The Source of True Happiness

Theme: God alone is the source of true happiness.

After we have admitted that we have a deep longing for happiness—a longing for love and acceptance and security on the one hand, and purpose and meaning and satisfaction on the other—we must choose things of true value and reject things that are false.

Our Deepest Longings are Actually for God

Isaiah 58:11, And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

Psalm 42:1, As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

       

When we feel lonely and rejected and yearn for someone to affirm us, it is heaven that we long for; it is God whom we seek. When we are tired and defeated and crave a taste of success, it is heaven that we long for; it is God whom we seek. When we seem hollow and empty inside, struggling for meaning and purpose in life, it is heaven that we long for; it is God whom we seek. Surely, God will give us people and circumstances which help us from time to time to feel accepted and to have meaning in life. (Anders)

1.      But what happens when all fails us? What do we do when life collapses in on top of us?

a.       We have a protection. In the tempest we have safe harbor. In the darkest night, we have a compass. God will see us through if (and it is a big if) we have given ourselves to Him and have learned to take our love and purpose from Him. Life may hurt us, but with God in our hearts, it will not destroy us.

b.      Listen to what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:8–10: We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; [9] Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; [10] Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

2.      God alone can satisfy our deepest longings!

a.       Psalm 63:1, O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

b.      Hiding from his enemies in the barren desert of Judah, David was intensely lonely. He longed for a friend he could trust to ease his loneliness. No wonder he cried out, “O God, . . . my soul thirsteth for thee, . . . in a dry and thirsty land.” If you are lonely or thirsty for something lasting in your life, remember David’s prayer.

3.      Real, lasting satisfaction can only be found in God.

a.       Eccles. 2:24-26, There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. [25] For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I? [26] For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

b.      Is Solomon recommending we make life a big, irresponsible party? No, he is encouraging us to take pleasure in what we're doing now and to enjoy life because it comes from God's hand. True enjoyment in life comes only as we follow God's guidelines for living. Without him, satisfaction is a lost search. Those who really know how to enjoy life are the ones who take life each day as a gift from God, thanking him for it and serving him in it. Those without God will have no relief from toil and no direction to guide them through life's complications.

4.      The desire to satisfy God’s requirements ought to be our highest goal.

a.       John 6:28-29, Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? [29] Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

b.      Many sincere seekers for God are puzzled about what he wants them to do. The religions of the world are mankind’s attempts to answer this question. But Jesus’ reply is brief and simple: we must believe on him whom God has sent.Satisfying God does not come from the work we do, but from whom we believe. The first step is accepting that Jesus is who he claims to be. All spiritual development is built on this affirmation. Declare in prayer to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (see Matt 16:16), and embark on a life of belief that is satisfying to your Creator.

c.       Christ’s presence satisfies our deepest desires. People eat bread to satisfy physical hunger and to sustain physical life. We can satisfy spiritual hunger and sustain spiritual life only by a right relationship with Jesus Christ. No wonder he called himself the Bread of Life. But bread must be eaten to sustain life, and Christ must be invited into our daily walk to sustain spiritual life.

We all yearn for love and acceptance, meaning and purpose. It really is not wrong for us to long for these. The truth is you and I were created to long for them. God has created us and planted within us appetites and appreciation for these things. But He also created us so that He, and He alone, can satisfy these longings. Only in Christ can we have these longings gratified. We find ourselves adrift in life, floating on a sea of money, and sex, and ambition, and pleasure. We think that by drinking them, we will quench our thirst for love and acceptance and meaning and purpose. Not so. They are all poison.

Do you have unfulfilled longings in life? It is heaven that you long for. It is God whom you seek. Do not pursue these counterfeits that do not satisfy. Pursue God.