Psalm 4:6-8 (NLT)

Many people say, “Who will show us better times?” Let your face smile on us, Lord. You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

Eric Clapton is a legend in rock & roll. His mega-successful career includes winning seventeen Grammy’s and spans nearly six decades. In an interview he said, “I had everything a man could want. I was a millionaire. I had beautiful women in my life. I had cars, a house, a solid gold career and a future…but on a daily basis, I wanted to commit suicide.” John Lennon of The Beatles said, “We had money and fame but no joy.”

History and the bible make it perfectly clear that the pursuit of more only ends up leaving you with less. There is a place reserved in the human heart that only God can fill and nothing else on earth will satisfy it. David had known good times and bad…wealth and poverty…popularity and disdain…peace and war…loyalty and betrayal…yet his only true safety, contentment, and joy was found in his relationship with the Lord. Where are you looking for those things?

Christians can be tempted to measure God’s goodness by how calm the seas of life are or how abundant their “harvest” has been or how much “new wine” they have in the cupboard, the 3-car garage, or the retirement portfolio. The truth is that God is good all the time, despite the conditions in which we find ourselves. Our Father’s smile upon us is a far richer treasure than any earthly substitute and the future He purchased for us with his blood is beyond human comparison. What money, fame, and power can’t afford…God gives freely.

Finally, David speaks of a good night’s sleep…a notion that Charles Spurgeon captured well when he declared, “A quiet conscience is a good bedfellow. How many of our sleepless hours might be traced to our untrusting and disordered minds. They slumber sweetly whom faith rocks to sleep. No pillow so soft as a promise; no coverlet so warm as an assured interest in Christ.”