A Goal for 2022
A Goal for 2022
As we close out 2021, I hope you have had a very productive and hopeful year. I know that is not true for many, because, frankly, I did not achieve a few goals I had this year. For example, my goal to finish my PhD will once again roll into the next year. But, that is the way of New Year’s time. We contemplate how we can be better in the coming year, and then the year happens. For some goals, we are able to pick at them and see fruit. For others, they fall by the wayside (or waist-side), and still others remind us that we can’t do everything by ourselves, even if we try really hard. In case no one has told you, Disney has a habit of lying to children. Dreams don’t always come true just because you wish for it really hard.
But, as we think about the coming year, I think it’s time to step back and breathe. In high stress situations, psychologists tell us, we tend to revert to a “fight or flight” response thinking. This kind of thinking served us well in the ancient days of fighting off wild animals or daily survival, but it wrecks havoc in the modern world. Rather than thinking rationally about a situation, we tend to react. For many, and really as a society in general, we are still in this bizarre, corporately-felt, stress-filled time. Though the pandemic waned, we are now bombarded with news of Omicron. Despite attempts to rebuild the economy, we still feel the effects of supply problems and a lack of workforce. Poor Little Debbie even got flack recently because people were upset they couldn’t find Christmas Tree cakes. Granted it’s annoying, but perhaps we should have rationed the boxes we bought way back in November and not been such gluttons.
But regardless what we hope 2022 to be, there is one thing I know for sure. If we want to see better, we have to do better. It is a mantra I have been teaching my oldest, and one that I have to remind myself sometimes. So in the spirit of renewal, and in the spirit of rational thinking (as opposed to stress-induced reacting), I offer this look at Psalm 1.
The Foundation for a Well-lived Life
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.Psalm 1:1-2
The psalm begins with a single truth:
The key to happiness (being blessed) is found in the law of the Lord.
The simplicity of this truth is only matched by its profundity. It is one of the truths of Scripture that demonstrates what Lewis says about Christianity.
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
The reason I know Psalm 1:1 is true is not because I was able to put it in a beaker and test it, or because I just think it’s true. I know it is true because I have seen it work. I know that I am at my happiest state when I have been closest to God. I know some of the worst times in my life have been those times of rebellion.
The interesting thing about saying out loud, “The key to happiness is found in the law of the Lord,” is that my rebellious nature immediately lashes out with, “NO! That can’t be true, because I want to be free! I want to make my own choices, not be controlled.” And yet, I know that attitude is a perversion of the freedom God designed us for. True freedom does not breed anarchy—it breeds growth. The problem with sin is it makes us believe we are free to do anything our earthly drives tell us to do. God’s law reminds us the design God has for those drives. The laws are there to give us the fence boundaries to keep that drive in check.
Consider parenting small children. We tell small kids not to play in the street. Now, their free will drives them to play wherever they please, but wisdom places a barrier between their play space and the street, because the street is where cars and trucks drive. There is danger and destruction in the street. The child can lash out all he wants about his “freedom,” but it does not change the fact a car is going to drive down the street at some point. And at that point, only bad things will happen if the child remains in the street.
Psalm 1:1-2 reminds us there are two options in this world. We can stand in the way of sinners sitting with the scoffers, or we can delight in the law of the Lord. Blessedness, or happiness, comes with the law of the Lord.
Growth in the Law
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.Psalm 1:3
The promise from God is this:
Those who delight and meditate in the law of the Lord will grow and prosper.
Now, I hesitate to use the word ‘prosper’ because it has been hijacked in recent decades to mean something the Bible does not intend. If we go back to the sinful attitude, then we might think, “Well, if God is going to prosper me, then that must mean I’ll get all I want—new car, new house, and more money.” The problem with that attitude is it is selfish. If the law of the Lord promotes humility and generosity, then we can’t say it will also promote our own selfishness. Consider these verses:
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:5
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3
So, if happiness is found in the law of the Lord, and the law of the Lord promotes humility and generosity above selfishness, then our happiness cannot be found in selfishness. And if our happiness cannot be found in selfishness, then “prosper” cannot mean “getting everything we want.”
So, then what does it mean to prosper?
Well, the answer is in the verse we just read. A tree is designed to yield fruit. Now, that fruit comes through a fairly complex process, and in that process many good things happen (for example we get oxygen to breathe). But, ultimately, the purpose of that tree is to create fruit to feed the surrounding animals and humans, and if that fruit’s seed is planted, it will yield another tree. The tree is designed to bring forth life and help other living things exist.
But, sometimes the tree cannot fulfill its purpose. It may be planted away from water, or it may contract a disease. In either case, it can’t bear fruit. It doesn’t fulfill its purpose.
The person who delights in the law of the Lord, and stays away from sin and sinful influence, is like the tree planted by quality water. The person will yield its fruit in its season, and the leaves will not see decay.
To “prosper” in the biblical sense is to yield fruit and fulfill God’s design. Whatever task God has laid before you, if you want to see success, you must delight yourself in the law of the Lord. Learn and follow God’s design, and then you will find the prosperity that brings true happiness.
But there is a warning for those who choose otherwise.
Perishing without the Law
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.Psalm 1:4-6
Just as the diseased or dry tree will not stand forever, so too will there be a reckoning for the wicked. They are like chaff, the discarded remains that blow away in the wind. Chaff may grow alongside the fruit and grain, but when the harvest time comes, they are removed and destroyed. Wicked people will continue to grow alongside God’s people, but there will come a Great Harvest, and in that time, they will be removed from the earth. They will not stand in the judgement, nor will they remain among the righteous. They will perish.
Jesus spoke this truth using a similar parable in Matthew 13:24.
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
Matthew 13:24-30
The wicked and the righteous will continue to grow together until the End. God will use the existence of wickedness in order to fulfill His purpose of growing the righteous. Notice God does not allow for the immediate destruction of the weeds. If He did, it would root up the wheat along with the weeds. Despite our selfish wants, it is best for us to endure the weeds. Sometimes we pray for God to remove the trials of this life, but those trials are there for a purpose. And they will remain until that purpose is fulfilled.
Wickedness cannot and will not remain forever.
For us, the key to happiness is not to avoid the struggle, or to remove what brings about the struggle, the key is to delight in the law of the Lord. As we meditate on what God has done, on what God has promised us, and what God intends for us, then we will be renewed for the coming year.
And so, I offer a simple challenge for us all this year. Delight yourself in the Law of the Lord. Spend time reading, and reading slowly, the Bible. There is a phenomenal resource available to us to do that very thing. It’s called RightNow Media, and we have it freely available through the church’s website. There is also another resource that I personally have grown to love, and that is The Bible Project. It has some wonderfully created videos that explain key terms and concepts of the Bible. Either of these sites will help you tremendously as you study God’s Word. And of course, there is always the good ol’ fashioned approach of just cracking open the Bible and reading it.
Regardless how you decide to study God’s Word, I want to encourage you to delight yourself in it. God has given us an enormous treasure trove of wisdom, hope, and love, but it is up to us to receive it.