06/08/2026
It is difficult to remain “happy” because happiness depends on circumstances. It has to do with the feeling we get when things are going the way we want them to or when something great happens for us. Interestingly, though, after the favorable circumstances disappear, so does the fleeting sense of happiness.
Of course, we will have seasons in life when things go well, but we will also have suffering and challenges. What a person truly needs is joy. Joy is different than happiness. Joy is biblical, deriving from the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts (Galatians 5:22). God gives us joy as a gift when we come into relationship with Him. Joy is the reality that underneath all the difficulties – and even in our suffering – we can have a deep, abiding peace and an assurance that says, “Everything is ultimately going to be more than okay. Indeed, in all circumstances my God is doing something amazing to make my life what He desires it to be for His glory and my good.” That is joy.
If you are interested in having joy instead of mere superficial happiness, you must obtain it at the right hand of God. The Word of God tells us in Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Notice that phrase “at your right hand.” At God Almighty’s right hand is where we find complete joy and eternal pleasures. The “right hand of God” means “the place of His power.” When Jesus had finished paying for our sin and ascended to Heaven, He went directly to the right hand of the Father, the place of God’s power (Hebrews 1:3).
If we want joy, we have to go to Jesus, because Jesus is at God’s right hand. When we trust Jesus as Savior from sin, He gives us His own Spirit to live in us. With the Holy Spirit residing in us, we have the power of God in our lives to take every day and declare, “Because of God, whose joy lasts forever and supersedes circumstances of every kind, I can now know that the best is yet to come, and that – in the meantime – I live with honest, substantive hope.”
To have joy, you must turn to Jesus. If you already have placed your trust in Him as Savior and Lord, then please prayerfully meditate on Psalm 16:11 and live by its truth.
- Shelli Prindle
