My happy place

Happiness can come from various sources. Getting good marks in school used to make me happy. Riding my horses had me smiling. Playing games with my family is still a source of delight, as is something as simple as checking chores off my to-do list.

Good relationships with BFF (best friends forever) and family also make me happy. I’m delighted when I see others reach their goals, or learn new things. Watching my children and grandchildren talking together and hearing them laugh makes me happy. But joy does not go away if none of those things are happening.

Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

This verse is in a section where the psalmist warns God’s people not to get upset when evil people do evil things. He isn’t referring to a mere absence of things that make us happy, but to the presence of events and people that are doing just the opposite. He knows that we will ask God to change our situation, but he also knows that God can bring joy even in those situations.

This verse also applies to those whose lives are not pressured by evil people. It addresses two important topics. One is that God needs to be my source of delight. That takes some time to learn. It is far easier to be delighted in the gifts that I can see and experience  instead of the Giver whom I cannot see. Nevertheless, God can and does make Himself known to me. He is real and my relationship with Him is real and intimate. I can delight in my children; surely I can delight in God, but I do have to let go of some things.

Corrie ten Boom, survivor of the holocaust and concentration camps, once said, “I’ve learned not to hold to anything too tightly, for it hurts when God pries my fingers loose.”

The Lord has taught me this regarding sinful, selfish things that I’ve held to. He takes them out of my life and if I resist their removal, the taking is far more painful than it needs to be. Yet He persists. He is my Savior from sin and keeps His promise to do just that.

He also is teaching me to not hold too tightly to the good things that make me happy. I listed some of them. What happens if those things are no longer part of my life? I am no longer in school. I don’t have my beloved horses. All sources of happiness are good gifts, but nothing is certain or permanent. Losses are real and, when experienced, they are painful.

The psalmist says to delight myself in the Lord. This does not mean I cannot have other sources of delight, but it does mean that if He is primary, then my delight in Him can never be taken away. He promises to be with me always. He never changes. I can be filled with delight in the Lord no matter how the world treats me or if my usual happy places become vacant. This is a wonderful reality in the life of those who have a personal relationship with the joy-Giver through faith in Him.

The other part of this verse is about my “I wants.” Some misinterpret it to mean that if we delight in God, He will give us whatever we want. That is not it. Delighting in God means holding loosely to all the other things that I delight in — and letting Him put in my heart the desires He wants me to have.

At one point in my life, I delighted in art and painting. It became more important than many other things. I held on, but He pried my fingers loose. It hurt, but as I learned to find my delight in Him, the desires of my heart changed. Instead of putting first all those things that I wanted to do, He began changing my desires, establishing more godly and God-pleasing priorities.

Then I discovered the secret. We have this pervasive notion that if we do what we want to do, we will be happy. However, this is only true if God is the delight of my life and the things that I want to do are grounded in those desires that He has put in my heart. Then, and only then, do I experience deep and lasting joy.

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Oh Lord, You make possible a rich and intimate relationship with You that brings me more delight that I have ever known in anything else. As I delight in You, You change my “I wants” and bring them into line with Your perfect will. Living in that will is the most joy-producing, fulfilling way to live.

One of the desires that You place in me is that others also know this amazing truth. Delighting in You produces more joy, contentment and sense of purpose than all other pursuits. Thank You for being here for me and for daily filling my heart with an increasing desire to love and obey You. 

(Clipart credit)