Happiness

Happiness. One word that everyone wants but no one seems to actually possess. It seems that the entire human race is on a quest for happiness similar to that of the Holy Grail. And in true Holy Grail fashion, we will stop at little to achieve that happiness.

The day my ex asked me for a divorce, this was the only reason he could give to explain his unfaithfulness – he just wasn’t happy. Not only was he not happy during the last months, but he had apparently been unhappy for the entire relationship. He was completely unconcerned with the conditions his desire for happiness would thrust upon his loving and concerned family.

Now, almost two years later, I sit at my computer in a comfortable house. I watch my beautiful, healthy and intelligent daughter play with a plethora of toys. I have a closet full of clothes, jewelry box with some really nice pieces (some not so nice pieces). A car in the drive and a swing set in the back yard. I have traveled the nation and the world. I have friends and family who deeply care for me… but something is missing. Something still causes me to want more.

It is a deep lack of happiness.

In the light of events like the recent earthquakes in Haiti, this desire for happiness is sincerely called into question. When I compare my material wealth, my physical health and general well-being to that of suffering people all over the world, a great sense of guilt comes over me. I feel as though I don’t deserve any more than what I already have. Who am I to desire more than I have, when there are people on this planet who do not know where their next meal will come from? How un-Christ-like of me to want something as children in Haiti are literally searching for their parents.

This is where most devotionals would consider verses like Psalm 118:24 which says “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” And, while this is true, God did make the day and we should rejoice and be glad in the blessing He has bestowed on us, this verse doesn’t exactly cut to the core of our desire for happiness. This is compounded when you consider that the same Psalmist who told us to rejoice in the day also wrote “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed” in Psalm 20:4.

It is my belief, that our loving Lord, has a great desire for us to be happy. Why else would Eden have been so perfectly wonderful? Here are these two presumably beautiful people walking around a garden that, in my mind at least, is spa-like: serene, lush and perfectly happy. Enter the serpent. The serpent seems to be like one of those seventh grade girls who always had the best of everything. But, as soon as someone else was “going with” the star football player, she had to create some way to ruin that relationship. The serpent was the original unhappy seventh grader. The serpent was the original unhappy spouse. Seeing a happiness that he could not possess, the serpent set out to destroy it.

That is exactly what he has been doing ever since. For many years (the exact length of time is debatable), the devil has employed as many techniques as possible to prevent God’s children from experiencing the happiness that our Lord has in store for us. The latest technique is the weapon of divorce. It attacks from every angle: the family, the individual and most importantly, the soul.

The soul is what is the most vulnerable to the Devil’s attacks. The partner is left with a great void within their soul that can only be described as unhappiness. Those feelings of rejection, failure, defeat, anger, ugliness, disappointment, guilt (this list is endless) come from that void. In the midst of the divorce, it seems that humans are responsible for these feelings. We blame our ex-spouse or ourselves and then turn to God and beg for answers as to why.

The serpent has struck again. Unable to enjoy happiness of his own, he has taken happiness from mankind. He is successful. And, every time we allow those feelings of unhappiness to consume our thinking, the devil wins another battle. That is what the devil wants; he wants to keep our eyes off the glory of God.

It is only when we find the strength through God to fight the devil that we will truly find happiness. A friend’s Facebook status recently read: “Contentment is found in the LORD'S PRESENCE. We will be fully satisfied, when we get to the point where God is first thing on our minds when we wake up in the morning.”

Then and only then, will we fill that void with the happiness that we long for.

*This quote is used with permission from Ruby Stringer.