Can you be blessed by God and not happy? That’s the question that’s kind of floating through my mind this morning. I guess I kind of think of being blessed as a state I receive and being happy is more of an emotion I feel. I guess too that my experience would say that I know a number of people that I would consider to be blessed but don’t seem to be very happy. But a verse in my reading in Psalm 146 this morning has put the question on my radar, “Can you be blessed and not happy?”

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

As I read Psalm 146 this morning the word “happy” jumps off the page at me. Now, you won’t see it if you’re reading the NIV or ESV or NASB . . . instead, in those versions you’ll see “blessed”. How come? With the help of my handy-dandy Online Bible I discover that the Hebrew word being translated here is the word esher . . . it’s used 45 times in the Old Testament . . . and for the King James translators, 27 times they render it “blessed” and on the other 18 occurrences they translate it “happy”. And, from near as I can tell, even in the NIV, while “blessed” is used way more frequently than “happy”, there too you’ll find esher sometimes translated as “blessed” and sometimes “happy”. Not sure how these translators decided when to use “blessed” and when to use “happy”, but I’m kind of pickin’ up that maybe these words are somewhat interchangeable.

So, that’s why I’m asking, “Can you be blessed by God and not happy?”

Based on a lot of Christians I’ve met . . . and based on my own disposition sometimes . . . the “experience-tells-me-answer” would seem to be “Yes.” But as I recognize the multi purposed esher and noodle a bit on Psalm 146, I’m wondering if the answer really is “No.” A blessed person should be a happy person. If they’re not, then someone or something is robbing them of happiness or blessedness that comes having the God of Jacob as our help and our hope established in the LORD God.

Check out the Psalmist’s inventory describing the God who is our help and hope: He made heaven and earth . . . He keeps truth forever . . . He executes justice . . . He gives food to the hungry . . . He gives freedom to the prisoner . . . He opens the eyes of the blind . . . He raises those who are bowed down . . . He loves the righteous . . . He watches over strangers . . . He relieves the fatherless and widow . . . and, last but not list, He shall reign forever. Isn’t the person whose help and hope are founded in Him blessed? Yeah!!! Shouldn’t that person be happy? I’m thinkin’!!!

Now I don’t consider myself some super-emotional type, but come on, shouldn’t being so blessed result in a bit of emotion? The blessing isn’t in the circumstance, it’s in the God who has redeemed me, called me into relationship with Himself, and has burned upon my heart the reality of eternity with Him. Shouldn’t that put a smile on my face . . . shouldn’t that create a “warm fuzzy” on the inside? Yeah! Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help. There should be an underlying happiness and joy emitted from the child of God . . . from those who know the God of Creation as their help and hope.

Maybe I should start taking an esher approach and start swapping these two words a bit more . . . “Happy assurance, Jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine . . . ” No longer should I see that yellow round-headed grin as a “happy face” but view it instead as a “blessed face.”

Praise God for His presence and faithfulness . . . for the hope that is ours in Him. Be happy in the Lord . . . put on a blessed face . . . for His glory . . . amen.