All people in the world have an inborn desire to be happy. During the course of their lives, people go in many different directions in pursuit of this happiness. Some seek happiness in money, they store as much as they can in their bank accounts. Others spend their money and surround themselves with luxurious material wealth and travel the world in pursuit of happiness. Some just want to be famous, to make a name for themselves, whether it be in Hollywood, or in politics, or some other source of fame. Or perhaps, to some, happiness is being successful in their jobs as they aspire for the highest position in their workplace. There is nothing wrong with aspiring for success if Christ is centred within and it is for the purpose of bringing honour and glory to God and not to self. “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23–24. “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 10:17
People do reach these goals in their lives that they lay out for themselves. They bend all their energies to reach these goals and some succeed and appear supremely happy. But, then what?
Alexander the great thought he would be extremely happy once he conquered the then-known world, and he accomplished the task he set out to do. But, then what? He had nothing else to live for and sadly his life came to a screeching halt after excessively partaking in heavy alcoholic beverages that snuffed out his life. Life is a vapour. A strong and mighty general—killing hundreds, if not thousands, of people in his quest for fame, but how easily his life came to an end.
There are others who have no aspirations. They simply want to sit back and do nothing. They enjoy their entertainments—socializing, TV and Internet, and do little that is of value in their lives. They think that there is happiness in bearing no burdens, but leaving the burden bearing to others. There is no true lasting happiness in a world without Christ. It is all a lie from the devil.
So we go and preach the gospel, encouraging people to come to our church to find true happiness and peace. Is there peace and happiness in the church? Many religious people say the same about their church. If you go into any church, you will not find 100% happy people. Why? They think religion will bring them happiness, but it will not. Only Christ can bring happiness, not religion and rules. “He who is trying to reach heaven by his own works in keeping the law is attempting an impossibility.” –The Desire of Ages, p. 172
Satan has deceived most of the world as to the true source of happiness. There is so much evil, to the point that there are people who find happiness and contentment in seeing others suffer. When they see someone get hurt they laugh. There are evil people in every country of this world that love to either see people die and suffer, or they love to kill. They seem to take a great delight in hurting others. Then there are others who take great delight in deception in order to make advancements in life. They are thrilled when they can gain advantage over a fellow employee or when they can cheat the government on their taxes and get away with it. It makes them very happy, as though they did a good thing. There are many types of dishonest practices that seem to make people very happy. It happens even in religious circles which is a very sad state of affairs. Oh, Satan does smile. Yes he does. “As I beheld him [Satan], his chin was resting upon his left hand. He appeared to be in deep thought. A smile was upon his countenance, which made me tremble, it was so full of evil and satanic slyness. This smile is the one he wears just before he makes sure of his victim, and as he fastens the victim in his snare, this smile grows horrible.” –Early Writings, p. 152. He has turned this world upside down and many follow him. He smiles.
One of the reasons Jesus came to this earth was to show people the way of true happiness. The Jewish religion in the days of Christ provided little happiness. Their religion was weighed down with so many traditions and rules that it brought little happiness to the people who attempted to adhere to all the requirements laid out. They simply “followed the rules” for fear of death—eternal death.
The religious leaders indicated that wealth and honour equated to happiness. The poor sinner was an outcast and heaven frowned upon such. They had no hope of salvation and no happiness to be had on this earth.
Jesus came to show something different. He preached a sermon on the mountainside which lasted an entire day. There must have been much more to the sermon than we have recorded in three chapters of the Bible (Matthew chapters 5–7). We can read and contemplate on the entire sermon as recorded in one hour, but Jesus spoke for an entire day. According to Matthew’s record, He began the sermon with the word “Blessed.”
One definition of the world “blessed” is “blissfully happy or contented.” It is an adjective that describes the state of being of a person. This is what Jesus is wanting for His followers. He wants all of us to be blissfully happy. Are you? If not, then ask yourself, why not? What is lacking?
In the Sermon on the Mount, not one word is mentioned about wealth, fame, or fortune bringing blissful happiness to a person. In fact, Jesus told them you will be blessed (blissfully happy) if you are:
Poor in Spirit; if you mourn; if you are meek; if you hunger and thirst after righteousness (not the things of this world); are merciful (always giving to others and doing things for others—sacrificing your own ease and comfort); are pure in heart (doing right under all circumstances); you are peacemakers (even willing to concede when you know you are right in order to make peace—but not sacrificing principle and truth); if you are persecuted for righteousness sake; or if men will revile, persecute and say all manner of evil against you falsely. (Matthew 5:3–11).
These are the people Jesus said who are blissfully happy. Quite the opposite from what the religious leaders in that day said and what the world has always said.
In the Old Testament we also find places where happiness is to be found. One such verse is, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Psalm 32:1–2. The happy person has all his sins forgiven; and to have our sins forgiven, we need to repent to God, and to repent to the person we sinned against. This is true happiness; freedom from sin . . . not freedom to sin, as the world says.
We have much to be thankful to the Lord for, for all the benefits and blessings He has bestowed upon us—blessings we do not deserve.
From the word “blessed” we also have different variations of the word. If blessed is an adjective to describe a person who is blissfully happy, could we say that blessings (noun) are gifts that God gives us to make us blissfully happy? Or that we give to others? And the word “bless” (verb) is the action of trying to do things to make someone blissfully happy? We could.
All the way from the beginning God has promised to bless (make happy) His people. “I will bless thee.” Exodus 20:24. To Abraham He said, “I will bless them that bless thee.” Genesis 12:3. In other words, I will make happy those who make you happy when you are living as a stranger in a strange land.
After he deceived his brother Jacob found much to make him unhappy. He was deceived many times by his father-in-law, regarding his family and his wages. Having so many wives brought grief to his life and then the threat of his brother’s anger upon his return home, brought him great distress. Then one night he wrestled with an Angel and in the morning he finally said, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.” Genesis 32:26. He was looking for the happiness that had eluded him for so many years. He wanted that happiness back.
In Malachi 3:10 great blessings (happiness) are promised to those who faithfully pay their tithes and offerings. “God loveth a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7. Happy is the man whom the Lord loves and is pleased with.
When we pray we should (although some forget) thank the Lord for all His mercies, benefits and blessings which He has bestowed upon us. And then He bids us ask for blessings. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” Matthew 7:7–11
Jesus delights to bestow blessings upon His children and He invites us to ask them of Him. So we pray and we ask. For some, all that their prayers include is the request for blessings, even if they are good blessings. Others ask selfish blessings for themselves only; what they think will make them happy. Sincere prayers ask for blessings for themselves so that they can be a greater blessing for others.
People generally ask the Lord to bless their food at every meal (that it will be of a healthful nature and provide health and strength to keep them blissfully happy). They ask the Lord to bless them in their work or their studies. They pray and ask the Lord to bless other people, for example: they pray for the preacher when he preaches, for family members, sick people, visitors that come to church, backslidden ones, those in the valley of decision, and so on. When we ask the Lord to bless us and to bless these people, is it for the purpose of happiness for ourselves and for others? Yes, as we seek to bless others we find ourselves truly happy.
Then in the Bible we find references, many in the Psalms, where the writer is stating that we should bless the Lord. “I will bless the LORD at all times.” Psalm 34:1. “I will bless the LORD, Who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.” Psalm 16:7. “I bless the LORD.” Psalm 26:12
Here are three verses where David says he will bless the Lord. How can we, sinful human beings, give anything to God that would benefit Him? “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9. Of what value and benefit is this to God? Does it bring Him happiness to see it? “And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.” Genesis 6:6. The Lord is not blissfully happy with the evil state of the heart of man. But being the God of love He is, He decided to do something about it; to bring things back to the way they should be. He sent His Son to this earth to bring mankind back into harmony with the heavenly universe—to a state of mutual blissful happiness.
“It is the work of the angels to come close to the tried, the suffering, the tempted. They labor untiringly in behalf of those for whom Christ died. When sinners are led to give themselves to the Saviour, angels bear the tidings heavenward, and there is great rejoicing among the heavenly host. ‘Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.’ Luke 15:7. A report is borne to heaven of every successful effort on our part to dispel the darkness and to spread abroad the knowledge of Christ. As the deed is recounted before the Father, joy thrills through all the heavenly host.” –The Acts of the Apostles, p. 153. This is what brings happiness to the heavenly beings.
And so, in those three Psalms quoted above, David continues on telling us how we can “bless the Lord”. Basically, how we can bring happiness to the Lord. We now read the verses in context. “His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalm 34:1 “I have set the LORD always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Psalm 16:8. “But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me. My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.” Psalm 26:12
God is very happy when we praise Him continually. As a parent you are happy when your child praises and thanks you for all that you have done for them in their lives and for what you have given to them. It also makes the Lord happy when we thank Him.
To bless the Lord means to do something that makes the Lord blissfully happy. We can bless the Lord by continually praising Him all day long; by setting the Lord always before us, in every decision we make and by standing in an even place, in the congregation (regular church attendance). We need to cultivate the habit of thinking good thoughts, of avoiding evil company, of delighting in attendance of public worship; then we shall be able to bless Jehovah (make Him happy) in the congregation of the righteous.
There are many ways we can bless the Lord in our lives. Ask yourself before you do anything, before you make any decisions, “Am I making the Lord happy by doing this? Or is the devil the one smiling?”
I will bless the Lord at all times (make Him happy), not just when it is convenient for me. Our happiness will not be found in serving and doing things for ourselves only. Our true happiness will come when we bless the Lord; seek to live a life that makes the Lord happy. And we make the Lord happy by feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, by clothing the naked, visiting the sick, visiting those in prison and taking in strangers (Matthew 5:35–36). “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Matthew 25:40. The Lord is happy, the recipients of our good deeds are happy, and the giver is happy. They are all supremely happy. No words can describe the happiness found in helping the unfortunate. The Lord is also very happy to hear our simple songs and praises that we sing to Him. He loves to receive glory, honour, and appreciation from His created beings. This is how we make the Lord happy.
Does that mean we will be always happy, and never sad or downcast? We are human and all go through times of sadness at times; for example, if a loved one dies we will shed many tears. Our calm and peaceful trust, though, is in the Lord. If our trust in Him is secure, we will not be moved. We may have periods of sadness, but not despair. “I will praise the Lord at all times and not wait for a happy flight of feeling. Then praise the Lord, for He is good, and His mercies will attend me morning, noon, and night. A happy flight of feeling is not evidence; His Word is my assurance.” –That I May Know Him, p. 266
It is my prayer that we will all live our lives with the purpose of blessing the Lord; of making Him happy. We should do what makes Him happy, say what makes Him happy, think what makes Him happy. We will harbour no feelings that do not make Jesus happy—such as resentment and covetousness. “As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” Romans 12:18
And in the end we will find that we ourselves are blissfully happy. “O Bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard.” Psalm 66:8. “Thus I will bless Thee while I live.” Psalm 63:4
Amen
Wendy Eaton