Sheldon writes in to ask, quote,

I would consider myself a Christian hedonist and I'm familiar with the scriptures that

extoll God's own happiness.

However, when I observe God interacting with humans and scriptures such as Jesus and

the Gospels or God with Israel in the Old Testament, he often does not come across as outwardly

happy.

Am I just reading it wrong?

Was Jesus' time on earth just full of hardship?

How can I address this seeming disconnect between biblical theology that exclaims God's

full unending joy and biblical observations of God in his actions, his speech, his behavior

that seem to show him as not all that abounding enjoy?

Professor John, what do you say?

Well, Sheldon, I found this to be one of the most provocative questions I've heard

had in a long time.

This really forced me to ponder some things that I hadn't thought of before, so thank

you.

It's just a great example of how asking questions is the key to going deeper in the Bible

than what we think.

I don't know that I have the answer here, but I'll tell you what I've been thinking about.

Let's start with the truth that we Christians are joyful and sorrowful at the same time.

I can create in 16, sorrowful yet always rejoicing.

Even though the Bible says rejoice always and surely God rejoices always, we sorrow often

...