Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Happiness vs. Holiness: Can You Have Both? | The Writings | Psalm 1

Episode Date: January 1, 2024

We're kicking off a new year and a new series! Keith jumps into the Psalms and discusses the importance of them. Listen to find out what Psalm 1 reveals about happiness versus holiness. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 1

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Today we kick off a new year on the calendar and on TMBT. I hope it's a year that you and I both draw near to God. When we get to the end of 2024, I want us to say that we know more of the Bible and the Bible knows more of us. That we have more head knowledge, but also more heart knowledge, that we've taken in biblical information that's led to spiritual transformation.

And of course, I hope TMBT can be a part of that in your life. With the new year, we also kick off a new series. We're going to spend 2024 going through what Jesus called the writings of the Old Testament. I'd encourage you to listen to our last episode in 2023 to get an overview of where we're going in 2024. And before I get to Psalm 1, I just want to give you a few big, basic facts about the book since we're going to be in the Psalms for the next few months. There are 150 Psalms making it the longest book in the Bible. But unlike other books, all the Psalms aren't written by the same author, and they don't

tell a unified story. The Psalms are a collection of Hebrew poems that were meant to be sung. Most Psalms were written for Israel's worship, and over half of them are dedicated to the director of music or connected to temple musicians. We should use the Psalms for our public worship and our private worship, because the Psalms were a huge part of the spiritual life of the early Christians. At the last supper before Jesus went out into the Garden of Gassimony, he and his disciples sang a Psalm together. Scholars think it might have been Psalm 118. And the book of Psalms is quoted more in the New Testament than any other Old Testament book. To live the Christian life, it is wise to feed our souls on the Psalms. One reason that the Psalms are true,

turn to so often by Christians today as they express a wide range of emotions. Loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, shame, joy, fear, peace, gratitude, confidence. Almost every human emotion you can think of is on display in the Psalms. Another reason people turn to the Psalms is that they're not all cleaned up. They are incredibly honest. You might even say they are raw. With that in mind, let's dive into Psalm 1. I'm going to read the first three verses.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever they do prospers. The very first word of Psalm 1 tells us that God wants us to be happy. Some of you might be surprised to hear that, but it's true. That word blessed is about a happiness and a joy that isn't dependent on circumstances. A happiness and joy that maintains itself amid the pressures and pain of life.

The author of Psalm 1 knows that we crave happiness. And so that's right where he starts. He meets us exactly where we live. live. Who do you think is the blessed person, the happy person? Who seems to be blessed by today's standards? If we were going to say who the blessed are today, we might say, blessed or the rich, blessed are the well-known, blessed are the attractive, blessed are those who party, blessed are the winners, blessed are the ambitious, blessed are those who demand their rights, blessed are the outraged, blessed are those who are true to themselves, blessed are those who

make it to the top. But what does Psalm 1 say? Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. The first thing Psalm 1 wants to teach us about happiness is that the blessed person is the one who walks in obedience to God. Now that's very counterintuitive because we tend to think that happiness is found when we do what we want, not what God wants. Sin always promises happiness. happiness, but it never really delivers on it. Just think back to Adam and Eve in the first sin. In Genesis chapter 3, Satan convinced Adam and Eve, who lived in a world without sin, people who lived in paradise, that they were missing out on something.

Satan convinced them God was keeping them from happiness. That's what sin always does to us. It lies to us. It tells us that we will be happier if we go our way instead of God's way. Do you ever find yourself saying, you know, ever since I started disobeying God and doing things my own way, my life has gotten so much better. I'm so much happier now that I'm not listening to God anymore. Of course not. Do you think that about others as you watch them live their life? Do you think that disobeying God is a wise move for them? Sometimes we act like happiness and holiness are two different paths and you have to choose one or the other. But that's not how the Bible thinks. It's not what the Bible teaches. When we start to think that our happiness and our holiness go down different paths, well, then we

run into huge trouble. When we start believing that our happiness and our holiness are something we have to choose between, as if to pick one is to reject the other, then our search for happiness will take us far away from God. Here's how Psalm 164 puts it. The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. So the first thing we learn is that happiness and holiness go together. The happy person is the one who walks in obedience to God. The second thing we learn is that we find happiness when we listen to God's voice, not other voices. Let's go back to the first couple verses. Blessed is the one who's not walk and step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night. See what the psalm is telling us is that we fight against the promise of sin by having a better promise. We must find a better joy. And that's why he says he delights in the law of the Lord. He delights in the instruction of God. In fact, he meditates on it day and night. I'm not sure how you read your books, but I read a lot of my books on Kindle. Maybe you are a hard copy person, and if so, that's great.

But because we have all these e-readers out there, we know more about people's reading habits than ever before. And one thing that we've discovered, and we probably always suspected this, but now we know for sure, is that people buy books, but they don't read them. Here's what the president of one e-reader company said. A book's position on the bestseller list may indicate that it's bought, but that isn't the same as being read. A lot of readers have multiple novels on the go at any given time. People may wait days, months, or even years before they're finishing certain titles. And many exercise that inalienable readers write to set down a book if it doesn't hold their interest. So what he's saying is that people buy books, but they don't read them.

And I'm afraid that's what we do with the Bible. We buy it? In fact, we might have bought several. We might have all the different Bible versions sitting around our house. But it's one thing to own it, it's another thing to actually pick it up and read it. But the wise person knows that they find happiness when they listen to God's law, when they follow its instruction. The third thing we learn is that happiness is rooted in substance and not superficialities.

We get that from verse 3. Here's what it says. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not. not wither. Whatever they do prospers. Real happiness offered by God is fundamental, not superficial. It's like a tree. It's subject to seasons. In other words, it's not always blossoming, but this tree has roots that means it survives difficult times. The kind of happiness God gives survives out of season when things aren't going well in our lives. But of course that means finding happiness in substance, not in circumstances. I'm sure you know people who have a deep happiness, a deep joy,

even during trying times. And you also know people who seem to have mastered the ability to be unhappy wherever they are and whatever is happening to them. There's an old poem that says two men looked out through prison bars. One saw mud and the other stars. The difference is in the men. Seeking happiness and externals and superficialities of life in circumstances. It never works over the long haul. George Bernard Shaw, the famous poet, said, there are two sources of unhappiness in life. One is not getting what you want,

and the other is getting it. In other words, what he says is that when you look for happiness in stuff, then you're looking in the wrong place. Whether you get it or don't get it, you still won't be happy. Jim Carrey, the famous actor, said, I wish everyone could experience being rich and famous,

so they'd see it isn't the answer to anything. If success causes happiness, then every employee who got a promotion or every student who got an acceptance letter to the college they wanted to go to, or every person who has more money would then be happier. But of course we know that's not true, because we've gotten all those things

and we know that they don't satisfy the longing of our heart. Here's Hallie Berry, the famous actress. She said, let me tell you something. Being thought of as a beautiful woman has spared me nothing in life. No heartache, no trouble. Love has been difficult. Beauty is essentially meaningless and it's always transitory. Isn't it interesting that the people who have gained so much in life tell us that the things

they've gained don't make them happy? And yet, for some reason, we still still. believe the lie that if we could live in a certain location or have a certain job or be married or have a better spouse or be divorced or have kids or have our kids grow up and move out or whatever it is if we could just change the circumstances somehow that would make us happy. Psalm 1 tells us the blessed person finds their happiness, finds their joy in obeying God in listening to his voice and building our life on the eternal, not the superficial. Amen.