A L M A C I A S

WHERE CAN WE FIND HAPPINESS?

There are many places in the Bible that we can go to read about the subject of happiness. God has given us many passages of Scripture which speak about happiness and how one can obtain it. In the book of Psalms, we find in the first chapter that a man can truly be happy even in the midst of trials and tribulations. We read in Psalms 1: "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. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." As we study this passage of scripture, we easily can find information about how a man can be truly happy. The writer describes such a man as one who is blessed.

As we look at this chapter in the book of Psalms, it is very interesting to note how the writer describes true happiness. To be genuinely happy, one must avoid certain things. Many times we are so programmed to think positively that any time we hear anything negative, we tend to rebel. The Psalmist says that true happiness comes by not walking in the counsel of the ungodly, by not standing in the way of sinners, and by not sitting in the seat of the scornful. The person who finds real happiness is able to do this by some of the things he does not do, places to which he does not go, books that he does not read, movies which he does not watch, and by the company he does not keep. We must admit that this seems like a strange way of doing things.

There are so many people who are desperately in search of true happiness, but never seem to find it. Like Solomon, they are not able to find it because they are looking in the wrong places. Studying the book of Ecclesiastes would help us to avoid looking for happiness in some of the places Solomon looked. When all is said and done, we must reach the same conclusion that Solomon reached, and that is that true happiness is in the fear of God and the keeping of His commandments. If a man would be truly happy, he would meditate in the Word of God day and night. But what a difficult thing this is for many who profess to be Christians, because they rarely study and, consequently, rarely do they meditate on God's Word. How happy are you?