Since my grandkids moved in I have come to love the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. If our 3 year old grandson woke up a bit grumpy and warm milk and a cuddle didn’t do the trick I would ask Alexa to play Happy. Of course Nana would start dancing and soon both kids would join me in laughter and twirls around the family room.

Music, dancing and praise put a smile on our faces and its contagious. But the music doesn’t play all day..

Fortunately God gives us instruction through a  number of scriptures that promise us happiness. Its all about  dwelling in God’s house, in His presence

So  how do we enter in? How do we go from a place that may be filled with despair, depression, disappointment, fear or perhaps simply a dry place to a place where we become happy, fortunate and envied? How do we find our way ?

I want us to take a look at some direction from the psalms.

Psalm 84

4 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who dwell in Your house andYour presence; they will be singing Your praises all the day long.

5 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

6 Passing through the Valley of Weeping (Baca), they make it a place of springs; the early rain also fills [the pools] with blessings.

7 They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]; each of them appears before God in Zion.

Psalm 100:4Amplified Bible (AMP)

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!

The very first hint is that those who dwell in the presence of God sing His praises all day long.

Both Psalms direct us to Him through verbalizing Praise and thanksgiving.

I am reminded that God inhabits the praises of His people, He resides right there.

Psalm 22:3

But You are holy,

Enthroned in the praises of Israel.

So the first key of dwelling in His presence is to Praise.

Now to dwell is to live or stay as a permanent resident; reside., to settle down and make yourself at home. So remaining in a place of praise, even when we don’t feel like it seems imperative.

Psalm 91: 1

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].

Here again we find the psalmist encouraging us to dwell in His presence and there we will find not only happiness but also stability.

Going back to Psalm 84 I was struck by the fact that we will pass through the Valley of Weeping. There is no escape from that which causes us true grief. We loose a parent, a child, a spouse or even a job or must move or those close to us move away. A tearing away of relationships as we have known them, a tearing away of stability.

Jesus wept. We shall weep as well. However this word says passing through! We don’t dwell there. We pass through and as we look to the God of all comfort, the God who promises to provide all we need those dry desolate valleys will be turned to a place of springs. New life will come, water brings life back to desolate waste lands. I love that this scriptures says the early rain will fill the pools with blessings. In my mind early rains are the surprising unexpected rains. The blessings that show up and fill us with new hope and faith. When that happens we really do become strengthened and increase in victorious power.

God promises us deliverance.

Psalm 107: 19-22

19 Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivers them out of their distresses.

20 He sends forth His word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction.

21 Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and rehearse His deeds with shouts of joy and singing!

We cry out and God comes on the scene. He sends His word to us and heals us.

We are simply to provide the sacrifice of thanksgiving and tell of the His works with singing, praising Him.

Of course we also go to the word, the promises He has sent us. These bolster our faith and pour courage into our hearts. Then praise Him for them!

A Psalm 92.

1 It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises [with musical accompaniment] to Your name, O Most High,

2 To show forth Your loving-kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night,

3 With an instrument of ten strings and with the lute, with a solemn sound upon the lyre.

4 For You, O Lord, have made me glad by Your works; at the deeds of Your hands I joyfully sing.