The Key to Happiness

Abiding in the Lord is the key to happiness; not obedience, but abiding.

If obedience was a necessary precursor to happiness, you would be under the law. Your happiness would depend upon your ability to follow rules, and would ebb and flow depending upon how “good” you have been on a particular day.

However, if your happiness depends upon abiding in the Lord, then your supply of contentment fails only when you separate yourself from Him. And so you need never experience separation from the Lord. Jesus died so that you could have consistent, unfailing, permanent oneness with God.

And here is the wonderful benefit of abiding: the Lord counts it as obedience. Because abiding is the precursor of true obedience, it is tallied for you as obedience itself. In this instance the presence of the seed (abiding) assures the plant (obedience) will grow. This is how Abraham was accepted. His faith was counted as righteousness, and in the same way your abiding will be counted as obedience.

Simply because something is hidden does not mean that it is not present. You sometimes despair because your outward behaviors have not yet been drawn into alignment with your obedient heart. You must understand this: nothing can stop a process God has set into motion. That is why you must not judge your fellow human beings. You can’t tell from looking at the outward appearance what the heart holds.

God sees your heart and He knows you are abiding in Him. You are obedient and you are His own. Do not give way to fear. Trust the Lord and do not give way. You are accepted. All is well. Do not be afraid.

Scripture: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:4-7 ESV)

Note: The NIV translates the word "abide" as "remain." Here is the webster.com definition of "abide,": "to wait for, to endure without yielding, to bear patiently, to accept without objection; to remain stable or fixed in a state, to continue in a place."

He is God

God is not always “nice,” but God is good; terribly, perfectly, powerfully, dependably, irrevocably good. He is not bound by human conventions of niceness or manners. He is Holy. He is beyond human measure or comprehension. He is God and there is no other before Him; nothing and no one can stand against Him.

Scripture: "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts'" (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Align the Heart

God does not view a desire to obey as being the equivalent of obedience itself. Sometimes a desire to obey is actually this: “It’s too bad I can’t have the blessings of obedience in combination with this other thing I’m unwilling to release.” Your idols vie for equal status with your devotion to the Lord. Do not allow them access to His rightful place in your heart, and all will be well.

The ability to obey comes from God, but He does not enable until He sees that your heart is aligned correctly. This leads to a common misconception, “God could if He would.” The truth is, “God will when you will.”

The Almighty God awaits your decision to obey, and that decision does not come via the path you think. It is not an act of your will, but of the heart. He requires that you be devoted to Him above all others. He loves that you depend upon Him. Now give Him first place in your heart in all areas of your life. That which initially feels like great loss will become great gain.

You can’t trust your emotions. Trust what you know to be true; God is with you.

Scripture: "...the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints...is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:26-27)

Fear and Worry

Your worries represent only a tiny fraction of the territory covered by the canopy of the Lord's protection and provision. However, it is inaccurate to say God is sovereign over fears when they fall outside of what is actual. Fear of imaginary danger is not a part of the real world. It is one thing to blanch in fear and to cry out to God for help in the face of true danger, quite another to fabricate terrible possibilities in your mind and then to recoil from the imagined event.

The Lord does not provide fuel for energy expenditures that will occur in the future. Your tanks hold just enough energy reserve for this day; don't borrow trouble from days yet to come. Today holds enough challenges for you without this struggle over the prospect of future sorrow. Trust the Lord and pray, and perhaps you will be excused from those sorrows you dread. Walk with Him today, and trust Him for the future.

Scripture: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6)

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34).

In his commentary on Psalm 91, Matthew Henry says, "Wisdom shall keep them from being afraid without cause, and faith shall keep them from being unduly afraid."