Success is not the key to happiness. As David explains, true happiness is one of the keys to success.
Bookstores are full of titles like “3 Things Successful People Do” and “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People.” Psalm 108 beats them all. David went from an unknown shepherd to the world’s best-known king. He seemed to be successful at everything. In military prowess, administrative skill, diplomatic effectiveness, poetic artistry—you name it, he could do it. Even the townsfolk saw he was ten times better than the best (1 Sam 18:7). This psalm, called a song, gives his 7 keys to winning in life. 1. Keep focus: “O God, my heart is steadfast” (v 1; KJV, “fixed”). Don’t be what Zig Ziglar called “a wandering generality.” If you aim at nothing, you’ll probably hit it. Say like Paul, “One thing I do” (Php 3:13), and go after God. 2. Praise: “I will sing and give praise” (Ps 108:1). Stay positive by bringing the Happy God into everything in life. “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh 8:10). 3. Start early: “I will awaken the dawn” (v 2). Jesus, and those like Him, wouldn’t sleep the morning away. Nor should you. 4. Value mercy and truth: “For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds” (v 4). You won’t panic if you breathe heaven’s atmosphere. Two items we need in life’s portfolio, more than stocks and bonds, are mercy and truth. 5. Have heaven on speed dial: “That Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and hear me” (v 6). Treat God as a first resource, not a last recourse. He’s “a very present help in trouble” (46:1). 6. Holiness is key: “God has spoken in His holiness” (Ps 108:7). Get this—I don’t belong to me. If you’re all His, you’ll never regret it. 7. There’s no alternative to God: Human friends are great, but they can fail (v 12). “Through God we will do valiantly” (v 13).