TRULY HAPPY

Psalms 144:1-15 (KJV)

Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.

LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!

Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.

Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;

Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.

Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:

That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:

That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:

That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.

Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

I spoke with someone this week about his relationship with the Lord and, as I spoke with them, it was obvious that they had misunderstood what the Christian faith was all about.

Something had happened that had left them “troubled.”

They made a profession of faith because they wanted to avoid experiencing that troubling feeling anymore.

• ·   Being saved doesn’t keep us from getting in trouble
• ·   Being saved doesn’t cause us to have no more fears
• ·   Being saved doesn’t prevent us from having any more worries
•  
• ·   Being saved rescues us from the consequences of our sin and
• ·   Being saved reconciles our fellowship with God

In a manner not exactly the same but similar, people tend to misunderstand the real happiness.

We tend to think that happiness is the result of good things happening to and around us.

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary calls it:

·   Agreeable circumstances

·   Good fortune and

·   Fortuitous elegance

Psalms 144 accepts that as a rudimentary form of happiness, and then asks us to consider a far more substantial sort of happiness.

I want to take you through the Psalm by first of all noting,

I. THE WORDS OF A HAPPY MAN

Vs 1-9

This is an interesting Psalm in that it was written by David but is almost completely composed of phrases from other Psalms he had written.[1]

·   Psalms 144:1 sounds like Psalms 18:34

· Psalms 144:2 sounds like Psalms 18:2 and 18:46

·   Psalms 144:3 sounds like Psalms 8:4

·Psalms 144:5 sounds like Psalms 104:32

·   Psalms 144:6 sounds like Psalms 18:14

·   Psalms 144:7 sounds like Psalms 18:16

·   Psalms 144:9 sounds like Psalms 33:2-3

·Psalms 144:12 sounds like Psalms 128:3

·   Psalms 144:15 sounds like Psalms 33:12

Whether David actually borrowed them from his other Psalms or merely repeated thoughts that were dear to him, I am not sure.

I can tell he was in a very happy mood when he wrote this Psalm.

A. There is Reverence for God

Vs 1

Blessed be the Lord…

The word means, “to kneel before.”

David begins this Psalm with an attitude of deep reverence for the Lord.

B. There is lavish praise for God

Vs 2

·   He is my goodness

·   He is my fortress

·   He is my high tower

·   He is my deliverer

C. There is a list of God’s blessings enumerated

Vs 1-2

·   He teaches my hands to war

·   He teaches my fingers to fight

·   He subdues my people under me

This is an interesting phrase isn’t it?

It has to do with the fact that he is a king.

Nobody has to submit to his or her appointed leader.

When they do, a leader has reason to praise the Lord!

D. There are humble meditations on man in general

Vs 3-4

What a matter of praise that God would give any attention to a creature of such insignificance as we are!

E. There is a prayer

Vs 5-8

Years ago I heard someone describe the different element of prayer by the acronym, a-c-t-s

·   Adoration

·   Confession

·   Thanksgiving and

·   Supplication

All four of these elements is in the first 8 verses of this Psalm.

F. There is a song

Vs 9

Happy people tend to be singing people.

That’s especially true of Christian people.

The first nine verses are the words of a happy man.

We have next

II. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF A HAPPY PEOPLE

Vs 10-14

I am going to see if I can describe this piece of Scripture with

A. A powerful government

Vs 10-11

One of the challenges of United States foreign policy has been how we should respond to governments that are not democratic and even opposed to our own form of government.

·   One the one hand, we want to champion liberty and human rights.

·   One the other hand, we have to recognize that a stable government, even if it is not a democratic government, is better for the people than a volatile government that has a democratic flavor.

When the Iron Curtain fell, for instance, free people everywhere rejoiced.

But those people living behind that Iron Curtain had their worlds rocked and some of them cried for Communism to come back just at least then they had some sense of stability.

A happy people live under a stable government.

Then secondly there was

B. A prosperous children

Vs 12

I confess that I do not fully understand the motivation of the founders of our country.

Not only:

·   The Fathers of our country and

·   The signers of the Declaration of Independence, but

·   The soldiers of the continental Army.

The sacrifice they paid and were willing to pay is beyond me.

I can only pray I would, given the same circumstance do as they did.

Those who pledged:

·   Their lives

·   Their fortunes and

·   Their sacred honor

So that their children might live in better circumstances than they did.

Somewhere near 30,000 Americans died to make America a free country.

·   They did not benefit from the liberty they purchased, in fact

·   They died so their children would have this blessing

It is a happy circumstance when our children are prosperous and blessed.

Then there was,

C. A plentiful economy

Vs 13-14

Who can argue that when:

·   Your bank accounts are full

·   Your businesses are profiting and

·   Your factories are producing

It’s a pretty happy thing?

All this leading to,

D. A pleasant citizenry

Vs 14

If we were going to put this is modern terminology we might say,

·   No one was crossing the borders illegally

·   No one was leaving the country for better opportunities and

·   No one was protesting at the capitol lawn

These are happy circumstances indeed!

David admits it in the first part of verse 15

Happy is that people, that is in such a case….

Then notice with me lastly,

III. THE ROOT OF THE TRULY HAPPY

Vs 15

…yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.

You will notice that the word “yea” is supplied by the translators of the King James version.

What that means is that there is no corresponding Greek word in the ancient manuscripts from which they worked, but that the full sense of the verse, as found in the Greek, could not be gotten without supplying the word.

They were honest enough to allow us to see those supplied words, but they are legitimately there in the original language.

The supplied word points to the contrast between the first part of the verse and the second.

There is no question, is there, that people have many opportunities to be happy whenever:

·   Their government is stable

·   Their children are successful

·   Their cupboards are stocked and

·   Their neighbors are satisfied

But what happens if none of those are true?

Is it impossible to be happy unless our circumstances are right?

And what about the accounts of all those people whose circumstances are just right, but they still are not happy?

Recently there has been a campaign educating people that depression can happen to the:

·   Rich

·   Famous

·   Athletic

·   Successful

·   Powerful

·   Leaders

Depression, unhappiness, can happen to the Christian too, but the Christian has tools with which to fight for his happiness.

Conclusion

Let me put Psalms 144:15 in my own words,

“It’s true that people are happy when things go their way: but the happiest people know God and trust Him”

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[1] See Albert Barnes Notes on Psalms 144