Does God want us to be happy? What does the Bible say about happiness?

“Happiness” may seem like a passing thing, and hardly the ultimate goal in most belief systems. In fact, though, it is the Lord’s greatest goal for us: He wants us to be happy. If we allow it, He will lead and guide us to be as happy as we are able to be.

The whole reason the Lord created us was so that he could love us, and what else but happiness do you wish for someone you love? But the happiness the Lord wants for us is not the passing joy of satisfying our bodily desires but the exquisite eternal joy of conjunction with the Lord and true love of the neighbor, things that are harder to see and harder to attain but ultimately far more delightful.

Swedenborg distinguishes heaven’s happiness from worldly happiness of satisfying our bodily desires. In heaven, all happiness is felt from loving the Lord and being of use, living for the sake of others. Everything the Lord does is part of his attempt to lead us to that state, and in everything that happens to us - even the things that are the most tragic on the natural level - he provides opportunities for us to move toward that state.

In Arcana Coelestia 6392, there's this: "...performing good deeds without thought of recompense is that in which heavenly happiness consists." A couple of sentences later, there's another key statement -- i.e. that this real love of the neighbor has to be rooted in a "new will" in us, a will that can only be implanted by the Lord when we make room for it, and seek it.

In the American Declaration of Independence, the "pursuit of happiness" is one of the 3 enumerated inalienable rights that our Creator endows us with. Certainly, the Lord wants our happiness, and wants us to pursue it. In a way, though, if we pursue it directly, externally, we will probably not get it. If we pursue happiness for others, we will be making our minds open and ready for that new will. (See Arcana Coelestia 454 for more about this.)

The Lord also leaves us in freedom. We can reject his efforts and turn away if we choose to, and while that choice may seem to us to lead toward happiness, it's a passing, low-level happiness that is ultimately only a shadow of the joy he desires for us. However, people in hell are "happy" being there - at least as happy as they CAN be - because the life there matches the self-centered love they cultivated while on earth. If people in hell could be lifted up to heaven, they would feel tormented.

From Psalm 65:9-13:

Thou visitest the earth, and blessest it; thou makest it very plenteous.

The river of God is full of water: thou preparest their corn, for so thou providest for the earth.

Thou waterest her furrows; thou sendest rain into the little valleys thereof; thou makest it soft with the drops of rain, and blessest the increase of it.

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy clouds drop fatness.

They shall drop upon the dwellings of the wilderness; and the little hills shall rejoice on every side.

The folds shall be full of sheep; the valleys also shall stand so thick with corn, that they shall laugh and sing.

From John 15:11:

I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

(références: Arcana Coelestia 1153 [2]; Divine Providence 37)

1153. That 'the sons of Gomer' also means those who possessed external worship, but an external worship derived from that which existed with the nation Gomer, follows from what has been stated and shown several times already about the meaning of 'sons', as well as from the fact that Gomer is one of those nations which possessed external worship corresponding to internal. Seven nations which possessed such worship are mentioned by name in the previous verse, and seven again, called 'the sons of Gomer and of Javan', in this. The specific differences however between one nation and another cannot be stated, as only their names are given here. In the Prophets however when the subject is specifically this or that type of Church-worship the differences can be established. In general all variations of external worship, as also of internal, arise according to the adoration of the Lord in the worship, and the adoration is according to the love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour that exist there. For it is within love that the Lord is present, and thus within worship. The differences of worship therefore existing among the nations mentioned here depend on the nature of His presence within.

[2] To make it easier to talk about how types of worship differ and how they did so in the Ancient Church among various nations, let it be realized that all true worship consists in adoration of the Lord. Adoration of the Lord consists in being humble; and being humble consists in the self-acknowledgement that with oneself there is nothing living and nothing good, but that with oneself everything is dead, indeed corpse-like. Being humble also consists in the acknowledgement that everything living and everything good come from the Lord. The more a person acknowledges these things not just with the lips but in his heart, the more humility he has; and consequently the more adoration - which is true worship - and the more love and charity, and the more happiness. The first contains the second, and they are so linked together as to be inseparable. This shows what these differences of worship are and the nature of them.

[3] Those who are mentioned here and are called 'the sons of Gomer and of Javan' are people who likewise possessed external worship corresponding to internal, but it was somewhat more remote than that of the people mentioned in the previous verse. This also is why they are called 'sons'. Generations descending one after another, or derivatives, here progress from what is interior towards things that are exterior. The more someone relies on the senses, the more exterior he becomes, and consequently becomes further removed from true worship of the Lord. For when it is more concerned with the world, the body, and the earth, and less with the spirit, it consequently becomes more remote. Because these people called the sons of Gomer and of Javan relied more on the senses, they focused worship even more on external things than those referred to as their parents and cousins had done. Consequently they form a second group here.

There is a beautiful line in Swedenborg's work "Divine Love and Wisdom" noting that the Lord loves reverence, worship and praise not for Himself but "for our sake, because they bring us into a state where something divine can flow in and be felt."

This brings to mind the well-known phrases of Micah 6:7-8:

"Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

Ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?"

The message in both is the same: Worship rituals are for us, not for the Lord. The Lord doesn't care what words are in our mouths when we worship, or what holy items are in our hands; He cares about what's in our hearts and what's in our lives.

This is a theme echoed in many discussions of worship in the Writings. When we make an effort to understand what the Lord wants from us and do it because it's right, then we are in a state of worship, even if it's 2:30 p.m. on a Tuesday and the good thing we're doing is starting a new work project instead of goofing off for the rest of the afternoon. Worship, then, can happen any time, or even all the time.

So what about more structured worship - church services and other rituals? The real value there is that structured worship can help us focus our thoughts on the Lord, can teach us more about the Lord's wishes and can move us toward a mental state where "something divine can flow in," so when the 2:30 p.m. doldrums roll around we'll be ready to handle temptation.

One way structured worship does that is through the power of external symbolism. Kneeling in prayer is a symbol of humility, and can remind us to acknowledge the Lord's power. An open Bible on the altar is a symbol that the Lord is seeking to enter our minds, and can remind us to let him in. Even the act of going to church itself is symbolic, forcing us to make time in our lives to specifically worship the Lord.

Such symbolism was, according to the Writings, the essence of worship itself in the most ancient times. Early humans were born into the love of the Lord, and from that love saw details of the Lord's nature in every element of the world around them. The Writings say that when they looked at mountains they were barely aware of their physical presence; instead they saw "height," which corresponds to closeness to the Lord. Instead of fruit trees they saw true principles (trunks) branching out to individual rational concepts (leaves) all supporting efforts to be good and do what's good (the fruit). Through this they were in a state of constant awareness of the Lord - essentially a state of constant worship.

People eventually fell into evil, though, and the Lord raised up a church - the Ancient Church - in which people had a similar knowledge of the relationships between physical things and spiritual ones, but knew it as a learned, intellectual thing rather than something springing from their loves. Because of this knowledge they began worshiping on mountains and in groves of trees because of the meaning those things had, and used carved figures of animals and other objects because of what they represented spiritually. That church would also later adopt sacrifice, with its powerful spiritual symbolism, as a component - and eventually the primary component - of worship.

Over time the people of the Ancient Church began paying more attention to the physical aspects of worship than to their spiritual meanings, however, and started worshiping the objects that had once merely symbolized spiritual things. This evolved into the practice of magic, and the sacrifice of animals and other foodstuffs evolved into human sacrifice. So the Lord raised up a church that knew nothing of spiritual things, but obediently followed and recorded a massive array of spiritually significant rituals: the church of the Children of Israel.

As that church also fell into evil, the Lord came in the flesh as Jesus, to teach about the actual meaning of existing symbolism and offer spiritual truth to people more directly. The Writings say that the nature of worship changed with His advent; through the teachings of Jesus we can learn about the Lord without relying on symbolism, and can worship Him as the ultimate human He is. Knowing the symbolism of the Bible and of the natural world can add immensely to our understanding, but it does not play the central role it once did.

So what does all this mean to us today? The Writings describe worship as "adoration of the Lord from the heart" (Arcana Coelestia 1150). That's something that can be done personally, anywhere and at any time. But it's something that implies some learning - you can't really adore the Lord if you don't know who He is - and also implies some follow-through - if you truly adore the Lord you will try to do what He wants. That's where formal worship can play a significant role.