Being happy and satisfied is a common theme that everyone wants. There are many articles on the internet about this topic, but they come from a physical or social point of view. One article said that eating right, exercising, and having a network of family and friends will make you happy. 😃
Doing these things will help you both physically and socially but won’t bring you the contentment or happiness and satisfaction in life you desire. Eating healthy foods will give you better sleep, and your body will have less inflammation. Exercise will keep the joints and muscles moving and strengthened. And your heart and lungs will be stronger. You will be less likely to struggle to breathe when you go up and down stairs. Having a connection with your family and friends is essential. Times spent with friends and having that connection will bring laughter.
A joyful heart is good medicine.
Proverbs 17:22 ESV
I have so many fond memories of time spent with family and friends.
But these physical and social ways of happiness won’t address our spiritual need to be happy and satisfied in this life. We all yearn to have our hearts filled and be content. However, God put a hole in our hearts to desire to spend time with Him, be in obedience to Him, and follow His plans for us.
Let’s look at an example of this in God’s Word.
An Unhappy and Troubling Time
The Israelites were doing things their way. And worshipping idols instead of the one true God. Jeremiah, the prophet, spent 23 years telling them they needed to repent from idol worship and return to God. Like any disobedience, there are consequences. Jeremiah gave them repeated warnings from God to stop what they were doing. However, they did not listen. So God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to strike the city of Jerusalem and take captives.
I am sure this was a troubling time, and people were afraid. The country was at war. Their home city was in shambles. And most of the people were now living in a foreign land where they didn’t understand the language, eat the food, or know how to go on. What could they do, and how did they survive this?
While in Babylon, God sent a message to the exiles to encourage them and give them instructions about what they should do.
While they would be there for 70 years, they weren’t to just sit there and do nothing. They were to build houses, plant gardens, eat the produce, get married, and have children. He told them to seek the city’s welfare and pray for it. Their welfare would be found in the city’s welfare (Jeremiah 29:5-7 ESV).
A Future Hope to be Happy and Satisfied
The people didn’t need to be unhappy because they’d be there for 70 years. God gave them instructions on what to do while they were there. And then He gave them some encouragement for the future to keep them going.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 ESV
God has plans for us. They are plans for welfare, not evil. The welfare in this verse is the Hebrew word shalom, meaning peace. Not only would they find peace in Babylon by seeking peace for the city, but God also had plans for peace in the future.
His plans include hope for the future. And He promised that He would hear them when they call upon Him. And when they seek Him with all their heart, they will find Him!
What encouragement! Even though they were being disciplined, God let them know how to move forward and that there was hope for the future.
Not only would they be given hope. They would be satisfied.
For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.
Jeremiah 31:25 ESV
How to be Happy and Satisfied in Life
To be content in this life, we must do these three things. These are the things that will bring us that happiness and satisfaction that we long for.
1. Trust in God
There are so many Bible verses about trusting God. Yet we waver in unbelief. Or we choose not to believe that God is THE best for us. We choose to do life independently and believe that we can do it and that our strength will get us there.
People today are told that you are enough and you can do it. That is the small “g” god of self-love. Unfortunately, this is a lie. We are not enough on our own.
We need to rely on God, who made the universe and is all-powerful (omnipotent). He rose Lazurus and Jesus from the dead! That is the same power that we can draw strength from!
We are like a jar of clay that Paul talks about in Corinthians. A clay jar is fragile and can break. Our bodies are fragile and decaying as we get older. But God can use us, as we age, to show His power.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
2 Corinthians 4:7 ESV
When we trust in God as our Savior, we are blessed! We can have peace with God – now and for all of eternity if we choose Him.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:7 ESV
2. Obey His Ways
The Israelites are a supreme example of how not to obey God. They knew His laws and yet chose to serve other gods. This disobedience led to discipline, and they lived as servants in a foreign land for 70 years. The people had to learn to trust God in difficult times.
Yet how many times have I chosen to go my own way? Many times. I may not have chosen an idol or carved image. But I chose other things and strived after them like they were a god.
Instead, I needed to obey His ways completely. That is what leads to a happy and satisfying life.
We are either slaves to sin or whatever small “g” god we have chosen.
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Romans 6:16 ESV
Or we can obey God and choose life.
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
Romans 6:22 ESV
3. Follow His Plan
God’s plan for us is better than any other we can think of. There are small ways in which we can choose our path in this life. But following Him in obedience is much better.
As we read in Jeremiah, God had a plan for the Israelites in the future. It was a plan that would bring them back to Jerusalem. And they would have peace and hope.
When God got my attention, and my job changed some years ago, I had to change my self-centered thinking and think about those who need to hear about God and how He can give us the contentment we desire. That is why I started writing again and created this website/business.
One of my favorite verses that I mention in my business story is this:
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4 ESV
When we choose to do God’s Plan and desires for our life, He gives us what our heart desires. No, not all the money in the world or a fancy car. But when we are content with what God has for us, the desires God has for us become our desires. God has a plan for you too.
Summary of a Happy and Satisfied Life
We are content when we trust in God, obey his commands, and follow His plan for our lives. That contentment is the happy and satisfying life we desire. We need to dig into the Bible, our guidebook for life. God’s Word, a characteristic of contentment, is essential to be satisfied in life. One of the benefits of contentment is satisfaction for your soul and peace and happiness.
Resource Library
There are free Bible reading plans, Bible verses, and other items to download from the Resource Library. Click on the resource library link, and you can get verses like the ones pictured here. They are yours for stopping by God’s Plan Guided Steps.
