To the onlooker, Moses and Israel were in the saddest and most miserable circumstances. Moses had experienced many disappointments and frustrations over his life, especially during the last forty years in the wilderness, and particularly in being banned from entering the promised land because he lost his temper once. Israel’s forty-year history up to this point was a trail of thousands of carcasses in the same wilderness, and they were still outside the promised land!

Yet Moses pronounces God’s people [Deuteronomy 33:1-25, 29] not just happy but the happiest people in the world! Incomparably happy. Happier than the most powerful and prosperous nations.

What can possibly explain it?

It wasn’t something manufactured or manipulated; it was given by God. Given the circumstances, negativity and pessimism would have been easier. But, by grace, God enabled Moses to rise above every discouragement and sadness (without denying them) and to find happiness in God. Like Paul, who faced similar harrowing circumstances, he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor. 6:10).

. . .

Remember how one of the lessons from Moses’s life was that the believer can enjoy happiness regardless of the circumstances in his life. We can see this in Paul’s life too, especially in one of his prison letters in which he commended and commanded rejoicing in the Lord (Phil. 4:4) before insisting, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (v. 11).

. . .

As Psalms 37, 42, 43, 73, 78, and many others demonstrate, our thoughts and feelings can be changed, even if our circumstances can’t. Plus, the Christian has the additional help of the Holy Spirit, one of whose fruits is joy.

“Happiness: Science Versus Scriptures” by David P. Murray in PRJ 10, 1 (2018): 205-223.