Finding the way to happiness is a lifelong pursuit. Happiness comes and goes, but the blessings of God always remain; they are ever-present.
Take time now to learn the pathway of blessedness that leads to the very presence of God, the source of all joy.
Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.
Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.
Psalm 149:1-5
In one of my favorite books, a man named Leo Aufmann invents a Happiness Machine, one that can make people happy at the flip of a switch. But he’s disappointed to learn, when his wife gives it a try, that it doesn’t make her happy. In fact, it makes her very sad.
“Because it is not real,” she says. “In the machine everything you want to last, lasts, like sunsets, but who wants sunsets that never end?…I want a happiness that is real.”
What about you – would you go for the Happiness Machine? Our world is filled with happiness machines, the kind that promise to make us happy at the flip of a switch. But where is a happiness that is real?
Our psalm for today shows a different happiness: “Let Israel be glad in its Maker.” What would it mean for us to find our happiness in God? Christian faith does not promise that God will grant us instant happiness. Instead it shows that God is faithful and journeys with us through life. By this, we find a God who leads us to a happiness that is real.
Chris Hughes
Gracious God, help me today and every day to find happiness in you. I am your unique creation, made for fulfillment and contentment in your ways; for that I have reason to sing and dance your praises. Amen.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
Ephesians 1:3-4