For many years, I focused much of my energy on trying to be happy. I didn’t grow up in the most emotionally stable home, so whenever I could, I surrounded myself with my favourite things or spent time with my friends. It made me happy, but only temporarily. I always found myself wanting more and looking for the next fun adventure. I never felt fulfilled, no matter how much I achieved and how many “good works” I did. I realized that this world couldn’t offer the deep need in my heart and I couldn’t do enough to earn it. That’s when I turned to God.

Maybe you’re in a place in your life where you feel something is lacking and can’t seem to pinpoint it. Maybe you’re having doubts believing that God will fulfill your deepest needs. Maybe you’ve been reading the Bible faithfully, going to church, and trying to live out your walk, but there seems to be a disconnect. I can totally relate and know exactly what it feels like. You are not alone. Every Christian I know has gone through a dry patch. But it isn’t forever.

How Culture Defines Happiness

“God just wants you to be happy” is a phrase you’ve probably heard before. Maybe from a friend, a church member, or even your pastor. On the surface, this may seem to be true. After all, God created us with the ability to experience happiness. However, there’s more to this statement than meets the eye.

Our culture recognizes our desire to fix our unhappiness and to stay clued in. The phrase in question plays on our emotions and our desire to be fulfilled. If we allow our hearts to focus solely on happiness, we can start to believe that our ultimate goal in life is to be happy and begin to have thoughts like: 

• If only I had________, I would be happy. 
  • E.g. If only I had a stable job, I would be happy.
• If only I was ___________, I would be happy.
  • E.g. If only I was rich, I would be happy. 

What do most of these have in common? They are temporal. They only last for a season or a certain period. Before we know it, we find ourselves wanting more, and never being satisfied. This made me think of a movie I recently watched with my husband called All the Money in the World.

It’s based on the life of Mr. Getty, who was one of the richest men to have ever lived (apart from Solomon). Throughout the movie, we see Mr. Getty buying, investing, and trying to entertain himself, despite the fact he knows his grandson has been kidnapped by Italian terrorists.

Mr. Getty could easily rescue him by paying the ransom the terrorists are looking for but he is so caught up in his own world and trying to make himself happy that he doesn’t do anything until his grandson loses his ear. Mr. Getty loses all the people around him, including his bodyguard who had been with him for many years and (spoiler alert), ends up dying alone. 

Not all people respond to their deep need for fulfillment like Mr. Getty. Some have gone through extreme hurt and pain and just want to find joy. They are told that God is all-loving and all-powerful, but cannot see this in their life. All they can see is pain and find it difficult to believe what they’re being told is true. This is one reason why people reject God and why Christians question God’s sovereignty.

They don’t understand and see how an all-loving, all-powerful God could allow such pain. He’s either not all-loving or not all-powerful. This makes perfect sense – if God’s main priority for us is happiness.

True Happiness

The truth is God cares about our righteousness and holiness more than our circumstantial happiness. The book of Job is a perfect example. Job couldn’t see the bright side of his situation, because there wasn’t any. He goes through so much hardship and his friends don’t support him like they should. It would have been better if they hadn’t said anything and just comforted him!

God wanted Job to know His holiness and sovereignty. He wanted Job to live in holiness and to make this a priority in his life. Once Job repented, God restored everything back to Job and blesses him even more than before.

Throughout the Bible, we see a much stronger emphasis on righteousness and holiness than circumstantial happiness. Here are a couple of examples: 

• “Be my holy people.” (Exodus 22:31)
• “How blessed are those whose way is blameless [righteous], who walk in the Law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart. They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways.” (Psalm 119:1-3)
• “There is life in the path of righteousness, and in its path, there is no death.” (Proverbs 12:28)
• “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)
• “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless [righteous] before Him.” (Ephesians 1:4)
• “Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behaviour; because it is written, “You shall be Holy, for I am Holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)
• “Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness– without it, no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)
• “Let the righteous go on in righteousness; let the holy still be holy.” (Revelation 22:11)

Now, this doesn’t mean God doesn’t care about happiness. Any good father would want to see their children smile, laugh, and enjoy themselves. God wants us to find our ultimate happiness in Him. What does mean exactly? It means that no matter what our circumstances look like, we have joy in knowing that we are secure in the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, and all-good God who loves us.

Once we have Jesus, we can have something that runs deeper than circumstantial feelings. We can have joy, which satisfies the eternal hole inside our hearts. The hole that Mr. Getty was trying to fill. 

We live in a fallen world that doesn’t seem to be getting any better. We see more than ever the need to let go of material, temporal things and to latch on to things that will have much more eternal significance. One good thing that I’ve seen in the last two years is people thinking far more about life after death and where they’ll end up. But I’m afraid that apathy will creep in again once or even if things go back to what they were and go after temporal things again.

I don’t know what you’re going through at the moment, but I want to encourage you not to lose hope. This season in your life will have an end. Keep pursuing Him and fill your mind with His Word. Remind yourself what He has done in your life and how far you’ve come. You’re not where you were last year. He has and will always be with you.

We’re all searching for happiness, but Jesus is offering a deep, bottomless, abounding, everlasting well of forever joy.

Jared. C. Wilson