Happiness Is?

While cleaning up some email files, I came across something I had written to my sister about five years ago after going through a great spiritual battle for our church. The experience left me despondent:


Kim,

A couple of months ago I did a word study on that word
'happy' or 'happiness' after crying out to the Lord. I
asked Him if it was wrong for me to want a little bit
of happiness in my life. Then I thought I better see
how the scriptures define 'happiness'. It didn't turn
out the way I had hoped.

According to scripture, happiness occurs when:

*you find and retain wisdom (Proverbs 3:13, 18)
*the Lord is your Savior (Deuteronomy 33:29, Psalm 144:15)
*God corrects you (Job 5:17)
*you have a quiver full of children (Psalm 127:4& 5)
*you fear the Lord (Isaiah 128: 1 & 2)
*you have mercy on the poor (Proverbs 14:21)
*you trust in the Lord (Proverbs 16:20)
*you don't condemn yourself (Romans 14:22; 8:1)
*you suffer for righteousness' sake (I Peter 3:14)
*you are reproached for the name of Christ (I Peter 4:14)
*you endure (James 5:11)

Selah, Lyn

Here again the Lord had to teach me that He alone was my sufficiency and that my idea of happiness was skewed. I’m sure Jesus our Yahshua was not ‘happy’ as He was tortured and dying, yet the joy that awaited Him allowed Him to endure (Hebrews 12:2).

As I am writing this, I realize HE is the fulfillment of my happiness. He is the author and finisher of our faith, our all in all. HE IS OUR HAPPINESS. It gives a whole new meaning to…

HAPPY New Year~

Lyn

P.S. Have you noticed that my blog is enabled with the Blue Letter Bible’s Script Tagger? You simply hover over a scripture reference, and a window pops up with the verse. Nice feature, eh?