happiness – Leland Acker

What is happiness? Can you define it? Or can you merely describe it?

The Declaration of Independence states that God endowed man with the right to pursue happiness, and today, many people are doing just that. The tragedy is that most people cannot tell you what happiness really is. They can merely describe a situation in which they believe they would find themselves to be happy.

The blessing is that God not only has given us the gift of happiness, but has also explained through His word how to unwrap that gift.

In Psalm 1, the Bible says “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the unGodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”

That word “blessed” can also be translated “happy.” To understand what it means to be blessed or happy, we have to understand what those literal words mean. “Blessed” was translated from a Hebrew word that means “to be confident and secure.”

And when you think about the ways people describe the happiness they pursue, doesn’t that definition hold up?

How many times have you heard someone say, “I just want to be with my family.”

“I just want my kids to be safe and healthy.”

“All I need is a roof over my head and food in the fridge.”

People save for retirement so they can achieve a status where they don’t have to grind at a 40-60 hour per week job in order to make ends meet. People dream of winning the lottery, not so they can buy multiple luxuries, but for the idea that they will no longer have to worry about money and deal with financial insecurity.

The sad part is, both of those avenues to happiness often fail. How many lottery winners actually go on to “happily ever after?” Very few. Most will tell you winning the lottery actually ruined their lives.

Retirement accounts can be wiped out by market crashes, company collapses, or divorce decrees. Furthermore, even if you make it to retirement with a healthy balance, often the fixed income from that account fails to keep up with inflation.

So, is happiness unattainable?

Quite the opposite.

Psalm 1 actually gives us the formula to attain true happiness, true confidence and security.

Psalm 1:1, which I quoted above, tells us exactly how to undermine happiness. Happiness is undermined when we walk in the counsel of the unGodly, stand in the way of sinners and sit in the seat of the scornful.

Walking in the counsel of the unGodly means to follow and live by the advice of unGodly people. It is important to remember that Godliness has less to do with personal morality, and more to do with aligning oneself with God’s teachings.

One can be faithful to their spouse, have integrity in business, but have a heart in rebellion against God, thus rendering themselves unGodly.

When taking the advice of others, it is important to make sure that advice lines up with scripture. Following a course of action that contradicts scripture, even when you can logically and emotionally justify it, leads to disaster. Trust me on this one.

Following a course of action that is contrary to scripture, even when others validate and understand it, will lead to emotional and Spiritual devastation.

Standing in the way of sinners means to exalt and promote yourself the way sinners do. To stand, or to have standing, means to have prestige and honor. It means to have a right to something, and to belong.

We all want these things. The problem to happiness is when we seek these things the way the world seeks them. When we self-promote out of pride, we are hindering our own happiness.

Scripture teaches that the standing we have that brings true happiness is the standing we have in the Lord through the Gospel.

And sitting in the seat of the scornful means to rest in anger and bitterness. The poster children for this category are the political commentators we see on cable news. Do any of these people even appear to have tasted happiness?

When you sit back, look for flaws, and complain, you will never be happy.

So, now that we have covered how not to be happy, how do we achieve happiness? Psalm 1 answers that question in the next two verses.

Psalm 1:2-3 says, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Notice the man’s source of happiness. It’s in the law of the LORD (which is basically scripture, the Bible.) This man finds confidence and security in the Lord, and thinks about him all day and night.

If this sounds boring to you, that’s a pretty good indication that you’ve fallen into the categories listed in verse 1.

Getting your mind into the scripture goes beyond just rehashing the basic fundamentals of the faith and the do’s and don’ts of life. It also means contemplating God’s character, how He interacts with man, and by doing so, how He interacts with you.

The alternative is to spend the day focused on your anxieties and challenges in life. Either that, or trying to distract yourself from them through movies, entertainment, social media, retail therapy, excessive eating, or substance abuse. If we’re honest with ourselves, this has never worked, and has always robbed us of happiness.

On the other hand, you can get your mind into the scriptures, learn of God, and then face your challenges with the confidence and security of knowing that the eternal creator of all things is controlling what you cannot. And, you’ll have the peace of knowing that He has good will toward you. He loves you.

Do you have family problems? You can stay focused on those problems all day, or you can consider how God brought Abraham, Jacob, David and others through their family problems. Maybe you can consider the testimony of a Christian friend who went through their own family problems, and how God brought them through that.

And as God gives you hope through that meditation, you don’t go into a state of denial over your family problems, but you can learn to go through them with peace. And, by thinking on how scripture teaches you to work through those problems, you will be able to see those problems through to a happy conclusion.

Psalm 1 goes on to describe what it looks like when we do this. Verse 3 says the blessed (happy) man is “like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

The picture painted here is of a tree planted by the river with a healthy root system that is continually supplied with life-giving water from the river. That tree is solid, produces fruit, and doesn’t wither.

Likewise, when we stay plugged into our source of life and happiness, we too experience Spiritual health and well-being, to the point that we bear fruit and make an impact to this world. And when that happens, we find confidence and security.

Our source of life and happiness is the Lord. As that tree’s root system gravitates toward the rivers of water, our minds should gravitate toward the Lord, toward our source of life and happiness.

This is where we will find stability and prosperity. This is where we will find happiness.

Preface: During my college days, I lacked the proper appreciation for the education that was afforded me. Therefore, over the past several months, I have been reading up on the classics that I missed out on by skipping English class. My latest venture has been in the works of Ernest Hemingway.

At first glance, The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, was a pointless novel following the misadventures of Jake Barnes, a World War I veteran working as a foreign correspondent in Paris for a New York paper. His misadventures go from dining in restaurants, to drinking in bars, to having coffee in local cafes, to his fruitless pursuit of the Lady Ashley, (or Brett, as her given name is).

There’s a love interest between Jake and Brett, but due to some undefined injury, Jake cannot consummate a romantic relationship with her. So, he aimlessly eats, drinks, and wanders in Paris, repeatedly coming into contact with Brett, who always seems to be in a relationship with someone she doesn’t love.

Seriously, that is the plot for, like, 75 percent of the book. The day ends, Jake and his “friends” go out to eat, then out to drink, then out for coffee. Then, the next day comes. The same routine ensues, until Jake and his friends take a trip to Spain to go fishing, and then to watch the bull fights in Pamplona.

Upon reaching the end of the book, my first thought was, “What was the point of all that?” Did Hemingway really waste two weeks of my time to tell me a series of bar and fishing stories? I mean, seriously, the book only described my last two years of college.

Perhaps the book was autobiographical. Perhaps Hemingway wrote the book merely to explore his own thoughts, emotions and struggles. Hemingway himself drove an ambulance in World War I, was seriously wounded, and worked as a journalist in Paris. He was a known drinker, carouser, and lover of pleasure.

Perhaps, unlike authors Ayn Rand or Harper Lee, Hemingway was not writing to convey a certain wisdom upon us. Perhaps his writing was a selfish attempt to self-counsel, and to work out his own insanity.

Or, perhaps there was meaning to The Sun Also Rises. Starting with the title.

The Sun Also Rises could be a tongue-and-cheek jab at Jake’s lifestyle of late night drinking and carousing. A lifestyle like that does not witness many sunrises. Usually, the sun is already up, the man begins his day, and continues until long after the sun has set. No doubt Jake saw many sunsets, but not many sunrises. Having witnessed many sunsets, perhaps the title is a reminder to Jake that “the sun also rises.”

Or, perhaps there is more meaning to The Sun Also Rises, and that Hemingway is more covert in conveying his messages to us.

The Sun Also Rises takes place in Paris during the roaring 20s, as young veterans of the first World War seek meaning to life, but wander aimlessly as members of “the lost generation.” Indeed, having won the war, one would expect the 1920s to be a time of great hope and prosperity. And to an extent it was, but after having survived the bloodshed and ensuing famines and plagues of World War I, many wondered, “What’s the point?”

In a time of great hope and prosperity, the lack of meaning and purpose lead many down a road of hopelessness and despair. Though the allies had won the war, the sun was setting on the glory of France and western civilization. Dreams had been shattered during the war. Friends and family lost, lives ruined. The sun was setting.

This was captured in the hopelessness that Jake felt in The Sun Also Rises. He could never marry the woman he truly loved because of what the war had done to him. His abilities were limited, and he was relegated to being a foreign correspondent in Paris. After life in Paris, Jake knew that life would never be the same if he were to return to his hometown in the mid-western United States. His sun was setting.

Yet, through the labyrinth of bars, cafes, restaurants, inns and bullfight arenas, Jake comes to clarify his feelings toward his friends, Brett, and his career. As the novel ends, he begins to find peace in this clarity, thus, “the sun also rises.” In this clarity there was hope, and reason for optimism. His wounds were not miraculously healed, nor had his dreams come true, but there was peace and clarity, and therefore hope. “The sun also rises.”

While The Sun Also Rises is completely devoid of spiritual insight, there is still a lesson to be learned.

Victory and prosperity do not equal happiness. The Sun Also Rises takes place during the prosperity of the 20s in the aftermath of victory in World War I, yet the characters found themselves depressed and hopeless.

Happiness does not come in wealth or achievement. If you cannot be happy now, you will not be happy if you obtain more. Happiness comes in having purpose, and living your life by that purpose. That purpose is found in the Lord, for He was the one who created you with it. Learn this precept, and you will see that the sun also rises.