Don't Worry, Be Happy

“Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.” (Ps 144:15 AV)

 

I have been thinking a lot about peace, contentment, and happiness lately.  With all that is going on in the world, it is hard to remain so.  One cannot help but hear all the negativity all around and have it affect you.  The news, the internet, the TV, and the radio are filled with reports of everything going the wrong way.  Poll after poll indicated the misery index among the people of the planet is only steadily increasing.  This same attitude is seeping into the pews.  Discontentment is everywhere.  How do I know?  Because it is almost impossible to see someone under the age of forty fully convinced about a calling in life and a place to stay.  They are constantly moving around.  From one church to the next.  From one job to the next.  From one family to the next.  They cannot stay put and grow where God has planted them.  We just do not know how to be happy anymore.  The world has robbed us of the joy we are supposed to have.  Our writer above mentions many benefits that come to the people of God in the form of the nation of Israel.  There are restoration and physical blessings mentioned.  But the same can be true of the New Testament Saint.  We may not have the same physical promises, but we have some that are unique to the church.  Regardless of what life may be like, if God is our LORD, then we should be happy!

My wife and I just spent three days up in Door County, Wisconsin.  Door County is one of those tourist destinations everyone has been to at least once.  There are many little towns to visit with their little shops and trades to peruse.  We stayed in Sturgeon Bay, which is the county seat, and saw what we wanted to see.  We had a wonderful time walking by the water and visiting the lighthouse.  I needed some blue jeans, so we stopped at a few other places.  Then we went on to Sonny’s restaurant on the river.  It was delightful.  We split a lobster ravioli and each had a salad.  What a wonderful dish! Really tasty.  A few more little shops and we packed it in for the night.  Our goal was to get up and work our way towards Sister’s Bay.  There is a restaurant called Al Johnsen’s which apparently features goats grazing on top of their roof.  We just had to go.  So, off we went.  We stopped off in Egg Harbor.  Did a little shopping.  We stopped off at a few beaches to look at the water and enjoy the Indian Summer weather.  In Sister’s Bay, we shopped a couple of more places and then walked down the street to Al Johnsen’s.  It was one O’clock.  They closed at three.  Plenty of time, right?  Wrong.  They were booked until closing time.  What a letdown.  Al Johnsen’s was the biggest reason we went on the whole trip.  As we were inside, very disappointed and a bit perturbed, I overheard an elder gentlemen absolutely beside himself there were no tables for the remainder of the day.  I remarked how they had driven over five hundred miles to come to this restaurant.  All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so bad.  For us, it wasn’t more the 120mi.  Just a two hour drive.  We could do that on any weekend.  This poor fellow planned his entire vacation around this one place and they couldn’t get in.  How unhappy he was.

The child of God has no standing to complain.  We are the most blessed of all of God’s creatures.  We get the awesome privilege to know God by faith.  Not even the angels get to do that.  We have a glorious home in heaven waiting for us.  We are adopted into the family of God and there is nothing that can ever change that.  We may have trials of faith.  We may have hardships along the way.  But through it all, God is always there.  If we are unhappy, it is not the LORD’s doing.  If we groan every day we get up out of bed, it is not because God failed to be good to us.  We simply do not know how good we have it.  Upon reflection, our vacation was paid for by other means than our own pocket.  All we needed to do was gas up the car and eat.  Everything else was covered.  So, we didn’t get to eat at a place that had goats on the roof.  The LORD provided other means of happiness.  We found an out-of-the-way dive that the locals frequented and enjoyed watching the patron interact with all his regulars.  They acted like one big family.  We were able to pull over at the last second and finally find that perfect knickknack for our shadow box.  We got back into Sturgeon Bay before all the shops closed and Lisa was able to do a bit more Christmas shopping.  The LORD knew all along what we needed for our happiness and all we needed to do is trust Him.  God is so good!  All the time!