I am going to inform you of something you may not like to hear, but nevertheless it is truth, God’s glory is more important than your happiness.
Jonah knew this from the moment that he heard the storm clouds start to rumble, Abraham knew it the moment the Lord said, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” (Gen. 22:2) Job after the first messenger arrived, Moses at the burning bush, Matthew when only two words were spoken to him, “Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.” (Matt. 9:9) Name after name, account after account, the glory of God is more valuable than our happiness.
This is the exact inverse of this world today, of most of those who call themselves Christians, we are as far away in Spirit as we are in time from the first century Christians, our happiness is of the utmost importance to most, our contentment, our things, our peace. Many have determined that their contentment is a sure sign from the Lord that they are in His favor, the sun is shining, there is no war nearby, life is good, so that means God is good. Yet these are the first to complain when the weather turns bad, they are as fearful as the disciples were in the boat when the storm began to brew. (Mark 4:38)
The glory of God is more important than your happiness, than your living standards, your health, wealth, even your very life. We cannot know happiness unless we are glorifying the Lord, they are one and the same. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Can you sing with your feet in fetters, in a dark dungeon at midnight, can you get up the next morning after being whipped for the third time and continue upon the path that He has set before you, can you rejoice after the beatings, can you say, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” (Job 13:15) Or do the circumstances of the moment rule your life, do the minor inconveniences turn your heart from the praise and worship of the Most High that is to be your life’s continual song.
I hate being sick, I hate the pain that racks my body some days, I hate a lot of things about this life, but I do not stop praising Him for it, it isn’t going to last much longer, whether we die tonight or in fifty years, whether the rapture happens tomorrow, or not until our grandchildren are old and gray, “Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.” (Psalm 144:4) What matters is that our lives, in everything that we do, glorifies the Lord God, lifts up the name of Jesus, proclaims His truths to all that will listen.
I have mentioned this before, and it is worth repeating here, you may say “My life is immaterial,” or “Thy will be done,” they mean the same thing. “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.” (John 12:49) Those that we speak to should hear only the words of Christ, everything else is opinion. Always verbatim? No, of course not, the Lord has allowed each of us throughout our lives to experience many things that we would not have chosen on our own, these are our testimonies.
To those who study and contemplate not only the Scriptures, but the person of Christ, the Holy Spirit uses to expound in more detail the truths of His words, but always and only for one purpose, one goal, to glorify God. He may use you in song, in prayer, in deeds, but we must always have at the forefront of all of our actions, in all that we do, the knowledge that it is for the glory of God that we exist, and that is where our happiness comes from. Knowing that we are glorifying God is how we find happiness.
