The Inquirer After Happiness Guided
Psalm 4:6
There be many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift you up the light of your countenance on us.


All seek after happiness of some kind or other. Yet there is nothing in which men more generally fail. There must then be an error somewhere.

I. THE LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD, AS EXPRESSED IN THIS TEXT. There are in the world mistaken inquirers after happiness, and they are many. More seek it in the wrong way than in the right. These wrong inquirers are all dissatisfied — Solomon, Colonel Gardiner, Lord Byron, Cardinal Wolsey. These inquirers after happiness are ignorant of the only real source of joy. They never seek it where it can be found. They will not seek their happiness in God. The happiness of these men is evanescent. Supposing that they are happy, their happiness does not last.

II. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE STATE OF THE WORLDLY MAN AND THE STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN. The Christian's joy is a specific joy; it is a joy immediately and directly derived from God. It is a satisfying joy. It is unaffected by external circumstances. It is an everlasting joy.

(George Weight, B. A.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

WEB: Many say, "Who will show us any good?" Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.




The Influence of Christianity in the Heart
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