How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path of sinners or join a group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore, the wicked will not survive the judgment, and sinners will not be in the community of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.     Psalm 1:1-6 HCSB

With only a few days until the start of a new year, many of us are probably hoping for happiness in the New Year. The last few years have been rough. If you listen to or read the news you read about things like shortages in supplies that will continue and worsen into the next year, continued diseases and more evil behavior.

When our Scripture passage speaks of happiness it speaks of true happiness or joy. The New King James version says, “Blessed is the man…” When God blesses us, it brings joy into our lives. But in order to be blessed, we must put away any wicked behavior. God will not bless evil thoughts or behaviors. He will not bless wickedness, but rather says in numerous Scripture passages that the wicked will be destroyed. In this particular passage, it says that wickedness leads to ruin.

We are told in this passage that true happiness occurs when we delight in the LORD’s instruction. Just last night at the close of our services a man entered our church. He was in despair, and he admitted that his life was in ruin because of sinful choices he had made throughout the last 20 years of his life. Sin looks good, but it leads to destruction. His marriage had failed. His family had turned away from him and he had lost his job.

God gives us free will. We can choose happiness or ruin. We are told that we can find true happiness by delighting in the LORD’s instruction. What does this mean? This means that we are happy to pray and study God’s word. This means that we pray that God will reveal His perfect will to us through prayer and Bible study. This means that we are in close relationship with Him. We want to talk to Him through prayer and we want to hear what He has to say by studying His word.  Our Scripture passage says that a person is happy when they not only delight in the LORD’s instruction but meditate on it day and night. When we remain focused on God, we are not easily distracted by the wickedness in this world. We are not so easily led astray by other sinners. And best of all, when we focus on God, He takes good care of us. This doesn’t mean that we will never have heartache and sorrow, but it does mean that He will walk with us through the fire and the flame.

I don’t know what this past year has been like for you and your family, but for ours it has been a bit rough. But I can say that we have not been defeated but are being strengthened. I know we will all be praying for a blessed new year. As we pray, we must remember that we must do our part by focusing on God. I have no doubt that there will be plenty of things going on in the world to distract us. We must not let these things cause us to lose focus.

Trust in Him, obey His word and love Him with all your heart and soul. Delight in His instruction and meditate on Him and His word day and night. This is how to be happy in the new year.

Have a great day!