We live in an age where people do not feel that they are bound by honor, commitment and principle. Instead, they live their lives looking for what makes them happy. They will argue that all God really wants is for them to be happy or if they are happy, God must be as well.
Ecclesiastes may be the single most applicable book of the Old Testament to our lives today. It is the account of Solomon’s search for truth and for the purpose of our existence on this earth. It details the various ways and means by which he tested what had value in life and how it all brought him back to the conclusion that the ultimate purpose of a life that would not end empty (in vanity) is to “Fear God, and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13 NKJV). Within his trials and studies, Solomon focused one section on pleasure and happiness. Notice what he said.
I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity. I said of laughter – “Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11)
Solomon examined the notion that the purpose of life was found in happiness. He luxuriated himself in all the things that brought him pleasure, and yet, he still found it to be empty. We must understand that a fulfilling purpose in life is not found in the happiness that the things of this world provide, whether possessions, sexuality, work or other physical things. It is for this reason that so many people waste their lives looking for true happiness and never find it. Instead, true happiness with purpose is only found when we lay up treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21), seek after God’s will and fulfill His Word in our lives. This is the only measure of life that extends beyond this empty existence and leaves a man’s life full and complete. It is the measure of a “blessed” life (the term in the original Greek simply meaning “happy”) according to Jesus (Matthew 5:3-12) and David (Psalm 1:1-3).
Can we serve God and be happy? Absolutely. Nevertheless, we must observe, as Solomon did, that any happiness which leaves God and His will out of the picture is empty and will leave man feeling so.
