Where happiness is found - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Psalm 106:3,

"Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right."

The psalmist identifies certain ones as having something we all
desire: blessedness. Being blessed isn't a term we often use in the
context of today's public discourse. "Privileged", "lucky",
"fortunate", "happy" are some of the words more commonly heard, but
approximate the same idea. What the psalmist expresses here is very
similar to what Jesus said in his sermon on the mount. Among his
beatitudes, Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit
the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be
shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:5-10.

In each of these beatitudes, Jesus gave the reason why those who are
meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, who
are pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted
because of their righteousness are blessed. Why? Because they are the
ones who will inherit the earth, they will "be filled", they will be
shown mercy, they will see God, they will be sons of God, because
theirs is the kingdom of God. Those who have these things are truly
blessed, privileged, fortunate and happy.

Both in what the psalmist says in Psalm 106:3 and in Jesus'
beatitudes, I see the arrival at the blessed or happy estate not as a
result of what is observed in ones life, that "maintaining justice",
"constantly do what is right", being meek, hungering and thirsting for
righteousness, being merciful, being pure in heart, being a
peacemaker, or living one's life in a righteous manner bring the
blessed state, but rather manifest something very important. Those
whose lives are marked by these things demonstrate they have become
God's children and that they are being conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ, Romans 8:28-29.

God predestined that all who embrace Jesus Christ in faith will go
through a spiritually maturing process. The perfections of Jesus
Christ are what God begins to build in our lives when we become his
children. We become his children by embracing him in faith, "To all
who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right
to become children of God...". Once we do, the process begins.

It is the fruit of that process that is identified by the psalmist and
Jesus in his sermon. When the fruit is observed in our lives, our
blessed position is acknowledged: ours is the kingdom of God.

I realize that on many Sunday mornings sermons are preached that if we
would be a peacemaker, we would be blessed, or if we would be pure in
heart, we would be blessed. But that misses the point. Blessedness
comes because we are God's children, blessedness comes because we will
see God. Living changed lives, maintaining justice, doing what is
right, and so on, reflects we are in the process God's has predestined
for those who are his: we are being conformed to the likeness of his
Son. When that fruit is observed, the blessed estate needs to be
acknowledged.

This is where true happiness is found. This is how a blessed life
becomes ours: embracing Jesus Christ in faith, bringing us into God's
own kingdom. How wonderful he has made the opportunity ours!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com