Happy New Year!
This common greeting so often heard this time of year is meant for one purpose: To wish us all unending happiness through the upcoming year.
This is my wish and prayer for each of you in 2015 as well. In our own experiences, however, we know that this is little more than a pipe dream. We spend our lives seeking this unending happiness, but we never find it. Why is this? I mean, isn’t this what Jesus promises when He said He came to give us life more abundantly (See John 10:10)? Why is it that happiness continue to elude us, no matter what we do?
One of the sons of Korah (Ps. 84) gives us the formula for true happiness:
1. To long for God’s dwelling places: “HOW lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” (Ps 84:1-2, NKJV);
How many of us truly long to spend time with God? Can we truly say that a single day in God’s presence is better than a thousand (Ps. 84:10)? Do we really mean it when we say we’d rather be a lowly doorkeeper in the house of the Lord then to have the riches of the world (Ps 84:10)?
2. To rest at God’s altar: “Even the sparrow has found a home, And the swallow a nest for herself, Where she may lay her young– Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, My King and my God.” (Ps 84:3, NKJV)
In our day and age, the symbol of the altar is a bit foreign. Let’s remember that the altar was a central part of the worship in the day when this Psalm was written, and it was, as it were, that Jesus lay down His life at the altar as a sacrifice for our sins. Thus, when we think of having the altar as our resting place, we realize that we are placing our rest in the work that Jesus has already done for us; we are resting in His Salvation!
3. To live in God’s house: “Blessed are those who dwell in Your house…” (Ps 84:4a, NKJV)
I have 4 people who dwell in my house. We all go out to work and to buy groceries and to socialize. At the end of the day, however, we all come back home. Why? Because home is our shelter, our resting place, the place where we sleep and eat and share fellowship with one another. This is what it means to “dwell in God’s house.” It means that this is our place of spiritual food and water. This is our source of love, our shelter from the storm.
4. Never cease to praise God: “…They will still be praising You. Selah” (Ps 84:4b, NKJV)
We are told to count it all as “joy” when we experience troubles and trials of any kind (James 1:2), because when we praise God, all our problems lose their importance! Remember that Paul and Silas sang hymns after having been beaten and thrown in a cold jail with stocks on their feet (See Acts 16:25)!
5. Look to God for strength: “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.” (Ps 84:5, NKJV)
God is our strength, our ever present help in time of trouble. When we think about our own inadequacies, we find ourselves completely without strength. However, when we look to God for our strength, we find an unlimited source.
6. The final secret to unending happiness is to put your trust in God alone: “O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!” (Ps 84:12, NKJV)
In summary, the secret to unending happiness boils down to this: Making God the focus of our lives. When we do, we will find that abundant life, that unending joy, that ceaseless happiness.
What about it, friends? Would you join me in seeking this unending joy and happiness in 2015?
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.