The Secret of a Happy Life
The following is an adapted excerpt from Spurgeon’s Sermons.
I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Psalm 16:8
In the preceding verses we read, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” The speaker, therefore, is a very contented and happy man. It is not the most usual thing in the world to find persons extolling their lot, and manifesting a conspicuous emphasis of satisfaction; far more common is it to hear men surrounded with favours lamenting the hardness of their case. Contented minds are almost as scarce as snowflakes in harvest. The man who rejoices in his goodly heritage deserves attention, and we shall do well to learn his secret. How is it that he is able to feel so happy? Let us seek out the way by which he arrived at this peace, and discover the silken clue which led him into such a bower of delight. Perhaps his road may fit our feet, and by following it we may become as perfectly content as he was. O Lord and giver of peace, help us in the search!
But, first, who is this person who is thus singularly content? To our astonishment we find that the Spirit speaketh here by prophecy in the name and person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is he who by the Spirit here saith, “The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage”! He was the “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” he was “despised and rejected of men,” he had not where to lay his head, he was often subject to hunger and thirst; he had few friends, and those proved faithless in the time of his extremity: how could he speak thus? All this is so much the more encouraging for us, because if this most sorrowful of men was nevertheless able to feel an inward calm, a sweet content, then it must be possible for us to do so whose lot is not so bitter. We are not sent to make atonement for sin, and hence our sorrows are few compared with our Lord’s. There was a special reason for his being distressed, for he took our griefs and carried our sorrows; but no atoning griefs are demanded of us, nor have we afflictions to bear from the hand of God as punishments for sin, for the Lord has laid all these upon him, and we are clear.
If the Lord Jesus, the man of grief, a mourner all his days, yet said the lines had fallen unto him in pleasant places, and he had a goodly heritage, it must be the more possible for us to rise to the like content, if we follow his rule and live according to his example. What, then, is the secret of perfect peace and happiness here below? The price thereof is above rubies: where shall this art be learned? The magic lamps and wonderful rings of which children read in fairy stories are as nothing in value compared with this true philosopher’s stone, this mystic secret of the Lord, which is with them that fear him, by which his saints are enabled to enjoy the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, which keeps their hearts and minds by Jesus Christ. O Prince of Peace, grant us this rest! Our text clearly imparts to us the secret of the greatest happiness to be found below the skies, and, indeed, it reveals the hidden source of those pleasures above, which are at God’s right hand for evermore. The first part of the excellent method lies in living in the Lord’s presence always,—“I have set the Lord always before me;” the second is found in trusting in the Lord’s presence always —“Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.”
I. The secret, then, of peace, is first LIVING IN THE LORD’S PRESENCE ALWAYS:—“I have set the Lord always before me.” I take it that our text means first, that we should make the Lord’s presence the greatest of all facts to us. Of all things that are, God chiefly is, and we should regard him in that light.
II. The second part of the secret follows upon the first,—that is TRUSTING ALWAYS IN THE LORD’S PRESENCE. Here is confidence in God: “because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Here is confidence that God is near us; confidence that God loves us, for he is not only near us, but in the place of friendly fellowship; and confidence that God will practically help us, for the right hand is the dextrous hand, the hand which does the work, and thus God is nigh unto his people with practical assistance, to sustain and to deliver them. How blessed it must be to feel that we have nothing to be afraid of in all the world, for God stands at our right hand to take care of us whatever may happen.
Meet the author:
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–1892), the great 19th-century Prince of Preachers, was often called “the last Puritan.” The spirit of Puritanism was certainly alive and well in his ministry.
One week after Spurgeon's homegoing in 1892, B. H. Carroll wrote this of Spurgeon:
“Yes, Spurgeon is dead. The tallest and broadest oak in the forest of time is fallen. The sweetest, most silvery and far-reaching voice that published the glad tidings since apostolic times is hushed . . . He fought a good fight. He kept the faith, and while we weep, he wears the triple crown of life and joy and glory, which God the righteous Judge has conferred upon him. In answer to the question: ‘How do you account for Spurgeon?' the answer is, ‘God.’”