Psalm 84

A single day in Your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.

(Psalms 84:10)

The world seems to be on a constant quest to find an elusive thing known as “happiness”. I did some searching today on the web to see what people are saying about how to find true happiness. Here is some of what I found:

One site said to “Train the mind and fill it with inspiration and positive energies, self-faith, the bright colours of your heart and soul.” In other words, they are saying, “fill your mind with positive things, believe in yourself, and ignore anything negative”. I’m sorry, but a t the very best, this will only provide a temporary shallow happiness.

The Dalai Llama was asked what the secret to lasting happiness was, and he said “I don’t know.”

Some people think it is something attainable, but always speak of “happiness” in the future tense, “I would be truly happy if I… (You fill in the blank)”.

David says in our Psalm today that a single day spent in the presence of the Lord is better than a THOUSAND spent anywhere else. The word “better” here could be translated as HAPPIER or MORE PROFITABLE. 1000 days is just shy of three years… Imagine three straight years of the best possible circumstances you can think of; David says one day in God’s house exceeds ALL of that! David knew what he was talking about… he was a king, and anything and everything was accessible to him.

In another place, David tells us that “In the Lord’s presence is FULLNESS OF JOY”. We don’t need to search to find happiness… real joy can be found in enjoying the Lord. The quest for happiness is one where people are trying to find what they were made for. They feel unsatisfied because they aren’t living to do what God made them to do. We were made to reflect the glory of God; we were made to worship Him in word and deed. The secret to lasting happiness is a RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD!