![\"James](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1453\/2022\/02\/Matin_LaBar_Flickr_50553549048_7a3cbd063a_k-300x235.jpg\")
The Bible is not a book of psychology (or any other field of knowledge). It doesn\u2019t give us rules for gaining happiness. It tells us to follow God\u2019s ways which boils down to how to treat other people. Follow God\u2019s ways, shown to us by Jesus, and happiness will follow.<\/p>\n
Since the 1970s I\u2019ve heard religious people say that being happy is a moment, but joy is deep, trying to say happiness only comes from following God. There is no wisdom in this. There\u2019s no difference \u2013 it\u2019s semantics. Happiness isn\u2019t giggles and laughs or momentary enjoyment of a gift. Happiness is a range of emotions from contentment to life satisfaction. Happiness goes all the way to the bone and radiates outward, especially when someone smiles. We find this happiness where we find it.<\/p>\n
The Seasons and useless pursuits<\/h2>\n
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) observed in a letter, \u201cWe chase phantoms half the days of our lives. It is well if we learn wisdom even then, and save the other half.\u201d \u2013 Letter to Orion Clemens, 21 February 1868<\/p>\n
It seems to take half of our life to have the experiences necessary to understand and identify foolish shadows that offer nothing. A lot of happiness disappears into those shadows. But we have to pursue some to gain understanding.<\/p>\n
King Solomon found the hard way that trying to understand God is misleading. Early on Solomon thought that wisdom was simply a useless pursuit. He said in Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 (NASB), \u201cI, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity [useless] and striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to myself, \u2018Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.\u2019 And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
My experience is similar to Solomon\u2019s. I thought as a young adult that it would be great to be wise like Solomon. But you don\u2019t gain wisdom through reading a book. You gain it through experience and reflecting on that experience. This is spiritual growth, and it\u2019s often just as painful as Solomon said.<\/p>\n
Maturity<\/h3>\n
When people spout knowledge at me, telling me they\u2019re smart, I understand that one day those words will have a bitter taste in their mouth and will fester in their brain. Not that I want that. I eat my own words, too. Being smart is not wisdom. Smart means good at getting knowledge. Wisdom is knowledge proved by experience.<\/p>\n
Solomon came to understand the difference. By chapter 8 of Ecclesiastes he had matured. \u201cWho is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things? A person\u2019s wisdom brightens their face and changes its hard appearance.\u201d \u2013 Ecclesiastes 8:1 (NIV)<\/p>\n
Solomon went on to say to leave it to God to decide how to deal with people. No one can control the wind. The evil are allowed to prosper, but eventually their deeds take them away. So eat and to drink and be merry (enjoy your lives). Even if we are wise, we won\u2019t gain understanding of everything that happens. \u2013 Ecclesiastes 8:1-17 (NASB)<\/p>\n
When we dare question the mind of God, we see God lets people learn from experience and prove what kind of people they are, even letting them prosper from wrongful deeds. When we see the wicked prosper, we think life is unfair. Like Solomon, we see that even those who follow the ways of God sometimes suffer, while those who are selfish and even wicked seem to prosper. But we learn to not question too deeply. Our part is simply to help others. And for this our face shows our happiness.<\/p>\n
Forgiveness is important<\/h2>\n
Hating others is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It\u2019s key to our own forgiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not [a]judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.\u201d \u2013 Luke 6:37 (NASB)<\/p>\n
Desmund Tutu experienced all of Africa and its apartheid system that favored whites and left out blacks. It was horrendous injustice at which the world staggered. His theological stance became the life and death issues of the black man. But did he hold this against the whites?<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil we can forgive the person who harmed us, that person will hold the keys to our happiness; that person will be our jailor. When we forgive, we take back control of our own fate and our feelings. \u2026 We forgive for ourselves.\u201d \u2013 Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu<\/p>\n
Wisdom and happiness<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s quite possible for someone to have a Ph.D and have not one whit of useful knowledge. Same for those with a lot of money and power. It\u2019s also possible for those who have very little of things we admire, to be smarter than them all.<\/p>\n
The only wise things I can say are that the more you know, the more you realize you don\u2019t know, and that if you follow the ways shown to us by Jesus, you\u2019ll be happy and that\u2019s to the bone. These are expressed in the following poem.<\/p>\n
The Fool\u2019s Prayer (abbreviated)<\/h3>\n
By: Edward Rowland Sill (April 29, 1841 \u2013 February 27, 1887)<\/p>\n
The royal feast was done; the King
\nSought some new sport to banish care,
\nAnd to his jester cried: \u201cSir Fool,
\nKneel now, and make for us a prayer!\u201d<\/p>\n
The jester doffed his cap and bells,
\nAnd stood the mocking court before;
\nThey could not see the bitter smile
\nBehind the painted grin he wore.<\/p>\n
He bowed his head, and bent his knee
\nUpon the monarch\u2019s silken stool;
\nHis pleading voice arose: \u201cO Lord,
\nBe merciful to me, a fool!<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019T is not by guilt the onward sweep
\nOf truth and right, O Lord, we stay;
\n\u2019T is by our follies that so long
\nWe hold the earth from heaven away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese clumsy feet, still in the mire,
\nGo crushing blossoms without end;
\nThese hard, well-meaning hands we thrust
\nAmong the heart-strings of a friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ill-timed truth we might have kept\u2014
\nWho knows how sharp it pierced and stung!
\nThe word we had not sense to say\u2014
\nWho knows how grandly it had rung!<\/p>\n
\u201cEarth bears no balsam for mistakes;
\nMen crown the knave, and scourge the tool
\nThat did his will; but Thou, O Lord,
\nBe merciful to me, a fool.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room was hushed; in silence rose
\nThe King, and sought his gardens cool,
\nAnd walked apart, and murmured low,
\n\u201cBe merciful to me, a fool!\u201d<\/p>\n
Take Home Points<\/h2>\n
This series didn\u2019t take the superficial route of forecasting happiness from platitudes. While platitudes contain bits of wisdom, enduring happiness is more deeply found in following the ways Jesus showed us, and going counter to these ways of God will bring deep anguish.<\/p>\n
Happiness is also deeply affected by having control over our lives (being autonomous agents), being able to cope with and even embrace change, having an attitude of gratefulness instead of an attitude of poverty, having a sense of meaning and purpose, and not trying to understand and control every event in the universe. We can\u2019t know the mind of God so it\u2019s useless to try and understand everything. Change what we can.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the foolishness of God is wiser than mankind, and the weakness of God is stronger than mankind.\u201d \u2013 1 Corinthians 1:25 (NASB)<\/p>\n
We are what we think. Wise words from the Apostle Paul: \u201cFinally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable\u2014if anything is excellent or praiseworthy\u2014think about such things.\u201d \u2013 Philippians 4:8 (NASB)<\/p>\n
Series Links<\/h2>\n
Don\u2019t worry, be happy \u2013 Part 1<\/a><\/p>\n Clues to making and accepting change<\/a><\/p>\n Controlling your destiny \u2013 change and happiness<\/a><\/p>\n Gratefulness Changes Everything<\/a><\/p>\n We Need to Start a Happiness Epidemic<\/a><\/p>\n Satisfaction with the material things we have<\/a><\/p>\n Satisfaction with our place in life<\/a><\/p>\n Depending on employers and the economy for happiness<\/a><\/p>\n