God's Song: Guarantee of Happy Days

As we begin this final week of looking at just a very minor portion of the 150 Psalms we have in our Bibles, I want to encourage you to continue exploring the remaining 146 Psalms. One of the things my very first mentor in ministry taught me, was that there is something in all of the Psalms for each of us but there is also probably one Psalm or a portion of a Psalm that will speak about your faith and your journey in life. The Psalm that speaks to me the most is Psalm 90. Aside from this, because the Psalms are so rich in wisdom, praise, glory and honor toward God, I encourage you to spend some time getting to know the Psalms or getting to know more of them. It is a very worthwhile journey to take and one that you can endeavor to take over a month or two, or even a year or two. There is so much in this particular book of the Bible and we have not even fully scratched the surface of the wealth of information that we can glean from these songs.

Like I said during the first week of our study, these are songs and today’s Psalm does not disappoint. It is lyrical and metrical, just like many of the songs we sing here on a Sunday morning. It is beautiful and imaginative, just like my sermons. But it is also one of the greatest examples of David praising God and giving wisdom at the same time. It is a Psalm that speaks about how to have great days even in the midst of the turmoil this world subjects us to each day. So, let’s see what this Psalm has for us today...

How to Guarantee a Happy Day

Now, this might seem a bit odd to say but we can all overcome the terrible things we see and hear each day. There are really three simple steps to guarantee that our mental health and well-being are not affected by the things we are subjected to...

Start your day with God

Start your day with Praise

Start by giving thanks for what you have, not what you have not

1. Start Your Day with God

While this seems simple enough, if you are anything like me, the moment and I mean the very moment, you open your eyes, your brain begins thinking about all the things you need to accomplish. This also often happens to me in the middle of the night…so, if you see a post or an email from me in the middle of the night, it means that for some reason my brain thought it was time to begin the day. While I hate to admit this, it happens more often than I would like to admit to. But, it is absolutely true.

Now, I know I have shared a lot with you over the last four weeks about things from my personal life and I have used myself as an example and I do that for a reason. First and foremost, I want you all to know that I am no closer to God or have a direct line as most people think. We all have that direct line and I too suffer from the demands of this world. The other reason is for you to see that this study has been just as important for me as it has for us as a community together. We are so accustomed to the world being fast-paced and on demand that I have begun to wonder if through all of this stuff, we are losing touch with what is really important. Don’t get me wrong, I am a tech geek. I love the tech and having things at my finger tips but this past week has reminded me how much I have become dependent upon these things to do the work that I have before me each day. The other thing that it has reminded me, is how much I need to rely on God as my source of life and all things good in my life.

You see, when David wrote these words over 3,000 years ago, the greatest wireless connection was with God. Let that sink in for a moment. The greatest wireless connection ever created was made by the one who also created our very digital world. But when we become so dependent upon these things to do all that we do, we lose sight of the other connection that came first. And through this study, I have remembered that I need to connect with God first.

Here’s how David puts it...

Psalm 103:1 NLT

Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

This reminds us that God needs to be first and foremost in our lives. You see, at least I think that for David, he wanted a written reminder of what was to be his greatest need in his life. We need to remember that David did not live the most holy of lives, just read his story sometime. He deceived people. He cheated people. He even committed adultery because his physical desire was more than he could resist. Not unlike the people of today, he needed to remind himself that God is the one who can do all things for us and with us and without God, nothing, I mean nothing, is as good as it could be.

David then goes on to give us 5 distinct ways that we need to remember that god does for us so that we are able to praise God with our whole being...

Psalm 103:3–5 NIV

who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Notice one very important thing about all of these verses…David used the present tense. He does not say that God forgave, healed, redeemed, etc, as if this has all happened in the past. No, David is reminding us that all of this happens daily. Which, for me, is a really good reason to start the day giving thanks for all the things that God has done for me in the past and will continue to do for me throughout the day.

Which leads us into the second piece of how to make sure the day does not get us down...

2. Start Your Day with Praise

Now, each morning before I do anything else, I try to remember to give thanks and praise for the day that is just beginning. If it were not for God, I would not have it to begin with. So, if you can find nothing else to give thanks for, give thanks that you were able to see a fresh new day with fresh new challenges and joys to live through.

One of the things that has always amazed me in my ministry to this point is the number of people living with cancer or even those I have spoken to who are homeless or coming through recovery or having to face major surgery, those who no matter what they are going through, always give thanks to god for allowing them another day to make a difference in this world. When you look around you, each of us has our challenges and things that we must do each day. Some of the things we need to do are things that we enjoy and get pleasure out of. However, how many of us have things that really are challenging us in this day. Maybe something you need to go home and do this afternoon that if you were given a choice, you would not choose to do even on your best day? Even though these things bring us down and we don’t want to do them, David is challenging us to think differently about what those things hold for us in another part of the Psalm...

Psalm 103:22 NIV

Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul.

David wants us all to remember that God has this for us…no matter what we might face each day, if we put God first, then God has the reigns and will help us through each challenge that we face so that we can always give God the glory, the honor, and the praise.

The third step to guaranteeing a happy day...

3. Start Your Day by Remembering

A lot of what I have said already applies to this third step but sometimes I think we forget about this piece. It is easy to fall into the world’s trap of forgetting that God is the source of all things. David too needed to be reminded. Throughout his story, we are told that David took credit for things that he had done when it really was God who provided the means, the direction, and the opportunity to do what needed to be done. Today’s world wants us to think that we are the reason why we have the things that we do.

I want to reassure you that it is ok to think this but we need to remind ourselves daily that we would have nothing if it were not for God. There have been so many times in my life, distant and recent past, in which I thought I had the reigns and then something happened or someone spoke to me in such a way that I realize that God was speaking through them into my heart and most of the time, it was a reminder, not so gentle either, but a reminder that I am not in control. While I have the ability to make choices, God provides the people and things in my life that help me to make the right decisions about what needs to happen and how it is all going to play out in my life.

When we focus our attention on what we don’t have, we get into situations that often result in hurt and pain. Unfortunately, in my life, that means that I have done something to hurt someone I love. I don’t know if your experiences are the same or not but when I forget to remember that everything I am and everything I have is a blessing from God, I lose sight of the true meaning of what it is that I am to do. Listen, the world teaches us to be selfish and self-serving, to focus more on what we personally need rather than what God desires from or even for us. By taking a moment each day to remember what we have rather than focusing on what we don’t have, we have an opportunity to connect to God in such a way that, without a shadow of a doubt, will also deepen our other relationships in this life. Think about all the things that God did for the Israelites in the desert, or how God helped Solomon to overcome all of his rivals or better yet, think about the fact that God sent Jesus Christ to hang on a cross so that we can have the freedom from our sins.

I am not going to reiterate the rest of the Psalm because it is just too many verse to re-read but I want to challenge us today...

Our Challenge...

If we begin today, because you know each second of the day is an opportunity to start over, right now in this moment if we take to heart this idea of beginning our days differently, I am wondering how much our lives can begin to touch others and how much our lives will change as well…try this for the next week, each day, I want you to get up and before you do anything else, start out with these three things...

Start your day with God

Start your day with Praise

Start by giving thanks for what you have, not what you have not

If we make this simple change in our lives…I wonder how much our lives will look different and how many people will want exactly what we have…let us pray…God, help us to remember these three simple steps and when our minds start to wander off, remind us so that we can re-focus on you and make you the center of our lives so that others can have exactly what you desire for them to have. Amen.