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

extol God's own happiness.

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

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 with 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?

With this biblical observation of God in His actions, His speech, His behavior that

seemed to show Him is not all that abounding and joy.

Pastor John, what would you say?

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

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.

So, 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.

Second Corinthians 16, sorrowful yet always rejoicing.

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

...