Are You Seeking Happiness and Joy?

The world will tell you that things and people will bring you happiness, so seek after happiness. Many individuals spend their lives searching for their ideal partner, pursuing material possessions such as a large house or an expensive car, with the hope that these possessions will bring them happiness. This is especially true for those who grew up without these things. ​

Once they find their person, once they get the material things they so desperately seek to bring happiness, they think they will be forever satisfied in life. Only to find that this happiness they sought leaves them feeling overwhelmed and inadequate, not realizing that joy is what we all truly seek.

Truth is happiness found in things, people, or circumstances is synthetic. It’s like candy. While synthetic things can bring a great deal of enjoyment, they are inherently artificial. it’s fake.  It's a counterfeit, not the real thing, so it doesn’t last.

King Solomon, who is considered one of the richest and wisest men who ever lived, tried the world’s brand of happiness and found it to be lacking. He said in Ecclesiastes 2:1–2, “I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But that also proved to be meaningless. ‘Laughter,’ I said, ‘is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?’”

The joy of the world is hollow, but the joy of the Lord is rich and abundant. The world’s happiness will fade with time, but God’s people will be happy forever. Psalm 37:4-6 (Good News Translation) says 4 Seek your happiness in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desire. 5 Give yourself to the Lord; trust in him, and he will help you; 6 he will make your righteousness shine like the noonday sun.

This doesn’t mean that God will give us our selfish desires. It doesn’t mean God will give me that coveted car or dream home as long as I’m a good person. It's not that God won't or can't, but rather that enjoying God—taking pleasure in Him—leads to complete satisfaction and contentment in Him. When we delight in God, our desires are fulfilled because our contentment is satisfied in Him.
 
Paul said in Philippians 4:11–13 11 I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances I have learned to be satisfied with what I have. 12 I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. 13 I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.

God fulfills the desires of your heart because, when you delight in Him, He is your desire. We need His help to truly delight in Him. Willpower and determination fall short in our pursuit of delighting in the Lord. We need God’s help. Philippians 2:13 tells us that “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” God wants us to delight in him, so we can boldly ask him to help us and expect him to answer because it’s his will (John 14:13–14).

​Are you seeking happiness and joy? Pray this prayer with me>>>>
Lord God, I thank You for who You are. I praise Your wonderful works. For You are the Creator of all, and yet You are so intimately near us when we call. Father, I want to delight in You. Forgive me for the times when I’ve made You an afterthought. Your Word says that when I delight in You, You’ll give me the desires of my heart. I want to experience the contentment, satisfaction, and fulfillment found only in You. Teach me to come to You with the humility and joy of a child. God, convict me when I become more excited about worldly pleasures than following Your will. Father, I delight in You. Help me to know You more, enjoy You more, love Your Word, and delight in who You are. Satisfy me with Your steadfast love, that I may be content and filled with joy always, no matter my circumstances (Psalm 90:14). Help me to never forget just how good You are. May I delight in You all the days of my life! In Jesus' name, amen.