Okay . . . like I said yesterday, I’m reading this year in a different version of the bible than I have for the past several years . . . and here’s the first CSB-ness that I’m gonna have to get used to. Evidently, I’m not blessed. Instead, I’m happy.

All who take refuge in Him are happy.

(Psalm 2:12b CSB)

Second encounter of happy in my two readings in the Psalms. Second time it surprises me a bit because I’m used to being blessed, as in “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked” (Ps. 1:1 ESV) and “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him” (Ps. 2:12b ESV).

Maybe it’s because my default picture of happy tends towards Pharrell Williams Happy. You know, that emotional, sunshine and roses, not-a-care-in-the-world type of happy. That put a smile on your face and a contented warmth in your belly happy. So what is this CSB happy I read of?

Well, I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive of doing a Snoopy happy dance, but it would seem to be something far more substantive.

Doing a bit of digging, it comes from a root word which means “to go straight” or “to advance” or “to make progress”. The idea of being on the right path, of being led in the right way, thus, of being blessed or made happy.

That lines up with the two happy verses I’ve encountered so far in Psalms. Not walking in the way of the wicked, or standing in the pathway of sinners, or sitting in the company of mockers, is to “advance” and “go straight.” To take refuge in the Lord, to trust in Him, is to head down the right path; it’s to make progress. And when that’s my reality, then I am blessed. When that’s how I want to walk as I enter my day, then that in itself is reason to be happy.

How often am I looking for something else in order to be happy? How often am I wanting to feel toe-tapping happy rather than to know solid-rock happy?

Being led by the King who will one day be installed on Zion, God’s holy hill (Ps. 2:6), being advanced by the Sovereign who is “enthroned in heaven” (2:4), that is more than enough reason for me to be happy.

Serving the LORD with fear, even as I rejoice and tremble (2:11), should define our happiness. Paying homage to the Son of the Most High God (2:12a), that is more than enough reason to be elated. Because God, by His grace, has called me out of the way of the wicked, the sinners, and the mockers. Because God, in His undeserved love through His unmerited provision, has led me to the Rock who is my unfailing refuge, and has given me a heart that, at the end of the day (and at its beginning), trusts in Him.

So yes, I’m blessed. Yes, I’m happy.

By His grace. For His glory.