What's Wrong With Happiness?

As I wrote previously, the problem with happiness is it doesn't last. Our good feelings are dependent on happenstance and are lost when we experience adversity.

We feel tempted to envy those wicked, rich people, assuming riches make us glad. Everything goes well for them and they feel no oppression. But we find out in Job 21:13 (BBE) that their good times don't last. "Their days come to an end without trouble, and suddenly they go down to the underworld."

And though we disagree about politicians, we can all say "Amen!" to what Proverbs 12:19 (BBE) says. "True lips are certain for ever, but a false tongue is only for a minute."

The joy we feel inside, even when things go sideways for us, is because we know who will give us eternal bliss. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17 (BBE), saying, "For our present trouble, which is only for a short time, is working out for us a much greater weight of glory;"

It seems contrary to logic but we can be glad even in persecution. James 5:11 (BBE) reminds us, "We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end." What a reassurance!

Better still, following the Lord keeps us out of activities which would only harm us in the end. Proverbs 28:14 (BBE) tells us the fate of those who rebel against God. "Happy is the man in whom is the fear of the Lord at all times; but he whose heart is hard will come into trouble."

Paul certainly learned the secret of being content. As he wrote in Philippians 4:11 (BBE), "But I will not say anything about my needs, for I am able, wherever I am, to be dependent on myself."

I fondly remember a CB radio saying back in the seventies. "I send my signal out 26 miles and God does the rest. Let's do what we can but let God take care of what we can't handle.

On Thursday, Christ's return not withstanding, I hope to post about why wealth won't satisfy us.