DAILYwalk
When MCO was announced on 18th March 2020, it seemed like the end of the world for many. What a shock to have Movement Control Order imposed over the whole Malaysia and around the world! Many are complaining, mourning over the loss of freedom to do what we want, even now. My friend just called to say how boring life is. MCO has taken the simple joy of having tea with friends.
What is true freedom and happiness? I was asking myself the whole time. Late one evening, I saw my bible by my bed. I decided to re-read the Book of Psalms. I read Psalm 1 that night but without much interest. I had read it so many times before. A few nights later, I tossed and turned and I felt uneasy; the open Bible displaying Psalm 1 caught my attention and I read it again. To my surprise, I started pondering and checking all the meanings of the key words and jotted them down one by one. The next day, I decided to copy Psalms again to “kill” my MCO time. Since I could not go out, I moved to the “inside”. More thoughts came to me as I rechecked the meanings and read two versions both Chinese and English. I was intrigued and had to write down all that I thus found and more …
What is happiness
all about?
Psalm 1 explains what “True Happiness” is about.
1Happy are those
who reject the advice of evil people,
who do not follow the example of sinners
or join those who have no use for God.
2 Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the LORD,
and they study it day and night.
3 They are like trees that grow beside a stream,
that bear fruit at the right time,
and whose leaves do not dry up.
They succeed in everything they do.
6 The righteous are guided and protected by the LORD…”
Whatever is” true” means that it is genuine, sincere and reliable! It is not built on fake assumptions, nor affected by circumstances. Happiness is not something abstract. Actually, it is an inner satisfaction based on the gratification from the things you have; being alive, your family and friends, your health and the income you earn to get you going. You are delighted and pleased to be able to cope with the challenges in life. Cheerfulness brings strength and joy in doing routine, monotonous and even unfair tasks. In gloomy days, you still find pleasure in dull and simple daily living. Often, we look too far away to find joy and we lose sight of the gist of life.
Psalm 1 says, if we want to be happy, we need to abide by the rules of happiness. First we have to reject evil in our life. What is evil or wickedness? It concerns morality. Anything sinful, cruel or harmful to our wellbeing or others is considered evil. We need to reject it. To understand the importance of this rule is useful. Declining evil deeds from the start can reduce pain and harm. We have to refuse to have any part of it and stay far away from evil people who tempt us. Jesus taught us in his prayer to ask God not to lead us into temptation but if we do come close by accident, ask him to deliver us from evil. Thus, insisting not to surrender to the sugar coated temptation is a way out of grief.
“Do not follow the examples of sinners” is not to obey, to live or act like them. Try not to imitate their lifestyles or accept their standards or values. A sinner is one who doesn’t obey what God has instructed, nor abides by rules set down for wholesome living. Apostle Paul said these are the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We are dominated by worldly desires to satisfy oneself, one’s selfish interest and happiness. We let what we see lure us away from our needs and let these desires become wants. We start to show off, to brag of our wealth, beauty, power, status and so on. We become greedy and cruel to attain what we feel could show ourselves as important, great, and mighty. This leads to pride of life. To be proud of ourselves is not wrong. What is wrong is making others suffer in our process of fulling our personal desires.
Who are your friends? In the past, I believed that friendship should not be affected by their good or bad. I was wrong and I was hurt in many ways. Those who tease Christians as “holy people” don’t help much in our character building. Psalm 1 says, don’t join them! To join means having a connection with them. You often meet up for gathering, have joint ventures and are influenced by them unknowingly. As you become close friends, you talk, think, act just like them and soon you forget your own identity as Christians.
Let us slow down and think. Do we take pleasure in obeying God’s words? To obey is to do as we are told, to listen and act upon what is asked of us. This is not an easy task. To discover the reasons for doing what is pleasing to God, we need diligence. Jesus said, “Seek and you will find.” Try to find out what brings true happiness in our lives. Look at all the things that are really bringing you satisfaction in life. We have to find out on our own. Meditation needs focus and a willingness to search within, to ponder on the truth to have a deeper understanding of ourselves. It takes effort, time, and a heart and a mind to do it.
Practice makes perfect. We learn from mistakes and learning goes on till we master the skills of using what we have learnt to enhance our living. We can brave challenges and remain calm and composed in adversities. This is the result of taking part in the life long process of partaking in obedience to God. Only then can we beat ourselves, overcome the circumstances and succeed, living a life of fulfilment and abundance with a sense of inner contentment.
The world is closed down by Covid 19. Are we fighting to get free or we have learnt a lesson to remain calm? Return to the basics and get strength from family ties and simple living. Happiness is to know the Saviour, living a life within His favour with a joy not distracted by anything!