This post marks the close of our 5 part series: Happiness in Proverbs. We end on one of my favorite meditations regarding God’s word and happiness related to our obedience to it. To put it frankly: I am at my happiest when I know that I am walking according to God’s commandments and will. The reverse is also true: I am at my saddest when I have committed any type of deed, word, or thought outside of God’s commandments and will.
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. – Proverbs 29:18
Happiness in Obedience
Similar to my previous post: “If You’re Bad You’re Sad”, this proverb shows forth the truth that our happiness, in some way, is linked to our obedience to God’s word. The Hebrew word here for “law” is “torah” which is used in the Old Testament to mean: “law, instruction, commandments, precepts, teaching, etc.” Essentially, all the teachings and commands of God as revealed in scripture are to be obeyed and if you find yourself, in any area of life, outside of this obedience then it is likely you are not experiencing the happiness that God wants you to.
The way this looks in my life is simple: If I have a day where I am lazy at work, disrespectful to people, and unloving to my wife, then that entire day I have a painful conscience and am extremely far away from any type of true “happiness”. Whereas if I have a day where I work “as to the Lord” (Col 3:23), am kind to people (Phil 2:3), and loving to my wife (Eph 5:25) then I am deeply happy that entire day. It’s important to understand that this is true in any circumstance. The day that I sinned a lot I may still have had my favorite foods, hung out with friends, and played some fun games but even though it may have appeared “happy” it most certainly was not. Whereas the day that I kept close to God’s word and obeyed it I may have had bad food, work was long, and there were no fun games and yet my “happiness” was exuberant and overflowing because I knew I was in the will of God.
Christ our Obedience
It’s important to note that I am not speaking about your salvation as linked to your obedience. This simply has to do with happiness. Christ was the only human being for all of time past, present, and future to perfectly fulfill the law of God. (2 Cor 5:21) And He did so for us. (John 3:16) But it is also Jesus that says: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” (John 15:10)
There is no obedience to God’s word outside of Christ. You, in your sinful flesh (Rom 7:18), are incapable of obeying God’s law. What you need is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you to give you the power and ability needed to obey God’s law (read Romans 8). And it is in this correct obedience (ie. obeying God through Christ and not trying to obey Him through sinful flesh) that happiness is then found.
Jesus had a moment with His disciples when He wanted to teach them the importance of serving one another by denying themselves and loving each other. He did so by taking the time to wash all their feet even though He was their “Master” and “Lord” and in that context He should have never been doing the washing. After this He then reveals the command: “ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” Then He says the following, which is a perfect way to end this post:
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. – John 13:17
Summary
Over the past 5 weeks we have seen how the Book of Proverbs reveals true happiness in the Christian’s walk. To summarize, true happiness is found when I seek Christ as my wisdom, lovingly show Christ’s mercy to the poor and needy by giving, trust Christ with my entire life and the keeping of my soul, walk in the Fear of the Lord, and, lastly, maintain humble obedience to God’s law in and through the Spirit of Christ.
Action
- Praise God for His perfect word and law
- Confess to God your shortcomings to obedience and your temptation to try to obey within your own power
- Ask God to fill you with the Spirit of Christ that you may obey His law
- Listen to this post’s song: Trust and Obey