Get God get happy!

July 19, 2011 at 11:30 am · Filed under Let's Talk

I have actually heard this statement used! I find it very disturbing and misleading. Yes, it is true that having a relationship with God can bring happiness. But the Christian’s definition of happiness differs from the world, or at least it should.
The Washington Times reported that researchers compared the levels of melancholy or hopelessness in 136 adults diagnosed with major depression or bipolar depression with their sense of “religious well-being.” They found participants who scored in the top third of a scale charting a sense of religious well-being were 75% more likely to get better with medical treatment for clinical depression. “In our study, the positive response to medication had little to do with the feeling of hope that typically accompanies spiritual belief,” said study director Patricia Murphy, a chaplain at Rush and an assistant professor of religion, health and human values.
“It was tied specifically to the belief that a Supreme Being cared,” she said.

As Christians our “supreme being” is very real and He does care!
The Bible promises that God will be with us through times of difficulty. He will give us peace when there should be none and we can be assured that He is in control. But happy? Webster’s online dictionary defines happy as
1) delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing: to be happy to see a person.
2) characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy: a happy mood; a happy frame of mind.
I find the second definition to be more accurate of the happiness that God brings. Being happy over a particular thing is very fleeting. God has brought contentment and joy into my life. I have found true pleasure in everyday things. I am no longer searching for something. He is it and all.

God has been and continues to be a very real source of peace, strength, comfort and contentment. There has never been another time in my life that I have felt so……serene, calm, and content than I have in the last 3 year or so. That should not be. I have not been “happy” Because in the last 3 years of my life the most heartbreaking and difficult times have come my way. God has walked through those times with me and I have found peace.

I have found something else to be very true. The closer I get to God, the deeper my relationship with Him goes, the more it seems to hurt. I have great sadness over things that I may have not even noticed 10 years ago. As I have grown closer to God I have learned His heart and what grieves Him. When you love someone and they are grieving don’t you grieve too? Well, I have found the same to be true the more I love God. I can no longer just shrug my shoulders and say oops when I know I have not followed through on something God wanted me to do. I can no longer turn away when I see someone hurting or in need. It matters to me when I see a brother or sister in Christ mistreating another. I am deeply disturbed by the hopelessness and sadness I see in the world. What hurts God hurts me. Get God get happy? I don’t think so. Get God and get hope, yes. Get God and get compassion, yes. Get God and pass Him on to the hurting world, YES!

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