Where are all the happy people?

As Thanksgiving approaches, it is time to take stock of all the blessings in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for! More food, cars, homes, vacations, trinkets and gadgets than 99% of the world!

Why then does happiness still seem to elude us?

A great king that lived a long time ago had something to say on this matter.  He was a wealthy king; historians say he was perhaps the richest king in history.   His name was King Solomon and he was the envy of kings all over the world.  His house was filled with priceless treasures, his bedroom with beautiful women, and his table with decadent delicacies.  He had it made, yet this is what he said as he looked around his palace:

“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure…yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind� (Ecclesiastes 2:10,11 NIV).

Hmmm…he sure doesn’t sound like a very thankful guy…most people would do anything to have his life!!  So, what was up with King Solomon?  It sounds like he needed a little dose of the Thanksgiving Day spirit!!

We can choose to dismiss this man as ungrateful, or even crazy.  Or maybe we can learn something from the words he said after living a life most of us dream of living.  Maybe this King, who lived thousands of years ago, can help us understand why, in our affluent society, there are so many unhappy people.

A writer showed some insight into this problem. In one of her novels, a Catholic nun was asked to pray for a certain man. The nun asked,

“Is he then an unhappy man?�

“So unhappy that he has forgotten what happiness means.  So unhappy that he does not know that he is unhappy.�

“Ah� the nun said.  “A rich man.�

I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to see a connection here.

Maybe wealth has nothing at all to do with happiness.

Maybe, just maybe, that old cliché, “money can’t buy happiness� is actually true!  Wow.  You’d never know it by looking around you.  By the way most of us live, you’d think “chasing after the wind� –or pursuing wealth- really is the secret to happiness.

Maybe we have lived so long in this materialistic culture that we have stopped looking for alternative ways of living.  With the reality of failed marriages, suicide, depression, and anxiety all around us, I think it’s time we started again.  I know I don’t want to spend these brief years that I’ve been given chasing vapors, do you? 

The Bible teaches us about another way to live.   It says:

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’� (Hebrews 13:5)

This verse mentions contentment.  Of all the attributes that people have in this modern day, contentment is one of the rarest.  How often do you hear anyone say:  “I don’t need more money.  I have enough.�

This idea of enough has all but disappeared from our culture; but it is this idea of enough, God says, that is the secret to happiness.

I’m not talking about the shallow, “I’ll be happy just as soon and I get this or do that� kind of happiness; I’m talking about the deep abiding joy that comes when we put our trust in God instead of in material things.  This joy doesn’t leave when the money runs out, or when sickness comes, or when disaster strikes. God says that He will never leave us, and this is where we must put our hope for happiness. 

This kind of joy never leaves because God never leaves.

So this Thanksgiving season, let’s spend some time thinking about what happiness really means. Let’s look around at all our stuff and realize, like King Solomon, that it is all meaningless. Let’s ask ourselves whether we spend more time thinking about the things we don’t have than the things we do have.  Let’s say the word enough until it becomes part of our vocabulary again.  In short, let’s stop chasing after the wind.

And most importantly, let’s ask ourselves when the last time was that we looked to God for our happiness. Because God’s joy isn’t like the fleeting and elusive happiness that the world offers—it is the kind that lasts.

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