How to Be Happy and Make God Happy - Psalm 119:1

“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!” Psalm 119:1

When my sin became real and ugly to me in college, I truly repented and God became very close and present. Then His Word started jumping off the page. I got in a relationship with Him, and wanted to get to know Him – what He likes and dislikes. I wanted to spend time getting to know Him in His Word and talking to Him as He directed me each day. When you’re in a relationship with a person you do the same. The Bible lays out pretty clearly how we can truly be happy and how we can make God happy. We don’t find happiness in a life of ease, nor in getting everything we want when we want it. We don’t really know if something will actually make us happy, but odds are, it won’t or it won’t last. I try to teach my son that too. Getting everything he wants doesn’t make me loving, and it doesn’t keep him happy. Doing what’s best for him to meet his needs, and to be gracious on top of that is a reflection of God’s love.

Whenever I see the words, “blessed are,” I like to connect them with other verses that have similar phrasing. I also like to look at each keyword and think about it. It helps me meditate on it as I try to memorize it. It makes me think of other verses in the Bible with similar wording like the Beattitudes in Matthew 5, a man of integrity in Psalm 1, and other verses that explain how people can be blessed.

“Blessed” can be translated “happy, fortunate, to be envied, joyful”

“way” means the “revealed will of God”

“is” I think of an = equal sign 

“blameless” means “undefiled, upright, truly sincere, people of integrity”

“walk” or “follow, an active, ongoing movement, order their conduct and conversation”

“in” or “according to”

“law of the Lord” or “Lord’s instruction, the whole of God’s revealed will”

So to put it in my own explanation, “People can be truly happy, and joyful in their lives IF they order their life after God’s revealed will in the Bible, submitting to His direction, His lordship, His leadership, His will be done, not mine. They are happy and their way will be pure, holy, without spot or blemish (Ephesians 5:27), above reproach (Colossians 1:22), because they are people of integrity who “swear to their own hurt and do not change” as Psalm 15:4 says. They are continually pursuing the Lord in the Word and in prayer each day, to direct their paths. They say, “we don’t know what to do but our eyes are on You” as Jehoshaphat prayed in 2 Chronicles 20:12, admitting that “we have no might to stand against this great company that is coming against us.” People who order their ways after the Word have peace as He directs their path (Proverbs 3:5-6). They cling to Him, and He fills them with joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11). They love His Word and need it for daily food like Jesus who said, “My food is to do the will and pleasure of Him Who sent me and to accomplish and completely finish His work.”(John 4:34). We get our marching orders from the Word, and that is our goal as believers. We desire to do God’s will and be obedient. In fact, we know that obedience is “God’s love language” (John 14:15) and that makes Him happy. I picture a child lovingly looking up to and smiling at their parent with a big smile as they hug mom or dad. Nothing makes a parent more proud in that moment than to be hugging them knowing that their child is respectful and obedient. 

Reflection Questions: Is my desire to make God happy or to make me happy? Is it to make others happy? If my greatest desire is to make myself or anyone else happy, I am not walking in God’s best and need to repent and ask for His help to start walking in the right direction. 

Am I spending time in His Word? Do I love His Word? Do I cling to it? Do I look to it for instruction, like my daily food? 

If I’m not seeing the fruit of this verse, I need to confess my sin, my pride, my idolatry and turn to Him. I need to ask for His forgiveness, believe Jesus paid for that sin on the cross, trust that God sees Jesus instead of me and forgives me. Then, I need to ask God’s help to walk in His way, spend daily time in His Word, and help me be obedient and faithful to practice this each day. 

For further study: To go more in depth, look up these verse and list other ways the Bible describes those who are blessed. Psalm 144:15, 1 Peter 4:14, Romans 4:7, John 20:29, Revelation 22:14, Psalm 106:3, Psalm 32:1-2, Psalm 128, Psalm 84:12, Jeremiah 17:7, Proverbs 3:13,18, Luke 12:43, Proverbs 14:21, Psalm 146:5, Job 5:17, Psalm 33:12, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 94:12, Psalm 112:1, Proverbs 8:34, Psalm 41:1, Proverbs 29:18, Psalm 89:15.