The Source of Happiness for Life

Transcript

GRM 847
04/27/2003
The Source of Happiness for Life
Psalm 1
Gil Rugh

Turn in your Bibles to the book of Ecclesiastes. We’re not going to do a study in Ecclesiastes, but I want to direct your attention to a few verses in Ecclesiastes. We get a perspective on life from the writer of Ecclesiastes. In fact, it can be somewhat discouraging if you don’t put it in proper perspective. But the writer of Ecclesiastes has seen life and he is not encouraged by what he has seen. He begins in verse 2 with a statement, “Vanity of vanities says the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” That’s about as discouraging a start as you could have. The word vanity means something that is empty, that is futile, that has no meaning, has no purpose. The writer, Solomon the son of David, declares everything is worthless and futile, futility piled upon futility, emptiness upon emptiness. We’re all moving toward the same end of this life, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are famous or unknown. We’re all going to end up in the grave, there is nothing to give meaning and purpose to what we are doing. Even a man of the wealth and power of a Solomon, one who had the resources to pour himself into the pursuit of pleasure and so on, he says in chapter 2, came to the conclusion in verse 11 of chapter 2, “Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done, the labor which I had exerted. Behold all was vanity and striving after the wind. There was no profit under the sun.” When I got all done and looked at what I had accomplished, it’s emptiness, it’s like you’ve chased the wind. You put your arms around it, what do you have? You have nothing, it’s gone.

At the end of verse 17 of chapter 2 he says, “I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous because everything is futility and striving after wind.” The end of verse 26, “this too is vanity and striving after wind,” the pursuit of nothingness, going after those things that mean nothing once you have them. Working and slaving all your life, Solomon wrote, so you can die and leave what you acquired to a fool. What’s it all about? What gives it purpose? Why bother?

I want to look at what the scripture says is God’s plan for His people. Back up to Psalm chapter 1. God does not intend for those who are His people that they should have lives of meaningless existence, plodding along from day to day. Rather He intends for them to enjoy life, to have happiness, something all the world wants. There is a sense that something is amiss. All you have to do is watch the advertisements for certain products that pervade television. I mean if you’re discouraged, if you’re depressed, if you haven’t felt good about yourself or about your life for awhile, if you haven’t been able to sleep, etc., etc., we have a pill that may be good for you. Consult your doctor. Side effects may include headache, nausea, diarrhea, dry mouth, but this could be the answer for you if you’re not feeling good about life; and in one sense wouldn’t we all like to think this little capsule, take one a day and your life is going to be filled with joy. You’ll have true happiness, you won’t be able to wait to jump out of bed in the morning and face the day, and that ugly husband will be handsome, and on it goes. We know even grievous error has an element of truth. The element of truth is God created us to enjoy life. God created us to enjoy Him, the creator of all things, the creator of life. Something has gone terribly wrong and so life has more than its share of misery. Most people’s lives are spent as Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, pursuing the next thing that will make you happy. I was thinking this week of how many in the world of celebrity, Hollywood or rock musicians acquire much in the realm of possessions. Then some of them dissipate their life with alcohol or drugs. We say why? They could have retired to a beautiful beach someplace and relaxed. But somehow something is missing on the inside and there is an emptiness and so they’re moving to the next step. People who don’t have much in possessions think when they have more, they will have what will satisfy them. Those who have more and more than enough know that’s not what does it, they have to move to something else, and something else, and something else.

The Psalmist begins the Psalm by talking about happiness and drawing a contrast between those who are filled with happiness, who are very happy people, and those who are not. The contrasts that he draws in Psalm 1 are contrasts that will be drawn out through the rest of the Psalms, all 150 Psalms, talk about these contrasts in one way or another. True happiness of the person who has a relationship with the living God and His truth and the empty, meaningless lives of those who do not know the living God. The sad thing, those who do not know the living God have worthless lives now and they have no future. They literally are going from bad to worse. But sometimes I think we as believers in Jesus Christ, the true church of Christ forget what God has provided for us. It’s not just forgiveness of sins, as wonderful as that is, it’s just not the assurance of the glories of heaven for all eternity, as wonder as that is. But He has provided and intends for us as His people to have lives filled with joy and happiness. Yet often that’s not the testimony that we see as we observe God’s people.

Remember the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5 verse 22? The fruit of the Spirit is this is what the Spirit of God produces in our lives now as the people of God were part of the church of Jesus Christ. Love. The next one, joy, joy, true joy, happiness and that’s what the Psalmist is writing about. The happiness, or literally the happinesses of the one who walks with the living God. Note how he begins in Psalm 1 verse 1, “How blessed is the man.” That word translated blessed is plural in the Hebrew. All the blessednesses, a way of intensifying something. The word means happy, joyous, how very happy is the man. He’s talking about a human being, an individual who is experiencing great happiness, great joy in his life, describing this person. Oh, the blessedness, the happiness of this man, this individual. Not just talking about an emotion or a feeling, although obviously when you have true happiness and true joy it affects your feelings, it impacts your emotions. We’re also aware that our emotions ebb and flow. That’s why we say you don’t want to be led by your emotions, not that emotions are a bad thing, but emotions do not make a good leader. Otherwise, we wouldn’t get anything done if we follow our emotions. I don’t feel like getting out of bed this morning, so I won’t, I don’t feel like eating so I won’t, I don’t feel like going to work, I don’t feel like cleaning the house. Emotions can’t lead us, but when you have true, genuine happiness and joy in your life it will impact your emotions. But we’re not talking about something that just takes place in the realm of the emotional, we’re talking about something that is more real, more enduring, more stable, more permanent than just a good feeling. We’re talking about genuine inner happiness of an individual.

What he’s going to do is proceed first to describe negatively and then positively a man who has true happiness. One of the features in Hebrew poetry is what is called parallelism. You know in some types of our poetry we rhyme things so that the rhyming of one line and the next is a certain kind of poetry. Well for the Hebrews they used in some of their poetry what is called parallelism. They would say one thing and in the next line they would say the same thing in little different words. Basically, the Psalmist here is going to say the same thing, basically, in three different ways. He’s going to talk about those who walk in the council of the wicked, who stand in the path of sinners, who sit in the seat of scoffers. Basically, we’re talking about the same person, and three ways of saying the same kind of activity. The truly happy man is the man whose life is not directed, influenced or controlled by those who do not know the living God, who do not live in light of the Word of the living God. One thing comes out clearly in this passage which is true in the rest of scripture as well. There is no real distinction between knowing the living God and knowing His Word, because the true knowledge of God comes through His Word. Our salvation occurs when we hear and believe the Word of God, the good news concerning Jesus Christ. Faith, saving faith, comes by hearing, hearing the message of Christ. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God and that Word of God becomes God’s revelation. He reveals Himself in creation, but it is the revelation of the Word of God which unfolds the very character and being of God and enables us to walk in a relationship with Him.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. There are things that work against true, genuine happiness. All that is in the world, as John wrote in his first epistle, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life. The truly happy man cannot live his life following the advice or the counsel of the wicked. The truly happy man, the person who has the joy and happiness that comes from within, the inner person, the inside of his heart and mind, is the person who does not follow the counsel and advice of the wicked. The word wicked, is the most general term for the ungodly in contrast to the righteous in the Old Testament. The wicked are those, this word comes, basically the word unrest, because there is no rest, there is no peace to the wicked. They are like the waves of the sea, constantly churning, never finding peace, rest, true happiness.

The truly happy man does not follow the counsel or advice of the wicked, those who do not know God, do not know and understand His truth. Now the advice of the wicked, and again we’re not just talking about the blatant, open, immoral person. We’re talking about a very religious person who though very religious is ignorant of revelation. One writer commenting on the scripture noted that there is a distinction between revelation and religion, where in religion man tries to make a way God and in revelation God makes Himself known to man. When we talk about the wicked, the sinners and the scoffers, we’re talking about those who do not submit to the revelation of God, to the Word of God. You cannot follow their advice and have happiness. Again, most of us have televisions in our homes and just setting aside the program and going back to the advertisements. They give advice for what will bring you happiness, what you deserve. But it doesn’t work. They are selling something and next week, next month, next year they’ll be selling something else. If what they’re selling really brought the solution you wouldn’t have to have anything else. But there is always something else, something new.

The wicked don’t know how to have happiness. You understand that. The person who does not know the Word of God does not know happiness, does not know how to find happiness. I’m not saying that they don’t go through times when they’re really enjoying life. They don’t know true happiness, the happiness that is not related to circumstances. I had contact with a person, and don’t know them personally but have been able to observe. Great wealth results in multiplying homes. That didn’t quite satisfy, then health breaks down. Now the solution is to multiply wives. You know when you see a person go from one thing to another and there is no satisfaction, and life goes by and they come to the end of it like Solomon, it’s all emptiness. So, we can’t follow the advice of the wicked. Sad thing happening to the church today is it’s turning to the world for advice, thinking if we integrate the thinking and wisdom of the world with the Word of God, now we will have something that works. You understand the road to happiness means you don’t follow the advice, the counsel of the wicked. You don’t stand in the path of sinners. Path is the same idea as we talk about the walk of a person, the walk of a Christian, the daily conduct of life. We don’t join the lifestyle of the sinners, we don’t think if we pursue the things they pursue, if we live like they live that brings happiness. We don’t follow the path of sinners; we don’t sit in the seat of scoffers. Why is it that people who profess to know God, profess to believe the revelation that God has given think that there are answers to life, answers that can bring meaning and purpose to life from those who scoff at the Word of God, who reject the Word of God. There is not. In fact, the Bible consistently warns us about the wrong kind of association with those who have rejected God’s Word, warns us about the influence of them in our lives.

Turn over to the book of Proverbs, just after the book of Psalms, the book of Proverbs chapter 1 verse 10. I’m just going to read a few verses from here because we don’t have time to go through all that would pertain. Chapter 1 verse 10, “my son if sinners entice you do not consent.” Verse 15, “my son do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path.” Same thing the Psalmist was saying. Look in chapter 4 of Proverbs verse 14, “do not enter the path of the wicked, do not proceed in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not pass by it, turn away from it, pass on.” You get the idea that advice is being given, avoid, stay away from the lifestyle of those who have rejected the Word of God. Look in chapter 13 of Proverbs verse 20, “he who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Chapter 14 verse 7, “leave the presence of a fool or you will not discern words of knowledge.” We tell our children, don’t we, to be careful of their friends. You may have certain children you don’t want your children to associate with because of their habits, because of the things they do. You can sometimes tell if your children have been hanging around other children whose practices are not acceptable to you. You hear them say things, or use words or whatever and you say, where did you learn that? In I Corinthians chapter 15 verse 33, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, “evil companions corrupt good conduct.” That’s what we’re talking about. We say Jesus was known as a friend of sinners, but there’s never any question. As you read through the gospels the record of the life of Christ on earth, Jesus Christ never adopted the lifestyle of the sinners he was with, He never was with sinners submitting to their advice and their counsel. He was always there as a light in the midst of darkness, to present the truth of God to those who had no knowledge of God. I’m not saying we ought to have the attitude we want nothing to do with sinners, we don’t want to be found anywhere sinners are found, it would be beneath us to talk to sinners. But the word of warning is to be careful that you don’t begin to take advice from those who do not know God. Be careful that you don’t begin to adopt the lifestyle of those who do not know God. Be careful that you do not begin to adjust your life according to the thinking of those who have rejected the Word of God. They are the scoffers. A great danger for us, the church finds itself influenced by the world. That’s why Paul had to write to the Romans, “do not be conformed to this world because all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” What a tragedy that the people of God should allow themselves to be shaped by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. Because you know what will happen when that happens? Then the happiness and joy, that inner contentment that brings true happiness will begin to dissipate. We find the people of God having the same kinds of difficulties in their lives as the world has. And pretty soon we need Christian counselors to help depressed and discouraged and unhappy believers. Something is wrong and the Psalmist addresses it. There is true happiness, but it is not found in becoming like the world and trying to pursue what the world says brings happiness, contentment, peace, joy to a life.

Come back to Psalm 1. Rather than hearing the advice of the world and following their pattern, joining with those who reject the Word of God, the one who has true happiness, note the contrast in verse 2, “but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law, he meditates day and night.” What a strong contrast. He doesn’t turn to the world and the people of the world for help in happiness, but his delight, what brings joy and happiness is the Word of God. It’s not drudgery, but delight. What a simple solution. His delight is in the law of the Lord. One of the preachers from the late 1800s, it was Charles Spurgeon, I was reading one of his sermons this week and he made the note. He was on a vessel traveling someplace and there was a woman reading a novel. He said I walked behind that woman; I walked in front of that woman; I walked around the chair she was sitting in. She didn’t even know I existed, she was totally absorbed in her novel, which Spurgeon then referred to as trash (didn’t go any further with what the novel was). But then he drew a comparison, how absorbed the people of the world can become in some of their meaningless things. But for the people of God reading the Word of God can become a chore, drudgery. A person of the world becomes more absorbed in a low-life novel that they close out everything else. They’re shedding tears or laughing as they read through the book. The people of God think oh boy I have to get my Bible reading in today. Good, I got that done, made it for 3 days. You know it becomes drudgery.

We say I don’t know why, I’m just not happy. Well, here is a person whose delight is in the law of the Lord. The law of the Lord was the Word of God as the Psalmist had it. His delight is in the Word of God. What does he do? Try to force himself to have 10 or 15 minutes in the Word every day. The Psalmist says this person who has true happiness meditates day and night in the Word of God. What he is saying is the Word of God fills his heart and mind. That’s what he thinks about, what he rolls over. He confronts life in light of the Word of God. So, it is similar to Deuteronomy chapter 6, talks about the Word of God being bound on our forehead and on our hands and so on. In other words, it is the Word of God that controls and shapes our lives in all of our activities. You are meditating on the Word of God, day and night so everything that comes up in life is sifted through the Word of God because that is what fills my mind. Difficulties and struggles come, unpleasant and painful circumstances, you filter through the Word of God, and my understanding that He is working everything for my good, that the testing that comes into my life produces endurance, that my God is sovereign and doing what is right. I may not understand it, I may not enjoy it in the sense I don’t find it pleasant, but I find joy and happiness in knowing that my God is at work, preparing me for glory. His delight is in the law of the Lord. One person wrote this, meditation is not the setting apart of a special time for personal devotions, whether morning or evening. But it is the reflection of the Word of God in the course of daily activities, regardless of the time of day or the context. The godly respond to life in accordance with God’s Word.

Turn back to the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter 1. Joshua is about to take over the responsibility that had been Moses’. Moses has died, Joshua is now being given the charge of his responsibility to lead the people of God. Note what God says to him, verse 8 of Joshua 1, “this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night.” You note God’s plan for His people has not changed. Four hundred years go by until the Psalmist writes that the truly happy person meditates on the Word of God, day and night. Four hundred years earlier Joshua is told what will bring success and prosperity. You meditate on the Word of God, day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, then you will have success. The Word of God is at the heart of the work of God in the world. There is no salvation apart from the Word of God, there is no growth and development and experiencing the blessing of God in the life apart from the Word of God. That’s why the devil works incessantly to minimize the influence and impact of the Word of God in our lives. That’s why the church of Jesus Christ is constantly in a battle over the Word of God. As we adopt the thinking of the world, people don’t come to church to study the Word of God, they come to church to be told 6 steps to success in marriage, 12 steps to dealing with depression, 77 steps to being a good husband, and on it goes. God’s solution is take in my Word, think it over, roll it over until it becomes part of you, and then live in light of it.

Turn over to the book of Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah chapter 15, somewhere in the middle of your Bible, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, those big prophetic books. Jeremiah chapter 15 verse 16, you’ll note Jeremiah writes in the context of people that are tremendously opposed to him, who hate him and want to destroy him. Talks about his persecutors in the preceding verse, but I want to look at verse 16 of Jeremiah 15, “your words were found, and I ate them.” He’s taking in the Word of God, feeding on God’s Word. “Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart. For I have been called by your name oh Lord God of hosts.” Look at verse 10 of this chapter, “woe to me my mother that you bore me a man of strife, a man of contention to all the land.” My life on the human level is filled with misery and trouble. What kept Jeremiah going? I fed on your Word, I took it in, and “your Word became for me the joy and delight of my heart,” put everything in perspective—I belong to you oh Lord God of hosts. That’s what the Word of God does. The more the church, the more the people of God would draw from the Word of God, minimize its influence in their lives, the more we find the church multiplying the same problems the world has. The more the church moves away from the Word of God, the more it moves to the advice of the wicked, to the way of the world for solutions, and there is no solution there. The problems only get worse, the misery gets greater, and we must stop.

Some people think that at Indian Hills we don’t care about people, some people think oh Gil wouldn’t be someone to go to for counsel. You can come to me for counsel, not for weeks or months. Here He is, the living God has spoken, there are two issues. Do you know the living God and the salvation He has provided in His Son? If you do, are you living in obedience to that Word? If not, I can’t help you; oh, I want to. Well let me tell you what the Word says, here’s what the Word says. Will you do it, or won’t you? Could we get together next week? No, I’m busy, you either do it or you won’t. Why should you waste your time and my time next week? You’re either going to do what the Word of God says, or you aren’t. If my medical doctor sends me to a specialist and the specialist says here’s your problem and here’s what has to be done. I say oh I don’t know; I don’t know about doing that. How about if I make an appointment for next week? What do you think he would say? Why should you come next week? You’re either going to do what I tell you or you’re not. If you’re not going to do what I tell you I can’t help you, and meeting together with you for the next 10 weeks, if I’m not going to do what he tells me on the first week, let’s meet together for 10 weeks. Maybe I’ll decide to do what you tell me, maybe I won’t. You know what we do, we fritter away God’s time. Do what God says, here’s what His Word says. If you do it, it works powerfully and mightily in your life. If you won’t do it there is nothing that anyone in heaven or on earth or under the earth can do to help you. You scoff at the living God and reject what He says, there is not help anywhere else, you understand. I’m not saying it’s easy, I’m saying it’s simple.

Oh, I’d love to be happy. Fill your heart and mind with the Word of God and live in obedience to it as a child of God. I don’t know that I want to be happy that badly. Well take a pill, I can't help you. All the pill does is what? Make you forget. Give a strong drink to him who perishes, go get drunk, you’re one who is perishing. That will make you forget your trouble. The trouble is, when you come out of it, you’ll have to drink again because you really didn’t get a solution. It’s a beautiful, beautiful provision God has made, salvation in His Son, and then the fullness of His blessings. We don’t have time to go into Psalm 119, but I encourage you to read that Psalm, the longest chapter in all the Bible, Psalm 119. Just note the constant encouragement of turning to the Word of God. Note that the Psalmist will tell you that his counselors are the Word of God. That’s where he turns. He doesn’t need the advice of men, he turned to the Word of God, and you do what the Word of God says. Oh, the happiness of the one who doesn’t turn to the world for advice, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.

Come back to Psalm 1. This man, this individual in verse 3, “he will be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season. Its leaf does not wither and at whatever he does he prospers.” We’re not talking about prosperity theology. There is blessing that comes to the one who lives in obedience. In a land where much of the land is desert, the picture of a growing, prospering tree bearing fruit became a symbol of a prosperous life. Used that way in Psalm 92, in Jeremiah 17. That’s what the life of a child of God is like, the life of the one who lives in light of the Word of God. You note that, he lives in light of the Word of God. His delight is in the Word of God. You can’t talk about delighting in God and not delighting in His Word. You can’t talk about meditating on God and not meditating on His Word. This is the revelation of His person, it’s alive, it’s powerful, it can bring happiness and joy to a heart and a life. A prosperous tree.

Draw the contrast quickly. The wicked are not so, the wicked are not so. Again, note this about the wicked, the worst examples. The religious righteous are not so, the very religious who attend church every week but do not submit to the Word of God are not so. We’re talking about those whose lives are lived in humble submission to the revelation that God has given to this truth. The wicked are not so. You know what, they have worthless lives, they are like the chaff which the wind drives away. You could not make a greater contrast--the most beautiful, sturdy, fruitful tree prospering in verse 3, and the chaff which is worthless for anything. Mark chapter 3 says the chaff is only good for burning. As it blows away it is not good for anything. The wicked are like the chaff, they are worthless, their life has no meaning.

Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. The wicked have meaningless lives and they have no future, they’ll not stand in the judgment, they’ll not be part of the assembly of the righteous gathered by God to Himself. You understand the wicked have empty, meaningless lives. Vanity of vanity, all is vanity, and they have no future. Judgment, and they won’t stand in the judgment. They’ll be there for condemnation and sentenced to the fire of hell. How fitting for the chaff. Why would the people of God want to become like the people of the world who have meaningless lives and are going to eternal destruction. Why would we seek advice, counsel from those who scoff at the revelation of God and have no wisdom? Sad and pathetic. We have something to offer to the world--true happiness, true joy that is lasting and permanent.

The Lord knows the way of the righteous, the way of the wicked will perish. The righteous are under the care of their heavenly Father. He knows the way of the righteous, He cares for them, He provides for them, they belong to Him. The way of the wicked is a way of destruction.

We close. Turn over to Matthew chapter 7. You know Jesus talks about the same things. Matthew began the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 by talking about what? Blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the gentle and so on. Happy, happy. Then you come to chapter 7, as we get ready to conclude this Sermon on the Mount. He says in verse 13, “enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. The gate is small, the way is narrow, that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” Then He gave a warning in verse 24 of those who hear His word and act on it and those who don’t. There are the fools of the world and there are the wise of the world. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts upon them,” verse 24, “is compared to a wise man.” Verse 26, “everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act upon them can be compared to a foolish man.” You see the purpose and plan of God continues. Whether we’re back in Joshua, God’s plan of blessing; whether we’re in the Psalms, God’s plan of blessing; whether we’re in the New Testament, God’s plan of blessing. The contrast continues right down to today. Two kinds of people here, right here in this building, there are two kinds of people with the contrast that we’ve been talking about. There are the righteous and the wicked. The righteous are those who have seen their sinful condition, understood and believed that Jesus Christ died for them as He is their only hope, they trust in Him alone for their salvation. There are those who are not. There are those who have heard the Word, that includes everyone, but among those who have heard the Word there are those who have acted upon the Word to obey it, submit to it. There are people here who are believers in Jesus Christ whose life is miserable, they are anything but happy right now. The problem is they’ve not heeded the Word of God, we’ve allowed ourselves to drift, there are things in the Word I know I should do; I know I must do. Can’t bring myself to do it, rather than submit and say God whatever you want to do, however humble I have to become; and that’s what it really is, isn’t it? It’s an issue whether I’ll bow and submit to God and His authority or not. But there is true happiness for a person for every moment of every day. That’s why Paul could write as a Roman prisoner in Philippians chapter 4 and say I’ve learned to be content; I can live with things; I can live without things. I’ve learned the secret, and now I’ve told it to you.

We ought to be a very happy people, a people filled with joy because we live our lives in submission to the Word of God as the people of God. It is His abundant provision for us that His joy, His happiness be the ongoing characteristic of our lives.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your gracious provision for us. Lord it is true of each and every one of us that we live lives controlled and dominated by sin, separated from you, hostile to you, scoffers of truth, miserable and worthy of misery. But Lord you in your grace brought a wonderful salvation, a salvation that is given as a free gift to everyone who believes, a salvation that so changes a life and makes a person new that they are no longer wretched, miserable, hell-bound sinners. But they are very happy, joy-filled children of the living God on their way to eternal glory. Lord, I pray for those who are here this morning, perhaps they come regularly, who have never entered into the joy and the happiness of your forgiveness. May this be a day of salvation for them. Lord, I pray for your children who are here this morning who are anything but happy. They have misery in their lives, turmoil, unrest. Lord, may they turn again to you in your Word, know the happiness of humbling themselves before you, becoming obedient to your truth, drawing upon the grace and strength that you provide to enable us to do everything you’ve instructed for our good, our happiness and your glory. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.