God Is Happiness

When we think of happiness in our culture it is when all is going well. However, most of us have lives where something is not going well. We base our choice to be happy on what is happening around us.

Happiness is far more than this. A few synonyms are contentment, satisfaction, cheerfulness, joy, glee, delight and well-being. I would say it takes all of these synonyms to truly understand God’s happiness.

Psalms 146:5 NLT

But happy are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the LORD their God.

Some versions have joyful instead of happy. Despite everything going on in life that is not making me feel content, I can still have a joy deep inside that nothing can take away. True Christians exemplify this inner joy because they place their faith in the LORD their God. It was the joy I saw in the true Christians I met and got to know that originally led me to God.

I like that God wants us to interact with Him in a full relationship that should surpass anything we can manage on earth. He is the source of everything and this includes the Law He made to help us understand right from wrong so we can learn how He intended us to live.

Proverbs 29:18 NLT

When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is happy.

When we run wild from one thing to the next we will not find contentment. We will feel restless without a steady place to be. We should have God as our rock so we have an anchor in the stormy times that want to take our peace away.  Paul has this solid foundation and close relationship with God figured out.

Philippians 4:11 NLT

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little.

Even when he had little and got thrown into prison for following Christ, he knew how to get along happily. In other words, he had contentment in life no matter what happened. I’ve found this with Christ even if I do have days where God has to point things out so don’t whine about life. Most times there is nothing we can do to change our circumstances other than changing our perspective of them. It takes time, but learning to see things the way God does makes for far better days.

The following are a couple more verses to meditate upon to help you understand God’s joy better.

Psalms 30:5 NLT

His anger lasts for a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes with the morning.

Night represents time without God. Morning comes when we renew our relationship with God.

In Nehemiah 8:10 NLT Nehemiah told the people, “Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

I especially love this one because the joy of the Lord is my strength. Without it, I lose direction and become discontent and sad like the people Nehemiah talked to upon realizing they had not properly followed God and His Law. As soon as we learn where we went wrong, we should repent and if we haven’t already, accept Christ as our Savior and Lord. Then all this joy can be yours and you’ll have the hope and strength to endure anything with contentment.

Blessed

When I first looked at this attribute of God and His Law, I had to wonder why God had to have this attribute. After all, He created everything and can do what He wants with it. Further thinking led me to realize He had to be blessed in order for us to be blessed. Attributes cannot be passed on by someone that does not have them. Also, God wants relationships with all of us. Even in His three fold personage He gives us the full view of how blessed such a relationship can be.

So how does the Creator of all get blessed? I put the following verse here in two versions to help explain how God’s people bless Him.

Psalms 28:6 NKJV

Blessed be the LORD, Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!

Psalms 28:6 NLT

Praise the LORD! For he has heard my cry for mercy.

He is blessed because we pray to Him and tell Him of our desires. He will hear us and answer. Some think He won’t answer if it doesn’t happen quickly enough, but He is always on time. Because of this nature true believers are going cling to Him and praise Him for all He has done so far expecting His works to continue into eternity. God wants an open, two-way relationship with us. He is blessed when we do, so don’t just give Him lip service.

In 1 Timothy 1:11, Paul called God blessed when talking of how all should be done according to the gospel. Every believer has had this gospel committed into their trust. If you are sincerely making the effort to obey His gospel and share it with a pure heart, you will be blessing God and He will help you to improve.

That is how we can make God blessed, but how does the Law have this attribute? Again an item needs an attribute in order to pass it on to another. The Law of God will lead us to understanding how He wants us to live and in doing so the Law can make us blessed. The Law is not there to make us right with God, but is a tool to make us understand where we have wronged God.

Revelation 22:14 NLT

Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior our robes are washed. We cannot wash them ourselves. The act of realizing we have sinned against God per what His Law says should make us run to Jesus.

Another way God’s Law is blessed occurs when we keep His Sabbath holy. The first law is to put God first before all things and this leads into His example of one way to take time to praise Him.

Exodus 20:11 NLT

For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; then he rested on the seventh day. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

We are to honor and praise God for everything. This blesses us and God. It is a time of sharing with Him. God wants us to come to Him for all things, but we are to learn how to do according to His Law.

Where are you with your relationship with God and are you blessing and praising Him no matter what life is throwing at you? Are you honoring Him every day of the week both in a one-on-one relationship and corporately with others on His Sabbath?

Enlightenment

Enlightenment in the dictionary is defined as the action of enlightening or the state of being enlightened. I found the following synonyms listed helpful in understanding this term:  insight, understanding, awareness, wisdom, education, learning, and knowledge. Most of these words have come up, or will be talked about shortly, in this study of God’s attributes.

God wants us to be in the light so we can see the truth and know it. If we don’t let Him enlighten us, we will remain lost to spiritual darkness. This was discussed in Light Pierces the Dark posted on February 21, 2018. The following verse is an example of God’s enlightenment.

Psalms 18:28 NKJV

For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

If we let Him, He will lead us into the correct way of living that truly sets us free. His Word not only talks of moral issues, but many day to day things including health, diet and work. The Israelites did not go without diseases, but had a system to help keep them from spreading without doctors and hospitals. That was from God. He knows what we need to live healthy and productive lives. He knows how we are to treat one another and work with one another to accomplish the proper tending of the world around us.

Psalms 19:8 NKJV

The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;

His laws teach us how to treat one another and to keep everything in perspective with God at the head. Three of the commandments are about how to honor Him and the Sabbath. It starts with the fact that He loves us and expects us to love Him back. He wants relationship not ritualistic religion.

The Enlightenment Period removed God from the center and produced men who believed reason was the primary source of authority and legitimacy. Many still believed in a Creator, but they robbed God of His position by writing off miracles as not existing since reason and science could not explain them. Some gave up on Christianity because of the how rigid Catholicism was. A lot of great things came out of this period, but there was a movement to deism and even atheism.

God did not give us the Ten Commandments to be a rules monger. He gave us ten simple things to do that would help us keep things correctly aligned in life. I know I have issues doing this and I strongly believe God’s laws are perfect. It’s natural for man to want to do it his own way. Most two year olds know the words ‘no’ and ‘mine’. We are naturally a selfish lot, but if we put God first and work on a lasting relationship with Him, the rest falls into line. We will know how to love even our enemies and how to treat everyone we meet. Simple reasoning and logic is not going to produce the love we need to have in order to correct the deepest issues of this world.

Does your life feel like a struggle instead of liberating? Check your source for how you live your life. Give a true relationship with God a try.

The Wisdom of God

Daniel 2:20 NLT

"Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he alone has all wisdom and power.”

Daniel took the time to praise and thank God for an answer to prayer that allowed him to properly discern the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. He received the wisdom, but first thanked the source before running off to give Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation. In all things we can go to God for the wisdom of how to handle the trials of life knowing He will give us an answer. However, we need to be paying attention because God can send the answers in a great deal of ways. Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit helping us discern what is going on and which idea is from God.

Job 36:5 NLT

 "God is mighty, yet he does not despise anyone! He is mighty in both power and understanding.”

God will help and give wisdom to anyone that seeks Him. No matter who you are or how large or small the request, He will be there. He wants us to come to Him and then He will work with us so we may learn to live as free children of God.

Jude 25 NKJV

To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

Jude wrote this to an audience vulnerable to heresies and temptations that would move them away from God. We have many things that cause us to do the same today. This truth about God should help us know God is always there and we should never lose faith. His Word is our guide to becoming wise like Him. Like Daniel, we can receive wisdom from God that helps us navigate our way through the world with the correct truths and discernment.

Psalms 119:98 NLT

Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for your commands are my constant guide.

Even if people scoff at your decisions to do it God’s way, know you are wiser than them by doing so. It may not seem that way at times, but God always gives you what you need when you need it, right on time. He can see ahead unlike us. He won’t always give us prophecies of the future, but His promise is that it is better with Him than without. When things seem to be going all wrong, dwell on how God answered before right on time in ways that you did not expect. No matter what, He will be right on time again and again.

Ps 19:7 NLT

The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

I like keeping life simple, but I’m glad God gives me wisdom. On my own I can’t properly discern what is going on or make the right choices. Sure, some things are obvious in life, but the things that really matter take more effort and have a spiritual element we should be letting God help us with. Even when I feel like I’m floundering, I have faith that God will show me the way out. Where are you placing your faith?

Unchanging

Malachi 3:6 NLT:  "I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already completely destroyed.

Hebrew 13:8 NLT:  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I know people who would argue with this. The God of the Old Testament was wrathful and the one in the New Testament is kind. God let the people of Nineveh remain because they repented upon hearing the words of Jonah of what God would do. A couple lied about the offering they brought to the disciples and God killed each of them on the spot. These are only two examples that prove there is still wrath in the new and there was kindness in the old.

God will always have a wrathful side because He is good. He cannot let injustice slide. He is kind in that He is giving us all time to repent and realize we face His wrath if we don’t repent.

Matthew 5:18 NLT

I assure you, until heaven and earth disappear, even the smallest detail of God's law will remain until its purpose is achieved.

This is the moral law that teaches us who God is and how He would like us to act as children of God. Since God never changes, this won’t change either. We still use several of the Ten Commandments for our laws in the US and many other countries. These Laws are there to help us be the people our Creator meant us to be despite the naturally selfish nature of man since we learned of good and evil in the garden.

Psalms 111:7-8 NLT

All he does is just and good, and all his commandments are trustworthy. They are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity.

God will treat us the way we deserve due to his just and good nature. None of us would want any judge of mankind not to be good. Most judges that take bribes wind up removed when the knowledge comes out in a just country. We should expect far more from God knowing He will never be unkind to us by breaking His own Laws simply out of wrath. His wrath is based on a righteousness we can only obtain by accepting Jesus Christ. The Law points us to Him, but does not save us. That is Jesus’ job if we let Him do it.

I rather cling to an unchanging God even if the world despises Him than be struck down by the fickleness of man. Even I change my mind on things and don’t always react the same way. I can’t be fully trusted to do the right thing all the time. I need the covering of Jesus and daily study of the Word to be sure I learn and grow into the child of God I was meant to be. I’m glad I made the choice to follow an unchanging God. What are you waiting for?

Psalms 119:103-106 NLT

How sweet are your words to my taste; they are sweeter than honey.

104 Your commandments give me understanding; no wonder I hate every false way of life.

105 Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.

106 I've promised it once, and I'll promise again: I will obey your wonderful laws.