When you think of God, what adjectives come to mind? Have you ever associated God with the word happy?
Author Lisa Harper says more often than not, we see God has a stern librarian, rather than a smiling friend. On top of that, many believe that happiness is unholy. However, Lisa says that Scripture indicates something much different.
“The very beginning of the Psalms begins with the word happy. Typically we read it in the English translations as ‘blessed is the man who walks in the ways of the Lord’, but in the original Hebrew, the word there is asher, and it’s just as theologically accurate to say ‘happy is the one who walks in the ways of the Lord.’”
Likewise, in the Sermon on the Mount, the word blessed can be translated as happy.
“We know that the beatitude, ‘blessed are the poor in spirit’, the word blessed in the original Greek is just as theologically correct to say happy.”
Lisa says it’s important to remember that a biblical definition of happy is not the same as our culture’s definition of happiness.
The world tells us that happiness comes from having a fat bank account and a slim waist. However, but that’s not what Scripture says.
“A biblical definition of happiness is the contentment, fulfillment, delight, that we receive from the firm belief that our God is good, and He does good. Regardless of our circumstances, we can have holy happiness that is contentment, fulfillment, and delight regardless of our circumstances.”
Even when we’re in difficult seasons of life, happiness comes from God’s goodness and His love for us.
God is for happiness, He himself is a happy God. However, our happiness can only be true and complete when it is grounded in His nature and the victory His Son won on the cross for us.
Lisa Harper is a master storyteller with a masters of Theological Studies from Covenant Seminary. She’s lauded as an engaging, hilarious communicator as well as an authentic and substantive Bible teacher. She’s been in vocational ministry for thirty years and has written fifteen books and Bible study curriculums but says her greatest accomplishment by far is that of becoming Missy’s (her adopted daughter from Haiti) mama!
Key Scripture: Psalm 1:1
Featured Songs: The Same Power – Jeremy Camp; The Lion and the Lamb – Leeland; Redeemed – Big Daddy Weave
The sacrament of happy
