Happiness in Him - Psalm 119.2

Happy are those who keep His decrees and seek Him with all their heart. 119.2

So much of life seems to be taken up with the search for happiness.  Popular wisdom is full of little sayings about happiness:

“Anyone who says money doesn’t make you happy doesn’t know where to shop”

“Happiness is not a destination but a way of life”

“Happiness is a home full of friends”

But the Bible takes a different route.  True happiness is found in living as God told us to and seeking Him with all that we are and all which we have.  It really should not surprise us that a loving God would tell us what is best for us - including what brings true joy and happiness.  After all, what father doesn’t long for their child to be happy?  Sometimes keeping the decrees of God can seem like something which will bring sorrow and misery - just think of how many people believe that Christians are kill-joys and prudes.  If we measure happiness in the same way the world does this is not surprising.  But is true happiness really found in sex, binge drinking, spending money on things which you either don’t need or death will take from you?  People who think happiness is in such things need their minds washing clean.  In Jesus we are offered a source of happiness which nothing can touch, nothing can destroy, nothing can take away.  In Jesus we are offered a happiness based on knowing we are loved by the God of the universe simply because He loves us and not because we have to earn that love or match up to anything.  

Jesus would talk about seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven - seeking first God and His rule in our lives.  We should seek this because it is something which cannot be taken from us or destroyed (Matthew 6.19-20).  We should seek it with all we are because nothing in this universe could ever be as amazing and awesome as it is.  Everything we could ever own or have in this world is second rate to what God offers and we should sell and give up everything we have and know in order to embrace the Kingdom (Matthew 13.45-46).

True happiness is something people are always searching for but never find unless they turn to Christ.  Only in Jesus is there the “fullness of joy” and only at the right hand of God are there “pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16.11). Let us lay down our life as we seek after Jesus and His decrees with all our heart, all our mind, all our strength - in this is true happiness.