Being Happy in Any Circumstance Because Happiness Is from The Grace of God

from Mark L. Ward, Jr.'s post on Logo's Blog

"I decided not to take the lexicon’s word for it, using Logos’ Bible Word Study tool to dig a little deeper. I looked at the kinds of people who are makarios and the kinds of situations in which people are makarios. Paul is makarios to show up before Agrippa and testify about Jesus (Acts 26:2). Even God Himself is makarios (1 Tim 1:11). The kinds of circumstances in which people are makarios are the kinds of circumstances in which we in contemporary English would use the word “happy.”

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But there’s an angle on that word “blessed” that I realized in my study. There’s a reason we use an English adjective that is almost like a passive verb: “blessed.” That’s because there’s a flavor in this word—the flavor of a hidden actor, or rather, Actor. And it shows up after you use the Bible Word Study (and specifically the LXX section). You get the sense as you look at use after use of “Happy are the so-and-so’s” that Somebody is making these people happy. Somebody is blessing them. How could Jesus say that people who are poor in spirit and who mourn and who are persecuted are makarios? Because God is gracing them at that moment. People who are poor in spirit get in that state because of God’s gracious action in their hearts."