My Choice: Happiness vs. Joy - Melissa Marazzi

In one of our last classes, someone brought up the concept of happiness and how that is not what God desires for us to achieve; at least, that is not the ultimate goal. The Bible often talks about joy, “the prospect of the righteous is joy” (proverbs 10:28), and how it is what the upright can look forward to receive. But I wondered, where does happiness lie in all this? Is it on a different spectrum altogether? I think that they might be. Happiness seems to me to be more of what man can consider as good as it gets; be happy and you;ve achieved everything good. However, I feel that the Bible places a great deal of emphasis on joy. Joy is even considered on of the fruits of the spirit. I am not as learned in the area of Hebrew translation. But, it seems to me that joy encompasses more of an all-encompassing uplifting. Happiness, on the other hand seems to be of a lower caliber of joy. Psalm 68:3 even separates the two, “But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.” The Psalmist would not reiterate himself soon blatantly like that, therefore, they must mean something different. If this is true, then that joy is more encompassing than happiness – as joy is one of the fruits of the spirit – then this demonstrates a great deal about our God. Like I mentioned earlier, we spoke in class about how God does not ultimately desire only happiness for us, but more. This more may be the joy that comes with what He does grant us, the love He gives.