Does the Bible tell me how to be happy?

In November 2011, I wrote a post, I just want to be happy . I said then that I would look into what the Bible says about happiness. I made a start and put it aside. One of my goals for my vacation was to “peruse ‘blessed’ in the Bible.” And I did.

Now, I can’t claim that I have made an extensive search of every single instance of happy in the Bible or researched every single word even remotely related to happy; but I have looked over the main words in both the Old and New Testament translated blessed and  happy. And I’ve made some interesting discoveries.

One discovery is that I will have to make another, more general, post about happiness. Another discovery is that the Bible doesn’t really address happiness as we know it, and that also will be covered in that soon-to-come post. But now, on to what I did see in the Bible about blessed and happy.

There is a word for blessed in the Old Testament that is sometimes translated  happy.

Genesis 30:13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

Deuteronomy 33:29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

Job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

Psalm 127:5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them [children]

Psalm 128 Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

Psalm 144:15 Happy is that people, that is in such a case:  yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

Psalm 146:5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:

Proverbs 3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

Proverbs 14:21 He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

Proverbs 16:20 whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.

Proverbs 28:14 Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

I think it is apparent that blessed fits just as well as  happy in these verses. Maybe better. At least the way happiness is viewed today. So, happy in the Old Testament is really a state of being blessed by the Almighty. But, when you think about it, isn’t that a pretty cool state to live in?

This is even more pronounced in the New Testament. There are two main words translated blessed, but I want to focus on the word Jesus used: μακαριος

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

I don’t think you can freely substitute happy here. Happy, at least as it is understood today, would be misleading – “Happy are they which are persecuted.” Really? And would “happy are they that mourn” even make sense?!? No, the idea is clearly blessed.

Here are two instances when it was translated happy

1 Peter 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

1 Peter 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

If we really can use  happy for the circumstances described, then it is clearly used in a much larger way than we generally use it. Let’s be honest, no one who is suffering feels good at that moment. But he can be  happy that he is blessed to be suffering for Christ.

So it would seem that there is no road map to happiness in the Bible. But while it doesn’t tell us how to feel good all the time, it does tell us how to live a life blessed by God. I read that Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone that "happiness" and "unhappiness" are "yuppie words” and that what matters is "blessed or unblessed.” I think he’s on to something!

Now I’m working on a post comparing the classical (and biblical) idea of happiness with the idea that is current today, which I am persuaded will demonstrate that the Bible really does have a road map to happiness.