Aug 17 - Psalm 4:7

You have given me greater joy

than those who have abundant harvests

of grain and wine.

Psalm 4:7

NLT

“Eat, drink, and be merry!” Do you know where that phrase comes from?

In Luke 12:16-21, Jesus told the story about a rich man with an abundant harvest. Perhaps you’ve heard the story. His outbuildings were so full that he tore down his old sheds and built bigger barns. Figuring that he’d finally accumulated enough wealth, the rich man said, “Now [I can] take it easy! [It’s time to] eat, drink, and be merry!”

Isn’t that what today’s verse describes as “The Normal Human Standard of Joy”?

Three thousand years ago, the human standard of success was abundant harvests, vast supplies of wine, and an excess of accumulated wealth.

It’s the same standard today, isn’t it?

A classic bumper sticker reads, “The one who dies with the most toys wins!”

An even more classic bumper sticker reads, “The one who dies with the most toys still dies.”

Jesus could have penned the second bumper sticker. In his story about the plump, drunk rich man, God cried from heaven, “You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?” (Yes, the one who dies with the most toys still dies.)

That’s why Jesus said – Luke 12:21 – “A person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God."

The greatest richness in all the world is a real relationship with God. In fact, everything else is fool’s gold. Everything else is a temporary illusion of happiness and security. Or – as today’s verse implies – the “great[est] joy” in all the world is “You [O Lord.]”

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who loved his grandpa’s old barn

(it was big and red, but only temporary;

a few years ago, a tornado took it down)