My wife and I both try to pray with our kids each night before they sleep. It’s something we’ve done since they were born. It’s a comfort to them, and in truth, they have trouble falling asleep until we do.
One evening, a few months back, I prayed this with my oldest daughter.
“Thank you, God, that you are a happy God”.
I opened my eyes a little and saw the biggest smile on her face. She was considering the idea of a happy God, and it made her happy. And that, my friends, made this daddy happy.
How many people don’t know this about Him, that He made the world and all of its inhabitants, and He did it most likely with a smile on His face? God laughs, enjoys, and delights with a heart of gladness over all of His works. If we spend too much time thinking about the woes of the world, and why God would permit such things, sooner or later we will convince ourselves that God is angry all the time, and chomping at the bit to judge us and scold us; that He’s a never-joyful, and always-condemning kind of God. But He’s not!
The very fact that Jesus came to the earth tells us of an eternal happiness within God. It tells us that He is happy to cure the greatest woe the world has ever known, the sin in man’s heart; and that He’s happy to not let things stay the way they are.
Even the birth of Jesus was a proclamation, a shout from the top of the world saying, “I love you and I’m happy to come and save you!”
When you think about it, at the root of the Gospel is happiness. The Good News is that even though sin makes sadness, Jesus makes gladness. Even though the world would rebel against His good commands, it was God’s heart from eternity to come and fix it.
So let me tell you, in case you haven’t heard it in a while, or ever, God is a happy God, and you need His happiness. I need His happiness. The forgiveness, oneness and acceptance we all desire is rooted in His happiness. So when your days are bleak, and the earth seems to spin against you, recall the heart of God that say:
“Let those who delight in My righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of His servant!” -Psalm 35:27
He greatly delights in you, His servant!
He delights because He is a delightful God.
Without His great delight, this world would not exist.
So may it be our greatest delight to delight in Him.
Back to my daughter for just a moment. My desire is to show her and each of my children that God is a happy God. How will they know where to look for true happiness in this world otherwise? If I portray that sin brings consequence and disobedience makes mom and dad unhappy, then I must also be prepared to show them the happiness in my heart for them, and for the joy they are to me just for being my children.
God has the happiest heart in the universe. Let’s be sure to teach, and tell, and proclaim that God is happy, delighting in all that He does, delighting in His people, delighting in our salvation and delighting in bringing us to glory. Let’s be sure to bask in this happiness and trust in it. One day, all the redeemed will be there in His joyful and most happy presence, and all of the afflictions and sufferings of our lives will fade to nothing.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. Psalm 92:4
Joel Littlefield 
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