big trouble, pay up.

Who remembers the phone calls that would tell you that you’ve won a cruise? I remember that on my landline phone and I still get those on my iPhone.

Do you know why they did that? Because people wanted to go on a cruise. Or fear of punishment.

Interesting dynamic, promise of reward or fear of punishment. What powerful psychological realities to prey upon.

Do you know that this Psalm sounds strangely familiar? Happy or blessed are those who trust in you? That sounds great. I want to be happy but when does reality hit? When does the facade fade? Look at our building, this is built on the promise that a man who was killed by a culture who were experts at killing people is alive and that it’s good news for you. The building is here. Is your joy about that good news here?

There is an almost 80-year-old Harvard study that followed 268 students during the great depression that wanted to see if there were clues to leading healthy and happy lives. And as one article says, they got more than they wanted. JFK himself was one of these 268, only about 19 of the original participants are still alive today. Want to know what they found? They found that the role of genetics and long-lived family members proved less important to longevity than the level of satisfaction with relationships, specifically in midlife. Here’s the good news. Even for people who started their lives as train wrecks (unfortunate external circumstances, addictions, depression) was not set in stone. And those who seemingly started off with everything to succeed could be unrailed by those same influences. Why do we wander looking for joy? This Psalm may have something for us.

Background of the Text

The Psalms are the ancient prayer & song book of followers of God. Jesus prayed these Psalms. He would have had most if not all 150 memorized.

The worship team who wrote this Psalm were called the Sons of Korah. Not a great band name.

· The sons of Korah - a re writing of the story

• Rebelled against Moses. Were trying to climb the ladder culturally and complained that Moses of all people was in leadership, and wanted to be part of the priesthood. They desired greater glory for themselves.

• Now they honour and hunger for the God who lives there

• Korah’s name means “little bald-head” haha. My people.

• They were the ushers of the temple.

• CSB Study Bible: Notes (Psalm 42): the Korahites were the gatekeepers in the temple. In 2Ch 20:19 they stood up in the congregation of Israel and praised the Lord. Most scholars believe they became associated with musicians (perhaps a group of singers) who were involved in the worship of the Lord.

After coming from a guy who wanted the glory himself, now his descendants hungered for the glory of God. A beautiful rewriting of a story.

*On the “Selah” that you see in Psalms.

“The Sela indicates that one must be still and quickly think through the words of the Psalm; for they demand a quiet and restful soul, which can grasp and hold to that which the Holy Spirit there presents and offers” (Luther).

• Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible (p. 24). Broadleaf Books. Kindle Edition.

In Psalm 84the psalmist longs for God’s temple (see Ps 42) but at the conclusion of the psalm clarifies that the temple is only a token of God. He/they longs for God, because God alone can give his people favor and honor (v.11).

• VanGemeren, Willem A.. Psalms (The Expositor's Bible Commentary) (p. 633). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.

This Psalmist seems to experience a joy, happiness in God that has transcended millennia and all of us in he 21st, door dashed century cannot seem to find as easily.

The Upsetting of our Joy Equilibrium

There is a deficiency in Joy that seems to leave the soul parched. And that may be because of our worship of ourselves.

I am tired of not finding joy in the things that have promised me joy and have not delivered.

• Social media

• Social media

• Amazon prime days

• Money (Canadians, generally speaking, are some of the wealthiest people in the world)

• Doordash

• Having my wants met

Why is there skepticism that slowly creeps up in my soul when I read about people being happy trusting God. And my times in church and in around God’s people have at times created the most painful experiences in my and our life. “church hurt”

Why am I not joyful? Why aren’t we finding this promised joy and happiness in God like people seem to in the bible, books, blogs and sermons?

• Because, like Korah, we are people cultivated to the seeking out the glory for ourselves.

God is the hero of this song. We’re the hero of ours. And the writer physically yearns for him because he’s better than their reality and maybe even our fantasized reality, so they want to be near to him because he is life.

The hope of the people writing/singing/praying this is: the presence & proximity of God to those who follow him and the resulting blessings of happiness, joy. Why?

• The reason for this blessedness lies in God’s protection, rewards, and blessing to those who are wise, “those whose walk is blameless” (v.11). As God’s blessing was not limited to the temple courts, the blessing on those “who dwell” in the house of the Lord may well be extended to all who do the will of God. They dwell in his presence, wherever they may live.

• VanGemeren, Willem A.. Psalms (The Expositor's Bible Commentary) (p. 634). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.

• It must be noted however, that these blessings or happy people have then decided to surrender one’s life to God and only thus doing so have experienced this blessing or happiness. (Hebrew Dictionary: to consider or call fortunate or happy)

This hunger is both a now and in the future. where we are temples of God’s spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) and the hope of life is Christ in us (Colossians 1:27). Do not live on bread alone (Deuteronomy 8:3/ Matthew 4:4) (follow your passions and desires).

For those who are not in a place of experiencing, feeling, knowing that they are blessed, God will make the valleys new. Where darkness seems to be the overarching theme of a life, it’s not the strongest power in the world. The Light is.

Though the psalmist desperately hungers for the temple where the manifest presence of God was and it could be a visible sign of hope. The human heart hungers for the garden where intimacy between God and human was unbroken. And we are not there, though we are on the other side of the cross of Christ than this Psalmist and we have God in us (closer than anything else could be), we hunger for unbroken intimacy when we’ve experienced it.

The Gap between this Psalm and our reality

The goal of our time together is to find our way from a Psalmist’s experience of separation from the manifest presence of God because of what’s going on around them to a Calgarian/Canadians search desperately or frantically for God in a busy, distracted world because of a joyless soul. When the decisions, conditions and circumstances of our lives push us to the edge of our humanness, we find that the foundation we thought was sturdy (more often than not ourselves) offers no adequate base for the life we can, want to or need to live. The Psalms are also a brilliant way of finding our way there.

Let’s attempt to find joy.

Can we solve this in one sit down, absolutely not. Can Jesus do so with one encounter? Wonderfully, yes. My thought though is that in this issue, Jesus isn’t the problem in this conundrum. We are.

Why do we worship ourselves? Is it natural for us to do this? Are we nurtured into this? Yes. Because self-worship is somewhat lucrative for companies, and we have the unfortunate disposition to meeting our wants and needs.

- Story to illustrate: Justifying our existence.

Jayson Tatum in the Olympics:

“Definitely a humbling experience, right?” Tatum said. “Win a championship, new contract, cover of (NBA) 2K (video game) and then you sit a whole game. Cover of Sports Illustrated. So it was definitely a humbling experience.”

*the pilgrimage imagery

Disclosing the clue to resolution

If we exhaust our options of joy, where then do we go?

Perhaps, like Korah and his dysfunctional family, there is a rewriting of our story.

Maybe it means our eyes need to shifting off of us?

- Creation/Fall/Redemption/New creation

Experiencing the Gospel

What if we don’t need to justify our existence anymore? That we don’t need to worship us or anyone else for that matter at the fear of displeasing ourselves or others that will lead to a social, emotional death of some kind.

Joy is found because we discover that we are loved.

Look what Jesus says:

As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. (John 15:11)

How to be happy (The Resolution)

Here’s the beauty of the Psalms that are so good for our situation, whether reading, singing or praying: they are not for the faint of heart. The speech of the Psalms is “abrasive, revolutionary, and dangerous. It announces that life is not like that that our common experience is not one of well-being and equilibrium, but a churning, disruptive experience of dislocation and relocation” (Walter Brueggemann, Praying the Psalms)

The Psalms offer speech when life has gone beyond our frail efforts to control. (Walter Brueggemann, Praying the Psalms)

Fear of the Lord: equivalent with being filled with the Spirit (Keller), they both take people “out of themselves” [demolishes selfishness]. Don’t love ourselves (Romans 15). But dive deeply, no, overwhelmingly into Jesus’s teaching and life and work. That would be to have the Gospel dwell richly in our hearts (Colossians 3:16).

Why write this? Because this person found their or the happy place. And it’s better than anywhere. Oh that this person could have seen Jesus. Who could have been told what was coming.

Meeting with God

The rewriting of a history so as to no longer affect the present . Intimacy with God - Broken - Intimacy with God (Tabernacle/Temple/individuals) - broken (rebellion) - Intimacy with God (Jesus) - we are the temple (1 Corinthians 6:19).

• “God can be sought and found everywhere”

Making the Trade

Can we trade the worship we have for ourselves and give that to God?

That would be to change the love which currently sits on the throne of our hearts. Or at very least, challenges for the throne. As Thomas Chalmers would say: trade an old affection for a new one. And, he continues, the only way to disposes an old affection is the expulsive power of a new one.

I think I may be starting to understand: I must send my old love away if there is to be room for a new love. But that is a painful love as I am quite committed to my old love (self). But to know that this old love is, and perhaps always has been, a mistress from the one my heart was made for.

How do you be happy?

• Happy/blessed are:

• Who are close to you (v4)

• Who trust you (through/by seeking) (v5)

• Whose hearts are pursuing you(pilgrimage) (v5)

• Who walk in integrity (v11)

• Who relies on you (v12)

Antitheses:

• Who are close to you (v4) - who have created their own world based on their passions

• Who trust you (through/by seeking) (v5) - who finds their own strength in themselves

• Whose hearts are pursuing you (pilgrimage) (v5) - who is on a pilgrimage to discover the good life based on how they feel when they get there

• The valley of Baca - Tears or weeping. A rewriting of the inhospitable valley into a valley of refreshment and joy

• Who walk in integrity (v11) - who walks according to the metric of their passions

• Who relies on you (v12) - who trusts themselves

We want to systematize the process towards happiness. Or at very least, it would be far easier to have a step by step.

What does this passage say to the reader? How does a prayer impact the one praying? What does this say about someone’s knowledge of God . Is the end to be like the one praying? Or is it a glimpse into what can and could be. And who He is: A sun and shield, he bestows favour and honour and withholds no good thing to those who follow him. (v11)

• The “sun” is symbolic of the era of restoration (cf. Isa 60:19; Mal 4:2), which is more usually referred to by the words “light” and “brightness” (cf. Isa 60:1, 3). The Lord bestows “favor and honor” as expressions of his blessing. Favor is his expression of grace by which he draws near to his own and even shares his glory with them. The effect of his fellowship is that he will shower all his “goodness” (ṭôb, GK 3202; see 23:6; cf. Ex 33:19) on those who walk in a “blameless” (tāmîm, GK 9459; see 15:2) manner.

• Being blameless “is not synonymous with “perfect” but with an attitude of the heart that desires to please God” (cf. 18:24; 101:2, 6; 119:1; Mt 5:48; Eph 1:4; Col 1:22).

• Regardless of what God requires, the blameless person does God’s will on earth. Such an individual is blessed (happy) by the Lord (84:11-12).

For the beginner:

• Repentance: Metanoia, the Greek word for repentance, means a complete change in our thinking. It is not about feeling miserable about our faults, or beating ourselves up for past wrongs, or putting ourselves down. It may involve feeling remorse for some of what we have done, but it is never about earning God’s love, or deserving God’s forgiveness, or meriting God’s favor. True repentance involves something altogether different—a complete turnaround of our minds and lives, one that leads us in a new direction. (Hudson, Trevor; Seeking God)

• Consider this brief description of repentance: rerouting our lives, on the basis that there is another kind of life available to us in Christ, and taking practical steps to enter and grow in this divine life. (Hudson, Trevor; Seeking God)

Or, as Dallas Willard explained, to repent is to “review your plans for living and base your life on this remarkable new opportunity.”

• Repentance leads, not to a morbid preoccupation with ourselves, or to constantly beat ourselves up, if that’s the case then we’re doing it wrong. It frees us from self-preoccupation and restores our worth because we trust that God’s goodness and love is always bigger than our sin.

• And don’t forget, this is free (forgiveness). When we forget the freeness of grace, the purpose of our repentance becomes the appeasement of God. to forget the costliness of forgiveness will result in a superficial, perfunctory confession that does not lead to any real change of heart. (Tim Keller, Prayer)

The first step, and many subsequent steps, is through the doorway of repentance.

Jesus tells us to do this and honestly, if we’re being brutally honest, maybe we ask why should I?”

My brain goes to the alternative life. Directed and responsive to my own passions. Which on the surface, any NYT bestselling author would go: good for you! You’re getting it! But personally, even though actions may say otherwise at times, I don’t find myself as lord to be a good god. My passions lead me to places that may be good, but unsustainable or will not completely meet the need of my soul when I get there. And, in fact, the difference is not physical location, job, school etc. But the ability to thrive as a human being in those spaces. And when I am god, I am not thriving. I wake up feeling hungover after doom scrolling after the hours of 9pm. I sacrifice my family on the altar of MY life. And I just don’t love others. Because as soon as someone hurts me, or at bare minimum, inconveniences my schedule or plan for the day. My response is not love. But silent slandering and distancing. I do not like the alternative. Repentance is the door way into the happy, blessed, joyful life because instead of the cost of others for my own benefit, it cost Christ so that I too may discover the wonder of self-giving love, so that at worst, the lives in my circle might experience a better life, and at best, experience the wonder of the source of the love in Christ Jesus and in turn learn to give their lives away.

Look what Jesus says:

As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. (John 15:11)

The answer might be too simple: what does God want? Do we want that? It seems to be the best way. Biblically, this seems to be the best way. And I think anyone who’s gone to Sunday school might now this. Experientially, this maybe the battleground of our affections.

For those who might want to venture deeper into this, I would give two resources: three, if you include the wisdom literature (Ps, Pr, Eccl, Lamen), Seeking God by Trevor Hudson and Victor Frankl’s

A prayer of Ignatius: that we believe now or hope to believe soon.

“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and all my will - all that I have and possess. You, Lord, have given all that to me. I now give it back to you, O Lord. All of it is yours. Dispose of it according to your will. Give me love of yourself along with grace, for that is enough for me.” (Ignatius)

Response.

During the worship afterwards - come forward to write a phrase that jumped out to them from the Psalm.

Three songs after teaching.

Some helpful resources on the topic:

Praying the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann

Seeking God by Trevor Hudson