Doesn't God Want Me To Be Happy?

by Stephen Bastin

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If I hear that question one more time, I think I’m going to scream.  Well, not really.  There are some massive assumptions underlying that question that really trouble me.

One assumption is that God is responsible for my happiness and conversely that also makes Him responsible for my unhappiness.  If God is responsible, then I have no responsibility.  The blame has been shifted off my shoulders and onto another, God.

Another assumption is that happiness is a quantity that can be obtained and kept like milk in a bottle.  It is simply something that is produced and exists with a life of its own spreading joy and cheer to the one who holds it.

That assumption is then followed by a third.  Since happiness is a “thing” then God can dispense it like He dispenses rain and other material blessings.  Therefore, I am not happy because God has chosen not to give me happiness but rather has chosen to give me misery and unhappiness.

At this point we might do well to ask the question, “What is happiness?”  It might be easy to answer that it is a feeling caused by the circumstances in which we find ourselves.  I say, “Easy,” because on further reflection that does not explain what we see as happiness in the life of others. 

It also assumes that certain circumstances will always produce happiness and, conversely, other circumstances will produce unhappiness.  Yet, what we see is people in similar circumstances, some happy and some unhappy.

Our founding fathers stated that we had certain inalienable rights.  They named life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as among those rights.  Notice that they did not assert happiness as a right, only the “pursuit” of happiness.

They understood that some people are simply determined to be unhappy and there is nothing that anyone can do to change them.  Happiness is illusive to them because they either consciously or unconsciously are determined to wallow in their own misery.

The story is told of two small boys who were tested.  The first was put in a room with a pile of manure.  After observing his wailing for a few minutes he was removed and the second boy was put in the same room.  A few minutes later he was observed to be gleefully digging through the pile of manure.  When asked what he was doing he replied, “With all this manure there has to be a pony in here someplace!”  (This story is fictional and is not based on any real persons, but it was just too good an illustration not to be told.)

One of the fascinating chapters in the Bible is found in Philippians, chapter four.  Paul wrote this short letter to the church at Philippi while he was in prison.

The letter was written to encourage first century Christians who were often faced with great difficulties because of their faith in Jesus.  Paul was in prison because of his work as an apostle of Jesus.  There was no hope when he wrote this letter that he would be released any time soon, perhaps never.

Among the instructions he gave was this command, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”  Paul had found “happiness” in a Roman prison.  (Or, at least, he had found reason to rejoice.)

Later, in the same letter, he wrote, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”

For a review of some of the difficulties that are in included in his circumstances, see 2 Corinthians, chapter 11.  There are probably people who have suffered more, but Paul’s experiences are sufficient to see how happiness is not related to circumstances.

If happiness is not related to circumstances, then to what is it related?  The answer will be found in one’s attitude.

David wrote, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”  That reflects an attitude not a circumstance.

Someone has said that a person is about as happy as he decides to be.  There is truth in that statement.

A last assumption often found in the question, “Doesn’t God want me to be happy?” is that one is justified in ignoring commands of God if they do not lead to immediate “happiness.”  If doing what the Bible says is right does not produce happiness (and of course God wants me to be happy) then the command is wrong and need not be obeyed.

When one plants a seed in the ground there follows a period of waiting while the seed germinates and begins to grow.  The wait is then prolonged after the plant appears while buds form and then the fruit.  Immediate satisfaction is not always a part of God’s plan.

Patience is a virtue.  Some actions that are right do not produce good results until later.  Sometimes the wait may be years.

Bad actions often produce immediate pleasure, but reap a terrible price down the road.

Happiness.  It is not all that it is cracked up to be.  Doing the will of God will produce happiness in the end.