God Cares about Your Happiness
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” Psalm 37:4
For a really long time, I did not know that God wanted or cared about me being happy. I thought that God just wanted me to obey Him and do all of the right things and that was all He really cared about. Because of this mindset, my motivation to serve and know the Lord was not all that high.
This way of thinking continued until I met my best friend in high school. I will never forget talking to her about how I was feeling really forgotten by God and somewhere in the course of that conversation, I said something about how God didn’t care whether I was happy or not. She just looked at me in a confused way and said “Of course God wants you to be happy! He loves you and if He loves you, He cares about your happiness just like those who love you in your life care about your happiness.”
For some reason, I had let myself believe that God was the exception to that rule. I knew in my head that God loved me, but I felt like He was loving me in spite of so many things, that He did not need to worry about my happiness on top of forgiving me for all of the wrong things that I do. But this could not be farther from the truth. There are so many instances in Scripture where God makes it clear that He cares about my happiness. Some of them include:
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” Psalm 37:4
“We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, ‘What amazing things the Lord has done for them.’” Psalm 126:2
“God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh.” Luke 6:21
All of the verses above make it so clear to me that God cares about my specific wants and desires. Does that mean that believing in God means that you will get everything that you want? No.
But it does mean that having a relationship with God will satisfy you in a way that no other earthly thing can. Sure, there will still be disappointments in life, but you can rest knowing that God cares about you and every little detail of your life and that He is working all things in your life for His glory and your good (Romans 8:28).