Psalm 146:5 – Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God.

The word “happy” can also be translated “blessed.” You can enjoy true happiness in God. First, the God of Jacob is the God of the covenant, the God of wrestling prayer, the God of the tried believer. He is the only living and true God. Second, the God of Jacob is the LORD, who appeared to Moses, and led the tribes of Jacob out of Egypt, and through the wilderness. If you trust in Him, you are blessed, for you shall never be ashamed or confounded. The Lord never dies, and His thoughts will never perish. His purpose of mercy endures throughout all generations. You are blessed with His help for the present and in hope for the future, placing all your confidence in the Lord. When you are resting in the Lord, you know a happiness which is beyond description, beyond comparison, and beyond conception. In each of these two titles, “the God of Jacob”, and “the Lord his God”, there is a familiar harmony. Either one of them has a source of joy within it. But the first will not satisfy you without the second. Unless the Lord is your God, you will never find confidence in the fact that He was Jacob’s God. But when, by faith, you know the Lord to be yours, only then, will you truly be blessed.

Challenge:

Are you happy today? No really? Can you confidently say, “I am happy,” “I am blessed”? Be honest. This week’s verse makes it clear that being blessed is about your relationship with the Lord. Happiness is in a Person, not in a feeling or in any material possession. For instance, you may feel happy when you receive your paycheck on Friday, but, what happens to your happiness once that paycheck is spent by Monday? I challenge you this week, to be happy in the fact that you have God in your life and that He is more than enough for you. Knowing that fact is a true blessing. The only thing that lasts forever are your relationships with others and your relationship with God. That truth should motivate you to invest in all of your relationships and find true happiness. Everything this world has to offer you will eventually run out or wear down. Just think about every Christmas gift you received this year. Most of the gifts you received have been used up or maybe broken down. However, the dinners with friends, the time spent with family and the parties you attended, those have provided a lasting joy. When your happiness is securely fixed on God, you have a resource Who is eternal and will always meet your needs. God bless you.