“Delight in God”
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Psalm 37:3-5
Introduction: Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” I believe what she meant by this, is that if you expect to be happy, more often than not you will be disappointed because there are too many things in life that can make you unhappy. You will be setting your expectations to the point where you will be let down time and time again. But if you live the right kind of life, then happiness will come to you; it will be a by-product of the way you live!
The truth is, the way to bring happiness into your life is to delight yourself in God, and let God lead how you live. As you walk down this path, when you get to the end of your life, you will be able to smile and be happy knowing that you made a difference with your life; you impacted the lives of others; your life counted for God. So this morning, let’s see how we can understand more about delighting ourselves in the Lord.
I. TRUST in the Lord and Do Good- (Psalm 139:13; Proverbs 3:5-6)
a. Crash course- All too often the unhappiness we experience in life
comes from a collision of values. Meaning that we might say some things matter to us, but the way we live our lives shows something different. For example, people will tell you that their health is important to them, and you want to believe them. But if you were to look closely at their lives you would see this is not true, because they do not do the things that allow them to be healthy. They don’t get enough sleep, and/or they don’t eat well, and/or they don’t exercise. And on and on it goes. If health was really a value, they would design their lifestyle around this value.
And in fact you see this change happen when someone goes to the doctor, and doctor tells them that if they don’t change their diet, or quit smoking, or exercise more, they will die soon. It is then, when the end of their life seems imminent, that they change their behavior, and start to live out this value of health.
The good news is that we can evaluate our lives and see where the way we are living collides with the values we say we have. We can begin to make changes that will allow us to live out what we say we value.
This is really a collision of wills. Our will is colliding with God’s will If you think about your life, you realize that you have been created. The Bible tells us that we are created by God. As Psalm 139:13 says of God: “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Each of us has the same 24-hour day to live our lives. You can’t do everything that you want to do in this 24-hour day, and so you have to make choices; set priorities. If God designed our lives, and God designed our day, then the best way to make choices is to do what God intends for us to do in that 24-hour period.
Here is where we come to the collision point. Many times during each day the choices we make do not go along with God’s will, but rather follows our will. We choose to do the things we want to do; things God never intended us to do. We choose the path we travel each day and make the decisions. But the truth is, when we choose our own way, at some point it is like driving down a one-way street; there will be a collision with God’s will. As Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
b. Willpower- The question then becomes, ‘how do we stay in the
middle of God’s will? As we read Psalm 37:3-5 for our scripture reading, we were told to “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this.” But how do we avoid our will getting in the way of God’s will; God’s good and perfect plan for our lives?
The passage actually gives us 3 ways or principles for staying in God’s will.
Principle One is an issue of trust. “Trust in the Lord and do good.” To trust God means to obey what He tells us to do; to believe that what he tells us to do is the good and right thing for our lives. If we don’t trust God, then we will want to do it our way; we will want to follow our will; we will want to take control.
Illus. Think for a moment back to your driver’s ed. Training. Remember how the car had 2 steering wheels and 2 brakes? Why was that? That is because if we did something wrong, or if we panicked, the instructor could take control of the car and make things right. Our life is an issue of control. Who is in control, you or God? It really is a struggle over control of the steering wheel.
We seem to always be wrestling with God for control. Why is this? Because we don’t like the direction God is taking us. It is because we think we can do a better job than the God of the universe; the creator of our lives. Sounds kind of silly when I say it like that, doesn’t it? You see, we let God drive as long as He is taking us down the path we want to go.
EX. It is like the university in Texas that built some new buildings, but they didn’t pour any sidewalks. Instead, they waited and watched as the students walked from building to building. After a while the students started to wear a path in the ground. The university officials learned from this the path the students wanted to take, and then they built the sidewalks along the worn paths. We want God to do the same with us, but this isn’t how it works.
II. DELIGHT Yourself in the Lord- (Psalm 37:4; Ecclesiastes 2:1-11)
a. Staying in God’s will- The second principle of our scripture
passage is to stay in God’s will by delighting ourselves in God. Hearing again Psalm 37:4, it reads: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” The word ‘delight’ in the Hebrew means ‘to enjoy.’ When you delight in someone, you enjoy their company; you want to spend time with them; you are blessed by being present with them.
This verse is telling us we need to delight in God. We need to learn how to enjoy being in God’s presence. We need to “want” to spend time with God. We need to let this time we spend with God be a time of blessing in our lives. So many people haven’t learned how to be with God; delight in God. Consequently, they struggle to be happy in life. Without delighting in God, we will not know how to be happy in the midst of struggles and hardships.
What is it you desire in life? More often than not the answer to this question might border on the selfish…A nicer house; a faster car; more money; or for my kids an Xbox 360. We all have these desires, and want to receive the fulfillment of our heart’s desires. The problem is that for the most part if these desires are fulfilled in us we will still not be happy. If you aren’t happy without these things you desire, these material things will not make you happy. Happiness comes from a relationship with God.
b. Fulfillment of our heart’s desire- Let’s look at an example in the
Bible for a moment. Let’s look at King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, “I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 "Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. 4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well—the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. 10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
What do we see in this passage? We see King Solomon seek after pleasure; accomplishments. possessions; wives; concubines; gold and silver and livestock. Just the gold alone that King Solomon received from the leaders of other nations was estimated to be 1 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR! That is billion with a “b.” That is a lot of money in our time, so think about how great a sum it was back then, almost 3,000 years ago. What is King Solomon’s take on all of this? He says in verse 8 that he had “the delights of the heart of man.” Then in verse 10 he says: “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired.” And what came for King Solomon in all of this? What did he gain? His answer is found in verse 11: “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, EVERYTHING WAS MEANINGLESS, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
The desires of people will not gain us happiness or ultimate satisfaction. But we can have the desires of our heart satisfied. How? By delighting in God. As we delight in God, we begin to delight in the things of God, and our desires are changed to become what God desires. Now we are in a place to receive from God. Now we are in a place to find fulfillment. We must delight ourselves in the Lord more than we long for our own heart’s desires.
III. COMMIT Your Way to the Lord- (Psalm 37:5; Luke 11:28)
a. Centering ourselves in God- The last principle in bringing
happiness to our lives is to commit our way to the Lord. To do this we must center ourselves in God’s will. We have to come to the place where we commit o following God’s will. We often ask God to show us His will, but when we do this, do we mean to follow it if it is different from our will? God says back to us: ‘You have to commit to following My will, and then I’ll show you what it is.’ It isn’t about knowing the plan first, analyzing the plan, and then deciding if you want to follow it or not. It is about saying to God that you are committed to His will for your life, and then as you live each day, God reveals what you need to know of His will each day.
Do you believe that God has a plan for you? This is of utmost importance, because if you don’t believe this, you won’t seek to be committed to it or seek to live it out. EX. There are a number of people I am mentoring right now. And this is exactly what we are doing in our mentoring time; seeking to know and follow God’s will for their lives. I love to walk with them, and seek with them the discernment of God’s will; God’s plan. It isn’t always easy to figure this play out, or even live it out when you know it.
Why is this? It is because we have trust issues. I know many people who have trouble trusting others. Consequently they have trouble trusting God. It is difficult, if not impossible to commit yourself to God’s plan if you don’t trust God. The answer really is to take the step in faith. To commit to God is not about pretending. To commit to God is about really giving ourselves over to God and living the life He sets before us.
Committing to God is about reading your Bible regularly, or doing a devotion regularly. I have a daily devotional reading I send out to many people via e-mail each day. If you are not on my list and would like to be, talk to me afterwards, and give me your e-mail address. You also need to pray regularly each day. Prayer is not just asking God for things, it is about learning to listen to God’s promptings in your mind. On top of this you need to find ways to serve God, whether it be in the church or outside. The best way to do this is to think about how you are gifted and what you enjoying doing. Then find a service project that matches your talent.
b. Having a quality life- When we understand that following God is
the path to lasting happiness, we will start to experience this happiness in our lives. We have to put good habits into our lives. Maybe you spend a lot of time on the internet. You need to set aside some of that time for reading God’s word and prayer. Maybe you only come to church once or twice a month; you need to make it a weekly, if not bi-weekly practice to be in church. As Jesus says in Luke 11:28- “.. ‘But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God AND put it into practice.’”
We need to understand that our net worth is not our real worth. If this were true then those who have a great amount of money would be more happy than we are, and more loved by God. This is not the case at all!! In fact, so often you hear of those who are wealthy not being happy. You regularly hear of those with money going bankrupt. You see those with money fighting with family members over money, or trying to take from each other. Our net worth is not our real worth!
Happiness starts and ends with trusting God; obedience to God. We step out in faith and allow God to take the steering wheel and drive the car and take us to where He wants us to be. But it’s not a passive process like riding in a real car is. God wants us to pay attention and take action along the way. Our enduring legacy in life with result from the actions we take in our lifetime. We need to know what we value, and then set goals that allow us to achieve those values. If our value is our family, then we need to make sure we are spending quality time with our family. If we value our health, then we need to eat right, and sleep, and exercise, and see a doctor regularly. AND if we value our relationship with God, we need to do the things that keep us in a strong relationship with God!!
Conclusion: We say we want to be happy. This comes from living the right way; living according to God’s plan. This comes from making an eternal difference with our lives. Our time on this earth is limited. If we truly want to ensure that we’ve fulfilled our purpose when it’s time to go, then we must stay squarely in God’s will, trusting ourselves to Him, delighting in Him, and committing ourselves to His path.
Let me close with this STORY: There is a story of a young girl who got a canary for a present. She loved to hear the canary sing; to make its beautiful noises. As spring came and the weather got better, she thought the bird might like to be outside with other birds; to hear their sounds. She had her father connect the bird cage to a tree branch and hung the cage outside. The canary heard the chirps and tweets of the sparrows, and before long the canary started to imitate their unmusical sounds. In the fall the girl brought her bird back inside, but to her dismay the canary no longer sang beautifully, but only made the unmusical chirps and tweets.
This is a sad but true story. Even more, it can be the story of you and me. If we choose the path that is not God’s will, we will be influenced by the world, and will begin to imitate the world’s way, NOT GOD’S. This will only lead us to heartache and unhappiness. Remember, “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” A by-product of trusting in the Lord, delighting ourselves in the Lord, and committing ourselves to God’s plan. Amen.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Psalm 37:3-5
Introduction: Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” I believe what she meant by this, is that if you expect to be happy, more often than not you will be disappointed because there are too many things in life that can make you unhappy. You will be setting your expectations to the point where you will be let down time and time again. But if you live the right kind of life, then happiness will come to you; it will be a by-product of the way you live!
The truth is, the way to bring happiness into your life is to delight yourself in God, and let God lead how you live. As you walk down this path, when you get to the end of your life, you will be able to smile and be happy knowing that you made a difference with your life; you impacted the lives of others; your life counted for God. So this morning, let’s see how we can understand more about delighting ourselves in the Lord.
I. TRUST in the Lord and Do Good- (Psalm 139:13; Proverbs 3:5-6)
a. Crash course- All too often the unhappiness we experience in life
comes from a collision of values. Meaning that we might say some things matter to us, but the way we live our lives shows something different. For example, people will tell you that their health is important to them, and you want to believe them. But if you were to look closely at their lives you would see this is not true, because they do not do the things that allow them to be healthy. They don’t get enough sleep, and/or they don’t eat well, and/or they don’t exercise. And on and on it goes. If health was really a value, they would design their lifestyle around this value.
And in fact you see this change happen when someone goes to the doctor, and doctor tells them that if they don’t change their diet, or quit smoking, or exercise more, they will die soon. It is then, when the end of their life seems imminent, that they change their behavior, and start to live out this value of health.
The good news is that we can evaluate our lives and see where the way we are living collides with the values we say we have. We can begin to make changes that will allow us to live out what we say we value.
This is really a collision of wills. Our will is colliding with God’s will If you think about your life, you realize that you have been created. The Bible tells us that we are created by God. As Psalm 139:13 says of God: “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Each of us has the same 24-hour day to live our lives. You can’t do everything that you want to do in this 24-hour day, and so you have to make choices; set priorities. If God designed our lives, and God designed our day, then the best way to make choices is to do what God intends for us to do in that 24-hour period.
Here is where we come to the collision point. Many times during each day the choices we make do not go along with God’s will, but rather follows our will. We choose to do the things we want to do; things God never intended us to do. We choose the path we travel each day and make the decisions. But the truth is, when we choose our own way, at some point it is like driving down a one-way street; there will be a collision with God’s will. As Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
b. Willpower- The question then becomes, ‘how do we stay in the
middle of God’s will? As we read Psalm 37:3-5 for our scripture reading, we were told to “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this.” But how do we avoid our will getting in the way of God’s will; God’s good and perfect plan for our lives?
The passage actually gives us 3 ways or principles for staying in God’s will.
Principle One is an issue of trust. “Trust in the Lord and do good.” To trust God means to obey what He tells us to do; to believe that what he tells us to do is the good and right thing for our lives. If we don’t trust God, then we will want to do it our way; we will want to follow our will; we will want to take control.
Illus. Think for a moment back to your driver’s ed. Training. Remember how the car had 2 steering wheels and 2 brakes? Why was that? That is because if we did something wrong, or if we panicked, the instructor could take control of the car and make things right. Our life is an issue of control. Who is in control, you or God? It really is a struggle over control of the steering wheel.
We seem to always be wrestling with God for control. Why is this? Because we don’t like the direction God is taking us. It is because we think we can do a better job than the God of the universe; the creator of our lives. Sounds kind of silly when I say it like that, doesn’t it? You see, we let God drive as long as He is taking us down the path we want to go.
EX. It is like the university in Texas that built some new buildings, but they didn’t pour any sidewalks. Instead, they waited and watched as the students walked from building to building. After a while the students started to wear a path in the ground. The university officials learned from this the path the students wanted to take, and then they built the sidewalks along the worn paths. We want God to do the same with us, but this isn’t how it works.
II. DELIGHT Yourself in the Lord- (Psalm 37:4; Ecclesiastes 2:1-11)
a. Staying in God’s will- The second principle of our scripture
passage is to stay in God’s will by delighting ourselves in God. Hearing again Psalm 37:4, it reads: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” The word ‘delight’ in the Hebrew means ‘to enjoy.’ When you delight in someone, you enjoy their company; you want to spend time with them; you are blessed by being present with them.
This verse is telling us we need to delight in God. We need to learn how to enjoy being in God’s presence. We need to “want” to spend time with God. We need to let this time we spend with God be a time of blessing in our lives. So many people haven’t learned how to be with God; delight in God. Consequently, they struggle to be happy in life. Without delighting in God, we will not know how to be happy in the midst of struggles and hardships.
What is it you desire in life? More often than not the answer to this question might border on the selfish…A nicer house; a faster car; more money; or for my kids an Xbox 360. We all have these desires, and want to receive the fulfillment of our heart’s desires. The problem is that for the most part if these desires are fulfilled in us we will still not be happy. If you aren’t happy without these things you desire, these material things will not make you happy. Happiness comes from a relationship with God.
b. Fulfillment of our heart’s desire- Let’s look at an example in the
Bible for a moment. Let’s look at King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, “I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 "Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. 4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well—the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. 10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
What do we see in this passage? We see King Solomon seek after pleasure; accomplishments. possessions; wives; concubines; gold and silver and livestock. Just the gold alone that King Solomon received from the leaders of other nations was estimated to be 1 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR! That is billion with a “b.” That is a lot of money in our time, so think about how great a sum it was back then, almost 3,000 years ago. What is King Solomon’s take on all of this? He says in verse 8 that he had “the delights of the heart of man.” Then in verse 10 he says: “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired.” And what came for King Solomon in all of this? What did he gain? His answer is found in verse 11: “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, EVERYTHING WAS MEANINGLESS, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
The desires of people will not gain us happiness or ultimate satisfaction. But we can have the desires of our heart satisfied. How? By delighting in God. As we delight in God, we begin to delight in the things of God, and our desires are changed to become what God desires. Now we are in a place to receive from God. Now we are in a place to find fulfillment. We must delight ourselves in the Lord more than we long for our own heart’s desires.
III. COMMIT Your Way to the Lord- (Psalm 37:5; Luke 11:28)
a. Centering ourselves in God- The last principle in bringing
happiness to our lives is to commit our way to the Lord. To do this we must center ourselves in God’s will. We have to come to the place where we commit o following God’s will. We often ask God to show us His will, but when we do this, do we mean to follow it if it is different from our will? God says back to us: ‘You have to commit to following My will, and then I’ll show you what it is.’ It isn’t about knowing the plan first, analyzing the plan, and then deciding if you want to follow it or not. It is about saying to God that you are committed to His will for your life, and then as you live each day, God reveals what you need to know of His will each day.
Do you believe that God has a plan for you? This is of utmost importance, because if you don’t believe this, you won’t seek to be committed to it or seek to live it out. EX. There are a number of people I am mentoring right now. And this is exactly what we are doing in our mentoring time; seeking to know and follow God’s will for their lives. I love to walk with them, and seek with them the discernment of God’s will; God’s plan. It isn’t always easy to figure this play out, or even live it out when you know it.
Why is this? It is because we have trust issues. I know many people who have trouble trusting others. Consequently they have trouble trusting God. It is difficult, if not impossible to commit yourself to God’s plan if you don’t trust God. The answer really is to take the step in faith. To commit to God is not about pretending. To commit to God is about really giving ourselves over to God and living the life He sets before us.
Committing to God is about reading your Bible regularly, or doing a devotion regularly. I have a daily devotional reading I send out to many people via e-mail each day. If you are not on my list and would like to be, talk to me afterwards, and give me your e-mail address. You also need to pray regularly each day. Prayer is not just asking God for things, it is about learning to listen to God’s promptings in your mind. On top of this you need to find ways to serve God, whether it be in the church or outside. The best way to do this is to think about how you are gifted and what you enjoying doing. Then find a service project that matches your talent.
b. Having a quality life- When we understand that following God is
the path to lasting happiness, we will start to experience this happiness in our lives. We have to put good habits into our lives. Maybe you spend a lot of time on the internet. You need to set aside some of that time for reading God’s word and prayer. Maybe you only come to church once or twice a month; you need to make it a weekly, if not bi-weekly practice to be in church. As Jesus says in Luke 11:28- “.. ‘But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God AND put it into practice.’”
We need to understand that our net worth is not our real worth. If this were true then those who have a great amount of money would be more happy than we are, and more loved by God. This is not the case at all!! In fact, so often you hear of those who are wealthy not being happy. You regularly hear of those with money going bankrupt. You see those with money fighting with family members over money, or trying to take from each other. Our net worth is not our real worth!
Happiness starts and ends with trusting God; obedience to God. We step out in faith and allow God to take the steering wheel and drive the car and take us to where He wants us to be. But it’s not a passive process like riding in a real car is. God wants us to pay attention and take action along the way. Our enduring legacy in life with result from the actions we take in our lifetime. We need to know what we value, and then set goals that allow us to achieve those values. If our value is our family, then we need to make sure we are spending quality time with our family. If we value our health, then we need to eat right, and sleep, and exercise, and see a doctor regularly. AND if we value our relationship with God, we need to do the things that keep us in a strong relationship with God!!
Conclusion: We say we want to be happy. This comes from living the right way; living according to God’s plan. This comes from making an eternal difference with our lives. Our time on this earth is limited. If we truly want to ensure that we’ve fulfilled our purpose when it’s time to go, then we must stay squarely in God’s will, trusting ourselves to Him, delighting in Him, and committing ourselves to His path.
Let me close with this STORY: There is a story of a young girl who got a canary for a present. She loved to hear the canary sing; to make its beautiful noises. As spring came and the weather got better, she thought the bird might like to be outside with other birds; to hear their sounds. She had her father connect the bird cage to a tree branch and hung the cage outside. The canary heard the chirps and tweets of the sparrows, and before long the canary started to imitate their unmusical sounds. In the fall the girl brought her bird back inside, but to her dismay the canary no longer sang beautifully, but only made the unmusical chirps and tweets.
This is a sad but true story. Even more, it can be the story of you and me. If we choose the path that is not God’s will, we will be influenced by the world, and will begin to imitate the world’s way, NOT GOD’S. This will only lead us to heartache and unhappiness. Remember, “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” A by-product of trusting in the Lord, delighting ourselves in the Lord, and committing ourselves to God’s plan. Amen.
posted by Logan's Blog at 11:49 AM
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