Happy Is the Man

The title of the sermon today, Happy is the Man. Happy is the Man. Our society today is a society of emotional problems and mental illness. Young adults rant on YouTube about how unhappy they are, and it's usually somebody else's fault. And I hear about it constantly because my kids are on YouTube all the time. We see drug commercials when we're watching the TV about depression and mental health. Take this drug. It'll make you better. In 2018, two very famous people, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, committed suicide in the same week. Mental illness and depression is everywhere you look. People at school, people at work, at the store that you've known for years, in your family or your extended family, and maybe yourself. I don't have all the answers, nor will I even try to give a total answer to the question of mental illness because that's really a minefield of complicated issues that are above my pay grade. There are some chemical imbalances that cause problems, and there are some physical, if you will, mechanical defects in the brain that can cause problems. So it's definitely not my intention to judge anybody today. In fact, I intend to do the opposite today. Depression and despair are very real issues that we all face at some point in life. And what I can offer today is an alternative way to think. While society debates the best way to tackle depression and sadness, the Bible talks about the other side of the equation. The Bible talks about it from the opposite point of view, and that is how to be happy. How can people be happy when so many unhappy things happen to them as a result of bad choices? Either their own bad choices or bad choices that other people make that affect them? How can you be happy? Do you know that the Bible addresses this subject with authority and no uncertainty? The Bible is absolute on this issue. It's almost as if God knew what he was doing. How can you be happy when other people in your situation would be very sad, very distressed, depressed in despair? In the Hebrew scriptures, commonly referred to, or we call it the Old Testament, Jesus and the apostles never use the word old to describe the Bible. They actually called it the law and the prophets. So if you read in the New Testament, where they say the law and the prophets, they're referring to what we would call the Old Testament. So I tend to shy away from calling it the Old Testament. So if you hear me say the law and the prophets, you know what I'm talking about, the Hebrew scriptures. And in the Hebrew scriptures, the word for happy is often translated into English as the word blessed. So there can be a misunderstanding when we read it in English as though we're going to be blessed if we do something. So if I do something that God tells me to do, I'm going to be rich. I'm going to have all this stuff. I'm going to prosper. I'm going to be blessed. It's actually not the meaning of the word. And a lot of us already know that because we're not blessed.

So let's see how God suggests that our state of mind can be overall happy when others might not be. Just to give you the biblical definition of the word blessed or happy, Vine's Expository Dictionary says the word ashri or ashri, I'm not a Hebrew scholar, just a student, which is Strong's number 835 means blessed or happy. And they say, quote, all but four of the 44 biblical occurrences of the noun are in the poetical passages. That's important. This concept takes place most of the time or is written most of the time in Hebrew poetry. So it's very figurative language, not necessarily absolutely literal. In other words, these are big picture concepts. This is when you take a step back from your life, when you read Hebrew poetry, they're asking you or they're implying you need to take a step back and look at your life from a big picture point of view. And when you look at your life from a big picture point of view, ask yourself, am I happy? Am I happy or am I constantly anxious? Am I upset? Are circumstances around me driving me absolutely batty? And I just can't, what do we say? I can't take it anymore. Reading on. All but four, the 44 biblical occurrences of the noun are in the poetical passages with 26 occurring in Psalms and eight in the Proverbs. Basically, this word connotes a state of prosperity or happiness that comes when the superior bestows his favor on one. In most passages, the one bestowing the favor is God himself. So, let me ask, how does God bestow happiness on us? How do you think he does that? Do you pray, make me happy? And he goes, and you're happy. Nope. That's not it. He actually tells us. So let's take a look at how and why God's favor is the source of this particular blessing, this contentment, this state of mind of being happy. Let's start in Psalm chapter 32. Psalm chapter 32, and we'll read verses eight through 11. Psalm 32 and verse eight. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or the mule. I love that statement. I love it. How many of us are so stubborn, so mule-like? And God is lovingly telling us here, hey, don't be a mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with a bit and a bridle. Does your life feel like that sometimes? Are you swayed by circumstances? Do you go wherever life's bridle pulls you? You may be a mule. You may be a little stubborn. Else they will not come near you. And then verse 10, what a poignant statement that God makes. In Psalm 32 and verse 10, many sorrows have the wicked. But he who trust in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous. And shout for joy all you upright in heart. Hmm. It's almost as if God's putting the responsibility on you. We see a connection here between the way we should go and the way we think and act affects our state of mind. Our actions affect our state of mind. Might be the last thing you wanted to hear on a ski weekend. But it actually, if we walk through down this walk, if we walk down this path that God is asking us to walk down and we consider these words, happiness is at the end of the tunnel. The assertion here in Psalm 32 is that you and I can affect whether or not we will be happy by thinking and acting on what God's word says to do. Is it really that simple? It's a little more complicated than that, but God gives the instruction and I will show you. But it is almost that simple. Conversely, those people who think opposite of God's teachings, who sin, in other words, who scorn others, generally feel awful.

The implication of this is huge. It means you and I are not victims of our circumstances as much as we may like to think. You have the power to be happy in the midst of sorrow, the power to be calm in the midst of anxiety, the power to encourage in the midst of turmoil. When everybody else around you has no idea what to do, you know the way and you're calm and you're steady. How can you do that? God gives some very specific instructions. As long as we're not a stubborn mule, we can be happy. You can choose to be happy, but it's not as simple as just willing yourself to be happy.

Poof! Doesn't work that way. Now, please, I ask you as we go through this sermon, don't look to your neighbor, don't look to your left or your right, don't judge others. This is not a judge your neighbor kind of sermon. This is an evaluate yourself kind of sermon. We all sin, we all scorn, we all get down in the dumps. These passages are not written to beat you down and they were not written for you to beat somebody else down with. So please do not place blame or start pointing fingers.

Do not forget the lesson of the Day of Atonement as we go through this. What? The lesson of the Day of Atonement? Yeah! The big lesson of the Day of Atonement, where Aaron put the sins on the Azazel goat, the go-away goat, and kicked him out. Ultimately, the blame goes to Satan and there's plenty of blame to go around. There's no need to point fingers. The point I'm making today in this sermon on how to be happy is not to condemn anyone, not to make anyone embarrassed or uncomfortable or feel like, well, maybe I'm a bad Christian if I face this issue, because we do not like to admit when we are depressed.

This is a universal topic and it applies to every single one of us. I oftentimes hear when I'm counseling people, they feel alone. When you're going through a trial, when things around you seem upset and they don't make sense, you feel like you are alone. And this is so common. You know what? Every one of us feels that way. It's universal. You are not alone. But there is a way out. And it is spelled out, not through self-help books, not through psychology, but in the pages of the Bible. We don't often talk about being depressed because, you know, depression has a bad name when you're a Christian.

After all, we just read the passage, many sorrows have the wicked. So if I'm depressed, that means I'm wicked. Well, I want to pop that balloon right now. Not by backing off of the statement or diminishing it in any way, but walking through it and accepting it and actually loving that the statement was made because the statement itself is the solution.

If the Bible says that sorrow comes from wickedness, then it does. It does. Own it. We all make mistakes. Romans chapter 3, 23, you probably got it memorized. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Own it. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 8. John agrees with the apostle Paul.

John says if we say, this is 1 John 1 and verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Who was John talking to? A bunch of sinners. John wrote this to a group that hang out in a bar.

No. This was written to the church. This was written to you and me. The way out of this problem is through it. Sorrow comes from wickedness. And guess what? We own that. Don't start pointing fingers because you own it too. I own it. Some Christians are afraid to admit that they're depressed, that they're bummed out, that they're very unhappy, or that they're anxious. The message in the Psalms is not written to condemn you or make you feel like a second class Christian. It's simply giving you the right tool to fight the problem. It's identifying the problem so that you can fight.

That's what I want to do today is help us all to fight the good fight. And help others once we come through the tunnel. If you feel blue or downcast, if you feel forgotten or alone, what should you do? Well, let's walk through some of it. Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 7.

Proverbs 20 and verse 7. The righteous man walks in his integrity. Integrity. The whole man. You sincerely walk with God. You're not a good Christian on the Sabbath and do whatever you feel like doing and compromising on whatever you feel like compromising the rest of the week. You walk in integrity. The whole man. And what's the end result? His children are blessed. There's that word blessed. His children are happy after him.

Proverbs 28 and verse 14. Proverbs 28 and verse 14. Happy is the man who is always reverent. Always respectful.

Never disrespecting. Never letting those words come out of your mouth. Happy is the man. What's the end result of being respectful? Is it, you know, you did your duty as a good soldier? Maybe. But there's a personal benefit to it. And the personal benefit is you become happy. Happy is the man who's always reverent. He who hardens his heart. Oh, those dirty rotten fill in the blank. It doesn't matter who it is. Whoever you harden your heart towards. Could be the Democrats. Could be the Republicans. When I grew up here, I was very conservative. Now Washington has a reputation of being somewhat to the left. I don't know if Spokane is still conservative or not.

But in the kingdom of God, there's not going to be Republicans and Democrats. There's not going to be liberal and conservatives. There's going to be righteous only. People will be generous, which is considered liberal. And people will be upright and have integrity, which is considered conservative. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 13. Happy is the man. Proverbs 3 and verse 13. Happy is the man who finds wisdom. I don't have time to go into how you get wisdom, but the short answer is learn the word of God. And the man who gains understanding for her proceeds are far better than profits and her gain than fine gold.

Well, that kind of sounds like if I'm depressed, it's my fault.

No, it simply means you're the only one who can do something about it.

It's not about blame. It's about solution. But how can you fix it? How can you be happy? Well, not with money. We try to medicate happiness. We medicate it with alcohol. Mankind tries to medicate it with drugs, prescription, or otherwise. We try to medicate it with things, with stuff. We try to medicate it with other people. We try to cover over the pain instead of fixing the pain. But happiness is something you can't do. You can't gain from stuff. You can't gain from alcohol. You can't gain from drugs. Ecclesiastes chapter 5. Solomon tried it all. And he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. An incredibly wise book. Ecclesiastes 5 verse 9.

Moreover, Ecclesiastes 5-9, the prophet of the land is for all. Even the king is served from the field. He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver. So he's contrasting good, hard work with simply loving money, acquiring money, loving the work, loving the accomplishment, or loving the money. Medicating yourself with stuff. Nor he who loves abundance with increase. This is also vanity. In other words, temporary. Like a puff of air. When you exhale in the wintertime and you get that frost right in front of you, and then it just disappears. That's vanity in a nutshell. You breathe it out and it's gone. And that's what wealth is. It's not going to make you happy. Verse 11. When goods increase, they increase who eat them. So what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes? You get a lot of stuff, your parties get bigger, and more people eat your food. And you get to watch more people have a good time with your stuff. There's no benefit to you.

Verse 12. The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much. He goes and he does a great job and he comes home. Or she does a great job that day.

And she lays her head on that pillow and she's out. And he's out. And he's out. But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. It's not your things or the lack of things that will make you happy or sad. Happiness is a state of mind and has nothing to do with the trials that you're in. My granddad Willie Foster taught me that. He must have got it from Ecclesiastes. Happiness is a state of mind. It's not anything that you can hold on to. And it's not determined by how many trials you're in. Verse 13. There is a severe evil which I see under the sun. Riches kept for their owner to his hurt. But those riches perish through misfortune. He who begets a son, there is nothing in his hand when a baby's born. He's bare naked and has nothing. He came from his mother's womb naked and he shall return to go as he came. And he shall take nothing from his labor which he may carry in his hand. And this also is a severe evil. Just exactly as he came, so shall he go. And what profit he who has labored for the wind. I love the expression of the wind because you can't hold on to it. You squeeze it and you open up and it's not there.

This is Hebrew poetry. This is big picture stuff. All his days he also eats in darkness. And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger. Who eats in darkness? The man who trusts worldly things. This is a very dark place. Whether you eat little or much, you can be happy. Don't trust your stuff. Verse 18. Here's what I have seen. It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink and enjoy the good of his labor. You should be with people and friends and enjoy every moment of life. That's what's good. That creates a memory.

All those trips we took in our youth group that we called YOU back then with each other. Having a good time, enjoying things. That I remember. What we ate on those trips. What I wore on those trips. I have no idea. The people we were with. The fun we had. The accomplishments. That I remember. That sticks with you. That's not vanity. The other stuff, I don't remember. Except that green bus. I remember that.

Verse 19. As for every man whom God has given riches and wealth and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life. He's not going to look back and fret and have regrets. The man who enjoys his labor. The woman who enjoys her family. Enjoy the potlucks you have. The dances you have. The ski weekends you have.

Coming to services every week together. With each other. And actually being interested in each other. Those are the things Solomon suggests last. Verse 20. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life. Because God keeps him busy with what? The joys of his heart.

I want to spend the balance, then, of this sermon with the solution to how to be happy. It is really simple, but it's very specific. And a lot of times we read over this. It's actually one of our hymns. And we sing it from time to time. But we miss the details. And the details are so important. If you want to be happy. If you want to be happy, don't skip the details. Because the code, the key to happiness. Is right here in Psalms 1. The very first Psalm. It's the guidebook, the path, the map, the GPS, if you will, to happiness. And you will know when you have arrived. Psalm 1. 1. Blessed is the man. Now, in our very first page in our hymnal, Psalm 1, it says, Blessed and happy is the man. They must have had a Hebrew dictionary. And they must have looked the word up. Because the word means happy. Happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But delight, his delight, is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers, that brings forth its fruit in season, whose leaf shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.

So that word, blessed, is the same word used for happy. So happy is the man. So let's break the first part of this psalm down. Phrase by phrase, to see what God is actually telling us. And then let's believe it. And let's put it into action. And let's become people who can actually help other people become happy. By becoming happy ourselves. There are three things that we should avoid. And one thing that we need to do in order to be happy. No matter what life throws at us, no matter what we are going through, we can be happy. If we avoid these three things and do the one. Let's first look at the three things that we need to avoid. If we want to be happy. Thing number one. Don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Number two. Don't stand in the path of sinners. And number three. Don't sit in the seat of the scornful. Notice the verbs in these three phrases. The verbs are very important. We walk, stand, and sit. It's a good reason for those words. Those verbs are very important to understand this psalm. Let's start with the very first phrase. Don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Remember, this is Hebrew poetry. And the word walk conveys action. In other words, it's your way of life. The way your life goes, the direction you take, the actions you take, the words you speak, that's your walk, if you will. Counsel is simply getting advice. Other people who give you direction in life. We heard about that in the sermonette today. And the ungodly. Who are the ungodly? That's anybody that contradicts what God says. So it's really simple. Do not let your way of life be directed by the advice of people who contradict God. Simple. First thing we need to do to be happy. Do not let the course of your life be directed by people who give you bad advice. So if you want to be happy, don't take advice from people who contradict God. But that's not necessarily as easy as it sounds. You are inundated every single day by ungodly advice. From people that actually give, for the most part, pretty good advice. But they always slip something in there that's ungodly. And you have to guard yourself. Self-help videos and YouTube rants. They have YouTube and Instagram video logs. Our youth are just plugged in and super well-informed. My kids, wow, they know things that are going on before I know they're going on. I still got, you know, Fox News going informing me. They're way ahead of me. They got YouTube and Instagram. They heard about it hours before I did.

These are usually young people ranting about something, throwing in moral values, saying things like, it's all good. Don't judge that. They can do that. It's fine. We should actually follow that Hollywood actress's advice on marriage, on her fifth marriage. And then they generally blame other people, meaning you don't need to self-evaluate and you don't need to repent. Be careful when you're watching these video logs or vlogs they call them. The Instagram stories, they used to be 10 seconds. Now they can string those bad boys together and go on for hours. Advice, advice, advice. But they contradict God. You have to be careful. Don't take your moral advice from somebody who's sitting in a circle with crystals all around and humming. Might be your first clue. You laugh. You laugh. I'm being literal. I'm serious. Don't do it. Because it's out there. There are how-to videos. Self-help books. There's no end to them. But they often throw in some kind of a moral message, and they often contradict God. My wife watches or follows these people that help you save money or help you organize your house. Or she's a photographer, and so she pays for classes from people that really know photography very well. But every once in a while, they'll throw in some moral thing. At the end of the book, they'll say you have to have faith. They're going through how to clean your house. And they'll say, well, you need to clean your life too and have faith. Well, yes, you do. You know, you agree with that. And then they've got to throw something in there. And don't judge other people. Well, that's right. Yeah, that's good. And let them do this, this, this, this, and this, which is absolutely against God. You shut the book. That's when you shut the book. You take the information that you can glean and throw the rest away. If you want to be happy. If you want to be happy. Do not get your advice from people who contradict God.

Satan tries to get you in ways you would not think that have anything to do with the Bible. This isn't even related to the Bible. I don't have to be careful here. Let's take diet, for example. I don't need to be careful with food. The Bible is not a diet book. I agree. It's not a diet book. But Satan will try to get you to disagree with God with a diet. He'll try to get you to disagree with God with exercise. He will try to get you to disagree with God in any way he possibly can. Don't take advice from the ungodly. If people contradict God, turn the video off or shut the book. If you want to be happy. If you want to be miserable, walk on.

What about veganism or vegetarianism? There's probably some of you here who are vegetarian. God doesn't condemn it. But it does contradict Him. You have to be very careful, brethren, to not contradict your Creator. He knew what he was doing. When he commanded ancient Israel to eat lamb at the Passover. Kind of a big deal.

When he commanded them to eat meat. It was a command.

Was God wrong? Oh no, but all the research says. Research? He's your Creator. He's the Great God.

Romans chapter 14 speaks against vegetarianism. I don't have time to go there. You can read it yourself. It doesn't condemn it. I mean, Daniel went vegetarian, if you will remember. He had to. Nebuchadnezzar was feeding him all kinds of delicacies, it says in English. Things that he was not. Things that he was not allowed to eat. So he simply asked to go vegetarian. And he did better than everybody who ate the king's delicacies. He did fine.

But God commanded ancient Israel to eat meat. He blessed them with cattle. He told them to pray for milk in the wintertime.

Do you disagree with your maker? You see, it's just diet. The Bible has nothing to do with diet. I don't need to be careful with diet. Satan will try to get you in any way he can to disagree with God. Do not walk in the counsel, the advice, of people who contradict God if you want to be happy.

What about the grain-free diet? Oh, that's a big deal now. Grain-free. There are some conditions like celiac where you have to be grain-free. It could literally kill you. But you have to be careful. Be careful what you say about eating grain. Oh yeah, but I read the book. Read the Bible. Jesus is the bread of life.

Did we forget that? We observe the days of unleavened bread. In Deuteronomy 7, God promised to bless Israel with grain if they obeyed Him. Oh yeah, but God didn't have all the research we have. He didn't have the book, Wheat Belly. We do. He's the Creator. Don't disagree with your God. With your Creator. Is it possible you have taken counsel from the ungodly? Is it possible to not be a horse or a mule where you have to be bridled and brought back to Him, but you can self-examine and go, oh, I see where this anxiety is coming from. I see where my unhappiness is coming from. I'm disagreeing with God. I'm not walking on His path. I'm walking on everybody else's path. The video logs in the self-help books and the odd diets that we go on. Psalm 104 says that God caused bread and grain to strengthen a man's heart. That's its purpose. When you do some homework, you see that there's an evolutionary premise behind most of those diets. They contradict God and they say that man evolved. And that's why we should not eat grain. And many of us blindly follow and say, yeah, but the research proves it. It's only half the story, brethren, and I don't have time to go into the rest of it, but God understood grain. He made grain perfectly. And if you fermented it, which they did in ancient times until about, what, the 1400s, when we started using the yeast process now, I agree the bread today will harm your health badly. If you go buy bread just off the shelf in the store, it is not good for human consumption. I, no problem there. I agree. But if you eat the grain the way God taught man to eat the grain, it's absolutely healthy. And the gluten is broken down into such a, the protein is broken down in such a small, small particle that it can no longer be called gluten. Grain actually becomes gluten free. When you ferment it. Bet the research books didn't tell you that. But it does. And I'm not here to rant on diets. I'm here to help us to walk out of being unhappy. And you know, one of the things that makes us unhappy? Getting counsel from people that say God is wrong. And I will, because I absolutely love you, I absolutely love my brethren. And I absolutely love the Northwest. We'll say this with no timidity at all. Be careful to not get counsel from the ungodly. But that's not the only thing you have to do to be happy. There's two more things to avoid and one thing you have to do. Let's move on. It also says, Don't stand in the path of sinners. Now, the first verb was walk. That's your way of life. This one is just stand. It's not your way of life. You're not walking down the path of sinners. It doesn't say don't walk down the path of sinners. The assumption is you don't. The assumption is you live a pretty moral life. Don't even stand. In the path of sinners. Stand simply means stand. It doesn't mean you're moving down it. It just means you dabble in it. Just once in a while. So it's not your lifestyle, which would obviously create unhappiness and probably death. An early death.

This means don't mess up even a little. Unhappiness starts closing in and surrounding your heart when you dabble with sin. When you experiment with sin. We fool ourselves by saying, well, I don't live a sinful life. Let me be specific. Don't self-medicate. Don't get drunk once in a while. Be careful. And this is a common way Satan tricks us. When you're watching Netflix or Amazon Prime, those streaming services, Satan can creep in on you. Watch the ratings before you click play. Or be ready to cover your eyes. Don't dabble.

Don't make little compromises to keep friends at school or at work. Like going to that holiday party and you just don't talk about it. Whenever you're out in the world, you say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Because you don't really want to stand out. But you dull your conscience every time you do that. You make one little compromise after another and you dabble in sin. You stand in the path. You're not walking in the path. You're just standing in it. And unhappiness and depression close in and surrounding you. And then you say, why am I so miserable? Don't dull your conscience. You only hurt yourself. That's where despair comes from. So the second one is tricky. You're not to walk down the path, but you know that already. In this song, God is telling us, don't even stand there. Stay as far away from sin as you possibly can. If you want to be happy, don't get counsel from people that contradict God. And don't dabble in sin. And there's one more thing, really big deal to avoid. Number three. One who does not sit in the seat of the scornful. Sitting. Now there's a verb for you. You're sitting. And sitting connotes inaction. You're sitting it out. You're on the sidelines. You have checked out of life. Life is now everybody else's fault. This is the scourner, the complainer. It's always somebody else's fault. You want to be happy? If you find yourself complaining, stand up and do something. That's the point. Get off your rear end and move. The only way out of happiness is to walk out of it. You cannot sit in the seat of the scornful and think happiness is going to come to you. Happiness does not come to you. You walk to it. You cannot sit in the seat of the scornful and be happy. And be happy. You can't get bad advice. You can't dabble in sin. And you can't sit on the sidelines and complain. You have to walk. Which way? Where do I go? I'm depressed. I'm anxious all the time. I can't sleep at night. I don't know where to go. Very next statement in the song. Psalm chapter 1 and verse 2. Here's the solution. Let's pay attention to the details. Let's not just read over it as some quaint psalm that we've known since we were kids. Blessed and happy is the man. La la la la. I never pay attention to the words. Here we go. Verse 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. What does that mean? We rarely use the word delight anymore. And meditation today means sitting on some mat and emptying your mind. And that can't possibly be what he's talking about. So what does this actually mean? The word delight means to see good in something. In other words, to have a positive opinion towards, to agree with. He reads the word of God, and instead of the stubborn mule of Psalm 32, the happy person gladly accepts the word, takes it in and says, yeah, this is what I need to do. And the word meditate simply means to concentrate, to not blow it off, take it seriously. So you take it joyfully and willingly, and you take it seriously, and you dive in, and you look deeper.

And what do you look at? Well, the law. And what does law mean? And what does law mean? Well, law is a set of rules, right? Do this and don't do that. I need to concentrate on that every day. Do this and don't do that, and do this and don't do that, and do this. No, that's not what the word means. It's actually the Hebrew word Torah. We've all heard Torah before, right? It just means teaching. It includes the dos and the don'ts. The thou shalt and the thou shalt not. But it's everything that God teaches. It's His entire word. So you're to see good in God's word, you're to value it, and you're to concentrate on it. You don't just read it and forget about it. You make it part of your life. You let it guide you. And it's not just the rules. It's the whole thing, the Torah, which includes the life lessons that you're to gain from stories like Abraham, and Moses, and Joseph, and Samuel, and Elijah, and David, and Ruth, and Esther, and Deborah, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Paul. And negative stories like Ananias and Sapphira, Simon the Sorcerer, Pontius Pilate, the Pharisees, all of it. You want to be happy? Willingly accept the Word of God and take it in and make it part of your life. Every part of the Bible, the Torah, make it part of your life. Make it who you are. Make it your identity, your brand.

You want to be happy? Avoid three pitfalls of happiness and do the one thing that will truly make you happy. Don't get advice from people who contradict God. Reject it. Don't dabble in sins of this world. Don't even stand in the path of the sinner. Don't sit on the sidelines, brimming everybody else for your problems. Stand up and do something.

Do something about your anxiety. Do something about your sadness. Do something about your depression. What is that something you do? Delight in God's Word. Concentrate on it day and night. Make it who you are. Is it really that simple? Yep. It is. That's the bottom line. When others are absolutely miserable in your situation, you can be happy. You can help others. You will be a pillar in the house of God. You will become a support to other people and show them how to be happy. So when it says blessed as a man, it doesn't mean you're going to have a trouble for it. Trouble-free life. Psalm 34. Let's go there. Psalm 34 and verse 19.

It doesn't mean you're going to have a trouble-free life. It means God's going to help you through it. And you're going to learn along the way to become like God, like we heard in the sermon. Psalm 34 and verse 19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. You're going to have problems. You're going to go through hard times. But the Lord delivers him out of them all. How? By telling you to avoid bad advice, don't dabble in sin, and don't sit it out on the sidelines, but read his word and make it part of your life. And the things you can't do, the heavy lifting, the miracles that you need in your life, he'll do that. God's got this. We all fall down. We all get weighed down. We sin. The world sins around us and does things to us that aren't our fault. And we can become very crushed by that, or we can be happy. And there's a way back to happiness. There is a light at the end of a very long tunnel. There is a way to get the weight off of your shoulders. And it's a quiet and peaceful way. But God will help you do it. We will participate in doing it by following the words of Psalm chapter 1, but God actually does the heavy lifting. Meditate on his ways. Delight in them, which means think that they're good. And move your focus off of the troubles around you. And look to how you can practice God's way better. Look to how you can help other people. And lift yourself up. I have heard so many good things about my parents when they were here. And it's true. It was a good time in the church back then. But the best time, brethren, our best time is ahead of us. The kingdom is coming. A better day is coming. Happiness will be the mood of the kingdom of God. We're the kingdom of God in embryo today. It's not just something that God suggests we become. You know, you might become happy. We're supposed to reflect his character on this earth. We are the light of the world. May I suggest that if you find yourself in the position that we've all been in, where you're anxious or you're sad or you're even depressed, that you consider it a responsibility to walk out of that anxiety, sadness, or depression, that you consider it a responsibility to be that light to the world. And make a commitment to yourself that you will not accept counsel from those people who disagree with God. You will not dabble in sin and just get drunk a little bit. Just watch a little bit of bad TV on Netflix or whatever it is that you might dabble in. And you will not sit it out on the sidelines and blame everybody else. Oh, it's those people. It's why we're upset. That's why I'm sad. But you will get up and you will follow the Word of God. Happy is the man who delights in the teachings of God.