Fear + Delight = Happiness..?

Hi friends,

There is a lot of focus on happiness in our world today. Many, many products and programmes are offered as sources of happiness (in fact, much of the advertising industry is driven by the desire for happiness). Often, we associate happiness with having our desires fulfilled and our dreams coming true. But what does the Bible say about happiness?

The word 'happiness' in some of our English translations is translated 'blessed' in others - they come from the same Hebrew word. I highly recommend doing a word study of happy/blessed in Scripture to see what the whole counsel of God's Word says about this topic. In Psalm 112 the psalmist writes 'Happy is the person who fears the Lord, taking great delight in his commands.'

The concept of fearing the Lord is such a foreign one in today's world. It is even more foreign to associate fear of the Lord with happiness, but that is exactly what this Psalm does. Fear in this case, when directed toward the Lord, is not terror but reverence and awe. When we stand in awe of God and take delight in his commands to us (which is a natural response when we reverence the source of those commands) we are blessed. This may not result in instant and continuous happiness (as we imagine happiness to be), but there is a state of contentment, peace and joy that we can live in when we fix our eyes on the Lord in reverence and delight.

I love the beautiful poinsettia image from the November Stamp of the Month called Poinsettia Greetings. I stamped the image on watercolour card and embossed with white embossing powder then watercoloured. I cut the image out, then cut it in half so that I could use each half in a different place on the page. This page in my Illustrating Bible had lots of space to play with, so I created a honeycomb background using acrylic paints and a stencil, then stamped the verse over the top using Classy Script Alpha, Bitty Minnie Alpha and Chunky Alpha.

Next time we feel like we are lacking happiness in our lives, it might be a good idea to examine our fear of the Lord and our delight in his commands. This isn't a formula, but it is a guide to show us what true happiness looks like. I don't know about you, but I need to grow in experiencing this kind of happiness.

Be blessed...

x Amy x