1 - Blessed are the undefiled in the way,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
What a wonderful promise we have! What a glorious opportunity is provided to us!
Everyone is looking for happiness. It is a quest as old as time. From the beginning, man has sought to be happy. Some look for it in money, some look for it in power, some look for it in relationships. But the desire is innate--it is born in us--to continually search for happiness.
And the Psalmist has given us the key.
The words in parentheses below give a broader meaning of the original Hebrew word from which they were transcribed:
Blessed (happy) are the undefiled (without blemish, perfect)
in the way (journey, manner, habit, course of life),
who walk (conduct, manner of life)
in the law (direction, instruction, manner) of the LORD.
If we want to be happy, we will attempt to conduct ourselves in every area of our lives according to the instructions of the Lord.
It's as simple as that.
In order to do that, we must know the instructions of the Lord.
And, in order to know the instructions of the Lord, we must continually internalize those instructions every day of our lives. We must ingest them as regularly as we eat food.
The Bible is so much more than an instruction book, but we must never forget that our relationship with it does include instructions.
Perhaps the one word which could cause us to pause in this verse would be the word "undefiled." It's meaning includes "without blemish, perfect, blameless." Who among us is perfect? We are quick to answer that nobody is perfect. After all, Romans 3:10 says ". . .there is none righteous, no not one." However, we are not let off the hook quite so easily.
I think Charles Spurgeon addressed this best when he said, "By nature we are defiled and out of the way, and we must therefore have been washed in the atoning blood to remove defilement, and we must have been converted by the power of the Holy Ghost, or we should not have been turned into the way of peace, nor be undefiled in it. Nor is this all; for the continual power of grace is needed to keep a believer in the right way, and to preserve him from pollution. All the blessings of the covenant must have been in a measure poured, upon those who from day to day have been enabled to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. Their way is the evidence of their being the blessed of the Lord."
We are by nature unrighteous, but we are cleansed daily as we strive for perfection in our walk with God. It is a daily thing. It must be done with consistency and regularity and can only be achieved by conducting ourselves according to the laws of God.
So, you want to be happy? Then wash yourself with the Word. Eat the Word. Walk in the Word. Let it saturate you within and clothe you without.
Happiness is found in the law of the Lord.
© 2012 by Melani Brady Shock
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