Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; 

who keeps faith forever;

   Psalm 146:5-6
 
 
For my devotion and prayer time this morning I was reading Psalm 146 and was struck by verses 5 & 6.  "Happy are those..."  I wanted to know more about this word "happy".  In Hebrew (the original language of the Psalms), the word is aŝré and while it can mean "happy", it can also mean "blessed."  Wait a minute -- didn't Jesus use that word "blessed"?
 
Blessed are the poor in the spirit...blessed are those who mourn...blessed are the meek...(Matthew 5:3-12)
 
We've come to know these blessings from Jesus as the beatitudes and he speaks them in order to turn the priorities of his listeners upside down.  When we think of blessings we think of health, wealth and love.  Jesus says blessings can be found in struggle and suffering but what he's really saying is that blessing can be found when we align our lives with God's reign in the world.  And God's reign always aligns itself with the poor, the outcast, the suffering and the needy.
 
Life is difficult isn't it?  It is even difficult for people of faith - its maybe even especially difficult for people of faith.
 
I read some research this week that said that following a death, a tragedy or an intense time of suffering, people who identified themselves as having a strong faith experienced these events with more pain, heartache and struggle than did people who had no faith or identified themselves as having a weak faith.  In other words, people of faith had a harder time with the pain that comes with being human than did people with no faith.
 
What was going on here?  Shouldn't our faith help us through the hard times?
 
In reality it did.  The same surveyors went back a year later and discovered that within 12 months of the tragedy, people of faith were happier and more well adjusted than their counterparts who were now experiencing depression and meaninglessness.
 
The people of faith went through periods of doubt and questioning.  They got angry and weren't afraid to let God know about their anger.  Yet, it was out of this struggle - out of these questions and doubt that they experienced God in deeper and more profound ways.
 
You see, its all about the relationship - its all about the conversation.  God doesn't expect us to be happy all the time - God doesn't expect us to never doubt or question.  God just invites us to trust - to keep the lines of communication open.  When the psalmist writes "happy are those whose help is God..." the psalmist is reminding people that God is always faithful -- NO MATTER WHAT!  The psalmist is reminding people to keep the lines of communication open.