Which Came First, The Happy Or The Joy? Christian Hedonism Part 2

I cannot express enough my bewilderment at where to start the next part of these thoughts. I've prayed that the Lord would make the way clear to me because it has been like a bunch of individual pertinent butterflies fluttering around in my head, delightful and true but I could not, and still am having a hard time putting the random importance into order that would help the reader get my overall point in the best most logical way. I'm a random thinker and a random writer and I have to say, I apologize to you, the reader because you may not get the point until I'm well on my way. You may understand it in different sequence than my brain does and you may have to dive in with me, go "huh?" and then backtrack once a light bulb comes on and you don't understand the randomness before your moment of "ah,ha!". So, bear with me, and I thank you ahead of time. The Lord has encouraged me that I just have to give it the way it comes and let Him do the rest. He did give me two starting points though and I'm hoping He will lead me from there. FIRST OF ALL... you need to read Part 1 to know what the discussion is here.

Part 2
Here is one of my main thoughts:
The fact that we seek happiness in the wrong ways does not prove that God's focus is not on our happiness. It only proves that we are off track.

This would be like saying that because our lusts are corrupted by sin, sexual pleasure is not what God wants for us.
HOWEVER....there are some legitimate observations about the images that these terms procure in our thinking. So, I want to start there because words are so crucial to our understanding but they also can become something they are not through cultural conditioning and experience. The bible uses both terms (though joy is used more) and John Piper bounces back and forth between them himself in his book "Desiring God" and I've noticed that sometimes you could substitute one for the other but not always. This solidified my theory that they are both important, different, and wrapped up in each other somehow. I invite further help on this if you have any because I'm searching with ya.
The Logistics....
Happy: Middle English ; Origin 1300-1350; adjective
"Hap"= "luck"
1. delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing.
2. characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy.
3. favored by fortune; fortunate or lucky
4. apt or felicitous, as actions, utterances or ideas.
5. obsessed by or quick to use the item indicated; characterized by spontaneous or obsessive inclination to use something.
Synonyms- joyous, joyful, blithe, cheerful, merry, contented, gay, blissful, satisfied, favorable, propitious, successful, prosperous, fortunate.

Joy: Latin (guadium-guad meaning to rejoice or take pleasure in; base of gaudere- "to be glad")
Origin: 1175-1225
Noun
1. emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation
2. a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone valued or appreciated.
3. the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.
4. a state of happiness or felicity
-verb form- (used w/o object)
5. to feel joy; be glad; rejoice
-verb form- (w/ object)
6. to gladden
Synonyms
1. rapture, bliss, pleasure
Greek versions: gaio- I rejoice, guaire "noble"

Ironically the Latin word for for joy itself is "Laetus" which means: happy,fertile, rich.

So, these are interesting and I don't know about you but they give me the feeling that I'm circling around and coming back to the place from which one begins and the other ends over and over and over. I mean that they are all tied in with each other, but I still knew there was something different between them and something that we were missing when we left out that difference. I have been searching to put my finger on that.
Even from these logistical definitions we get the feeling that happy leans into superficial and joy leans into profound. There seem to be things that happy has for us and there seem things that joy has for us. I think the big trip up here in the human definition of happy is the "luck" element. "Luck" gives a feeling of chance and human prosperity completely temporal. It really gives us a feeling of there being no God at all. And yet, part of joy means "fertile and rich" so again we circle.
What is the frustration?
I think I'm frustrated that time and culture have taken the older word joy and added ungodly parameters to the definition, because in our distaste for these, we throw out some things that the word has for us that we cannot miss. I present to you that the enemy has allowed this concept to be tainted because it is one of the most powerful concepts of our relationship to God, but I'll come back to that later.
What is the solution?
We cannot find our true definitions just here. We have to go biblical. Before we take that dive though, let's notice a few other important things about the logistics.
Happy is an adjective, it shows action. It has movement. Joy is a noun and just is what it is so to speak (I'm not good with grammar so help me or let me know if I'm off base here). Many of the things associated with happiness come and go: fortune, obsession, favor etc. Joy has more noble definitions that seem more solid: rapture, keen pleasure, valued delight, exceptional.
Hmmmm, you can see why we find one more biblically appealing than the other. So this is why we now must dive into the biblical intentions and these are not as easy to see because they don't have written explanations and parameters. Remember when I ask you to go back with me that the traditions of men have made these above definitions. I guess I'm asking you now, after filling your head with so much, to take a moment to wipe it clean and journey with me. I promise we will come back around, it just may take me a while.

Which Came First, the Happy or the Joy?
I asked my Christian friend this a few days ago and she said "of course, the joy! it had to!". She was bewildered when I said "nope".
My Premise:
God brought forgiveness through Christ to redeem our righteousness;
He brought joy through the Holy Spirit to redeem our happiness.

You can see that this leads to one thing only, that being that God was originally and fully focused on our happiness. For something to need redemption implies that it has been corrupted or torn away from it's original purpose and position. Our original purpose was happiness. In fact, the biblical concept of joy is proof that we were intended to be happy and it's purpose is to be a supernatural redemption of that state.
"All men seek happiness. This is without exception" Blaise Pascal
"seeking one's own happiness is not a sin; it is a simple given human nature. It is a law of the human heart, as gravity is a law of nature" John Piper
We have been given a hunger to be happy, a desire, a longing, by God. It was his original intent for us above all other things (an interesting side note is that even other religions are a proof of this fundamental truth. For instance Buddhism is all about living a life void of the effects of pain and suffering). There was one thing meant to fill that, Himself. God, being completely full of happiness and of fullest value sought to do the most loving thing for us that he could, make us crave the most supremely valuable thing, Him. It was the birth of the greatest love story that will ever be. The Creator wanted us to want Him above all (here was born our desire for happiness), not because he needed to be wanted but because out of his love for us he knew He was the ultimate thing we would need and delight in because He was the supreme source of happiness. Happiness is best experienced when it is extended to another and God did that for us. More on that later as well.
"It is not a bad thing to desire our own good. In fact, the great problem of human beings is that they are far too easily pleased. They don't seek pleasure with nearly the resolve and passion that they should." John Piper

"God finds our desires not to strong but too weak" C.S. Lewis
Here is a key difference from joy to happiness. The seeking of pleasure, the fostering of desire. This is what happiness brings to the table that joy does not. Notice above that joy is a noun and happy is an adjective. One is a continual state, and one is in motion. We've got the siting part right people, we are joyful (or so we say...more on that later too), but we lack the pursuit of more, the seeking of our pleasure. The very use of the term "true happiness" that we Christians employ is proof that we have decided there is a "false happiness" and I tell you, we have let the false one keep us from the true one not just in our thoughts of eternity but HERE and NOW. The enemy has used our culture to rob us of a great gift that God is standing and holding out for us but we cannot see it. The unsaved putter around that God picking up empty packages that don't satisfy and Christians don't realize that God has more to give because we are sitting wrapped in our blanket of joy (as we have defined it) thinking the gifts from him have been given all ready. We are in a white robe of righteousness wrapped up in a blanket of joy and sitting at his feet not seeing the further gift in hand for us (which really is Himself....continually given). I understand these are challenging things to absorb and excuse me if my word pictures do not help you but distract you. Please throw them out if they distract.
That God does not want us to be happy is a rooted deception of the enemy as are the lures to false happiness he has set up. To say "I am joyful" seems to leave out the action of pursuit. The very "I am" part of that trips us up. The very fact that happiness is fleeting shows us that we need to be up and moving, desiring and seeking pleasure meant for us from God. It's characteristic of fleeting does not prove it invaluable but attained differently. I am joyful but I need to keep wanting joy and that is a process of seeking happiness. Joy is not a finished state, it is in essence a balm for us when we hit rock bottom in this world of sin and there is nothing else. That is why the unsaved don't have it. It is a gift given to us from the Holy Spirit for our aid in our state of fallenness.
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 He will make you happy!? He wants to make you happy. Happiness essentially is the fulfillment of our desires! Our delight in Him is tied to our happiness and it is the meaning of our lives and that is why we cannot say that God's focus is not our happiness and that it's not the meaning of life. It is the VERY purpose for which we were created, to glorify Him by enjoying Him forever.
"As a dear pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you O, God, for the living God" Psalm 42:1-2. Need, want, I am joyful but I need to keep wanting. I am made to want, I am made to desire. I am made to seek happiness. Joy is to help me supernaturally when I cannot be happy because of the effect sin has had on God's intent for happiness ORIGINALLY. The main effect of sin and fallenness here is sorrow, loss, bad health and pain. God intended for us to be happy, but he also intended for us to be righteous. We are no more happy through our day than we are righteous. This does not mean he did not intend these things for us, that they were not his focus and goal, it means we are in a fallen state. Does God want you to be happy all day? Yes, I say that he does (well, the bible says that he does, he commands happiness). Can you? No. Why? Because of sin from which we are freed in our position with Christ but from which we still suffer the effects, not on our souls, but on our minds and bodies. Does God want you to be righteous all day? Yes, I say that he does (well, the bible says he does, he commands righteousness). Can you? No. Why? Because of sin from which we are freed in our ...okay..you get it.
In conclusion (on this point anyway...):
Happiness was the focus of God for us. It still is. He works all things for His glory and His glory defines that we should be happy. Sin corrupted that (as he allowed, but that is ANOTHER blog theme!). His Son brought redemption we call joy. It's a love relationship he wants with His created, a desire that we should want to be happy because He is our Happiness, our fulfillment of ongoing desire. He wanted so badly to redeem our intended happiness that he sent His son not only to bring us the balm of joy, but to restore our continual fulfillment of desire...our happiness. This is why I cringe when we say "God's focus is not on our happiness and it is not the meaning of life." Oh, but good Christian it is! The elements of happiness that were intended for the Christian is something I propose that the enemy does not want us to see because it would catapult our view of God to a level he can't handle. It would make us motivated beyond measure to delight and enjoy God. It would make us his biggest threat. He wants us to call it bad and throw it out along with the precious life changing truth that it holds for us.
So, what is our problem as Christians?
We don't enjoy God. (and yes, I post that black because it is bleak indeed)

..and that is where we will pick up next time.

(Note: if you are not all ready, I cannot urge you enough to pick up a copy of John Piper's book "Desiring God". There is so much more above, beyond and around this topic than I address here. In fact, I'm really taking a rabbit trail off of my thoughts from the book. Piper does not even get into the difference of these terms but there is so much more there to understand that I will be talking about here)