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.

(Ссылки: 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.

3994. 'And every black one among the lambs' means a proprium of innocence, which belongs to the good meant by 'Laban'. This is clear from the meaning of 'black' as the proprium, dealt with immediately above in 3993, and from the meaning of 'a lamb' as innocence, dealt with below. With regard to a proprium of innocence meant by 'black one among the lambs' the position is that, to be good, all good must contain innocence. Charity devoid of innocence is not charity, and still less can love to the Lord exist without it. Innocence is therefore an absolutely essential element of love and charity, and consequently of good. A proprium of innocence consists in knowing, acknowledging, and believing, not with the lips but with the heart, that nothing but evil originates in oneself, and everything good in the Lord, and therefore that such a proprium is altogether black, that is to say, both the will side of the proprium, which is evil, and the understanding side, which is falsity. When a person confesses and believes that in his heart, the Lord flows in with good and truth and instills a heavenly proprium into him which is bright and shining. Nobody can possibly be truly humble unless that acknowledgement and belief are present in his heart; and when they are present he is self-effacing, indeed self-loathing, and so is not preoccupied with himself, in which case he is in a fit state to receive the Lord's Divine. These are the circumstances in which the Lord flows in with good into a humble and contrite heart.

[2] Such is the proprium of innocence meant here by 'the black one among the lambs' which Jacob chose for himself, whereas 'the white one among the iambs' means the merit that is placed in good deeds - 'white' meaning merit, as stated above in 3993. Jacob did not choose this because it goes against innocence. Indeed anyone who places merit in good deeds acknowledges and believes that all good originates in himself, for he regards himself, not the Lord, in the good deeds he does and as a consequence seeks reward on the basis of that merit. For the same reason he also despises others in comparison with himself, indeed he even condemns them, and therefore to the same extent departs from heavenly order, that is, from good and truth. From all this it may be seen that charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord are by no means able to exist unless they have innocence within them, and consequently that no one can enter heaven unless he possesses some degree of innocence, according to the Lord's words,

Truly I say to you, Whoever has not received the kingdom of God like a young child will not enter into it. Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17.

Here and elsewhere in the Word 'a young child' means innocence - see what has been stated already on these matters in the following paragraphs,

Early childhood is not innocence, but innocence resides in wisdom, 2305, 3494.

The nature of the innocence of early childhood, and the nature of the innocence of wisdom, 2306, 3183; also the nature of the proprium when, with innocence and charity, the Lord gives it life, 154.

Innocence causes good to be good, 2526, 2780.

[3] The fact that innocence is meant by 'lambs' may be seen from many places in the Word, of which let the following be quoted to confirm the point,

The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the ox together; and a little child will lead them. Isaiah 11:6.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom and to the state of peace and of innocence there. 'The wolf' stands for those who are opposed to innocence, 'the lamb' for those in whom innocence is present. A similar example occurs elsewhere in the same prophet,

The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and for the serpent, dust will be his bread. They will not hurt and will not destroy on all My holy mountain. Isaiah 65:25.

As above, 'the wolf' stands for those who are opposed to innocence, and 'the lamb' for those in whom innocence is present. Because 'the wolf' and 'the lamb' are opposites, the Lord also said to the seventy whom He sent out, in Luke,

Behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Luke 10:3.

In Moses,

He causes him to suck honey out of the crag, and oil out of the stony rock - butter from the cattle, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed ¹ of Bashan. Deuteronomy 32:13-14.

This refers in the internal sense to the celestial qualities of the Ancient Church. 'The fat of lambs' stands for the charity that goes with innocence.

[4] In the original language various nouns exist for lambs, and each is used to mean a different degree of innocence, for as has been stated, all good, if it is to be good, must have innocence within it. And so also must truth. Here in Genesis 30:32 the word used for lambs is also used for sheep, as in Leviticus 1:10; 3:7; 5:6; 17:3; 22:19; Numbers 18:17; and by that word is meant the innocence belonging to faith grounded in charity. Different words are used elsewhere, as in Isaiah,

Send the lamb of the ruler of the land from the rock towards the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. Isaiah 16:1.

A different word again is used in the same prophet,

The Lord Jehovih is coming with strength, and His arm will exercise dominion for Him. He will pasture His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs into His arm, He will carry them in His bosom, and will lead those that give suck. Isaiah 40:9-11.

'Gathering the lambs into the arm and carrying in the bosom' stands for people who are governed by charity that has innocence within it.

[5] In John,

When He appeared [to the disciples] Jesus said to Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs. He said to him again, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-16.

Here as elsewhere 'Peter' means faith - see the Prefaces to Chapters 18 and 22, and 3750. And since faith is not faith if it does not arise out of charity towards the neighbour, and so out of love to the Lord, neither are charity and love charity and love if they do not arise out of innocence. This is why the Lord first asks whether he loves Him, that is, whether love is present within faith, and after that says, 'Feed My lambs', that is, feed those who are innocent. Then after putting the same question again, He says, 'Feed My sheep', that is, feed those who have charity.

[6] Because the Lord is the Innocence itself which exists in His kingdom, for He is the source of all innocence, the Lord is therefore called the Lamb, as in John,

The next day John Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world. John 1:29, 36.

And in Revelation,

They will fight with the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and those with Him have been called and chosen. Revelation 17:14.

There are other places in Revelation besides this - 5:6; 6:1, 16; 7:9, 14, 17; 12:11; 13:8; 14:1, 4; 19:7, 9; 21:22-23, 27; 22:1, 3. It is well known that in the highest sense the paschal lamb means the Lord - for the Passover meant the Lord's glorification, that is, His enduing the Human with the Divine - and in the representative sense means the regeneration of man. Indeed the paschal lamb means that which is the essential feature of regeneration, namely innocence; for nobody can be regenerated except by means of charity that has innocence within it.

[7] Because innocence is the first essential in the Lord's kingdom and is the celestial itself there, and because sacrifices and burnt offerings used to represent the spiritual and celestial things of the Lord's kingdom, the essential itself of the Lord's kingdom, which is innocence, was therefore represented by 'lambs'. This was why the continual or daily burnt offering was made from lambs, the first in the morning and the second 'between the evenings', Exodus 29:37-39; Numbers 28:3-4; and a double offering on the sabbath, Numbers 28:9-10; and many more lambs still at the appointed festivals, Leviticus 23:12; Numbers 28:11, 14, 19, 27; 28:1-end. After the days of her cleansing had been completed a woman who had given birth was required to offer a lamb as a burnt offering, also a young pigeon or else a turtledove, Leviticus 12:6. This was required in order that the sign of the fruit of conjugial love - a love which is innocence itself, see 2736 - might be represented, and because innocence is meant by 'babes'.

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