I find it difficult to be happy. I’m emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally exhausted. I’m just tired of life. Can you help me?
The word “happy” is found only six times in the New Testament of the King James Bible (in other translations it is sometimes rendered “blessed”). Before we look at a few of those passages, I want to address the real SOURCE of being “happy.” In John chapter 4 the Lord Jesus spoke to a woman at a well about how she could find true happiness and meaning in life. In verse 10 He said, “If you knew the gift of God, and WHO IT IS WHO says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you LIVING WATER” (NKJV). He went on to say, “Whoever drinks of THIS WATER (the water at the well) will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (verses 13-14). This poor woman had been trying to find happiness in the THINGS OF THIS LIFE; in other words, in the literal pleasures that this world has to offer. Jesus was telling her you will never find true joy and happiness in those things, for they will leave you “thirsting for more.” He was offering her LIVING WATER; that is, EVERLASTING LIFE by believing in Him in the power of the Holy Spirit.
He brought out this same truth in John 7:37-39, “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him COME TO ME AND DRINK. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of LIVING WATER. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Have you come to Christ as a thirsty sinner and found in Him to be the “fount of every blessing?” He can and will meet the need of all who have found that the “wells of this world” never bring lasting joy and satisfaction. One may find “fleeting happiness” there, but ultimately the same old hunger and thirst returns, leaving the soul empty and exhausted. If you have never come to Christ, I invite you right now to come to Him by faith and trust Him as your Savior. He will forgive you of your sins (see Acts 10:43; 13:38-39), give you everlasting life (John 3:16, 36), and by the power of the Holy Spirit fill your soul with real joy and other blessings as well (see Galatians 5:22-23).
The believer in Christ will continue to experience true happiness as he remains in fellowship with Christ by obeying His Word. John 13:17 speaks to this, “If ye know these things, HAPPY are ye if ye DO THEM” (KJV). Living for Christ will often cause the world to hate you and there will be persecution, but even then you can experience true happiness. “But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, HAPPY ARE YE: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled….If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, HAPPY ARE YE; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth on you” (1st Peter 3:14; 4:14).
Now it may be you are a true believer but you have drifted away from the Lord Jesus. When this happens we naturally go back to the “wells of this world” with hopes that we can be happy by drinking from them. Ah, if this is your case, I would remind you of the words of Jeremiah 2:13, “For My people have committed two evils: They have FORSAKEN ME, THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” The Lord would appeal to your heart by informing you that He alone is the “fountain of living waters” and thus the only One who can make you happy. To turn to the cisterns (wells) of this poor world will only leave you thirsting for more! Let’s close with the words of Jesus in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (317.1) (DO)