The latest World Happiness Report was recently released, and Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden remain in the top four spots. Their high ranking should not come as much of a surprise given that all four nations are generally considered solid places to live with relatively few threats to their way of life. That is not the case, however, for one nation that few likely suspected would make the top ten: Israel.

Israel came in at number five in the 2023 report and has ranked toward the top of the list for several years. Between then and now, the war with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and even Iran itself has served as a constant reminder of all that its people risk by simply choosing to live in Israel. It would be understandable if the happiness and general well-being of the Israeli citizens began to weaken in the face of such danger and death.

And its resilience in the face of these trials is relatively rare.

As Natan Sharansky and Gil Troy describe, “At No. 8, Israel contrasts sharply with other war-torn countries that are quite reasonably miserable: Ukraine sits at 111, and Lebanon, which opened a second front against Israel in October 2023, is third from the bottom, at 145.” What separates Israel from those other nations is the degree to which social factors like high social support, generosity, and a sense of equality drive the happiness and identity of its people.

And, if anything, the war has only brought them closer together as a culture.

Do our differences define us?

In a recent article on Denison Forum, Reuben Nevo wrote of how Israelis’ response to the repeated bombings by the Houthis illustrates the resilience that has allowed the nation to withstand the onslaught from various terrorist organizations without losing their identity and happiness. As Reuben describes, “The drills and practices here in Israel are always the same. We run/walk to the shelter, wait for ten minutes, and then go back to normal life. It’s amazing how fast we continue with our daily life.”

A big part of why they can get on with life so quickly is the recognition that they are not doing life alone.

Sharansky and Troy illustrate this point well when they note that “Despite searing political divisions, Israelis remain united culturally. Cherishing family, community, country, and history shapes their faith in the future.” They don’t ignore their differences, but they also don’t allow those differences to define themselves or others. And, in that, there is a great deal from which we can learn.

What is “good tribalism?”

To quote Sharansky and Troy one more time, “The West needs good tribalism: A healthy commitment to community, connectedness, and history anchors us.”

America has not had much trouble with generating tribalism over the last few decades. However, I don’t think many would describe it as good.

While there are a number of reasons why that is the case, perhaps the most important is that we lack the kind of cohesive foundation seen in Israel and other nations. And, for the most part, we don’t seem terribly interested in finding it.

After all, America was founded largely upon the ideals of individual liberty. While certain events like 9/11 or the Olympics can bring us together for a time around a common cause, there is always a basic understanding that it’s not going to last. And that’s alright.

The solution to why the US rates as a less happy place than Israel is not to adopt a more communal lifestyle or try to mirror what makes Israel unique. At the same time, we shouldn’t give up on the idea of community either.

God designed us to need other people. It’s why he said man being alone was the only part of his original creation that was not good (Genesis 2:18). Now, what that community looks like can vary from person to person, but we should not be surprised if we struggle to experience the fullness of God’s joy when attempting to go through life by ourselves (and I say that as someone very much inclined to try and do just that).

A life God can bless

Ultimately, recognizing our need for others is a sign of humility rather than weakness. And while we should never entrust our happiness to the fickle nature of fallen people, embracing the notion that God designed us to need relationships with other people is a necessary step toward experiencing the abundant life that he offers us.

Just as importantly, community—especially a community of believers—can be essential to resisting temptation and growing in our relationship with the Lord as well (Ecclesiastes 4:9–12).

While other people can never be a substitute for God’s presence in our lives, they can be a gift from him to help us experience greater joy, happiness, and purpose on this side of heaven. Such community can also provide a small glimpse of what awaits us once that veil is lifted and we step into eternity, where we will stand among “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9).

Living in community with other believers and with whomever else God brings along our path is a key part of what the Lord has called each of us to do. And it can be one of the best ways to experience a little slice of what awaits us once this world fades.

So what communities are you invested in today? Are there any relationships you’ve allowed to fade prematurely? Do you see other people more as a potential gift from the Lord or as a burden to bear?

There are times when the same person can feel like both a blessing and a burden—and that’s true of each of us—but don’t give up on living in community with others just because it’s hard. God did not intend to give us that option, so we should not be surprised when he refuses to bless it.

Instead, embrace his call to community and prayerfully seek ways that he can use it as a blessing to you while also using you as a blessing to others.

Do that, and you will begin to understand just a bit of what allows Israelis to face their trials without losing their joy.

Where do you need that joy today?

Quote of the day:

“When we have a choice, people usually choose privacy, control, and comfort—and then we’re shocked when we wind up lonely. We put up ‘privacy fences,’ and then complain about how nobody knows their neighbors anymore. But communal bonds have always been tightened by necessity.” —Eve Tushnet

Our latest website resources:

• Luka Dončić’s Dallas return and “The Great Gatsby” anniversary
• A book review of Mark Turman and Ryan Denison’s “Who Am I?”
• Trump’s tariffs, financial anxieties, a Masters preview & hot take, plus more trending news | Ep. 14
• American tourist arrested for trying to contact lost tribe
• What does the Bible say about identity? – Part 2

Denison Forum

I have never felt more conflicted as a sports fan than I was last night as I watched Luka Dončić demolish my Dallas Mavericks. On one hand, I wanted the Mavs to win as they continue their quest to make the 2025 playoffs. On the other, I wanted “Luka magic” to show up at the American Airlines Center as it has over the years since the Slovenian teenager was drafted by the team.

I was so shocked by his trade to the Lakers two months ago that I assumed it must be “fake news” even after reports were confirmed. Watching last night’s pregame video tribute to him, I was moved by the way he was moved to tears. When the game began, it didn’t take long for Dallas fans to see in person what we are now missing.

Luke scored forty-five points in a Lakers win, becoming only the second player (after Wilt Chamberlain) to score that many both for and against the same team in the same season.

In other news, The Great Gatsby turns one hundred today. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel tells the story of its title character through the eyes of his neighbor, Nick Carraway, described by the New York Times as “a Yale grad with a philosophical streak.” The Times summarizes the plot: “Gatsby winds up dead, shot by the wrong jealous husband, and Nick is left to ruminate on the meaning of his friend’s sad, perplexing, and somehow quintessentially American life.”

Centennial celebrations will include a Library of Congress reading and the Empire State Building being illuminated in green (Gatsby’s symbol of hope).

“Americans Want to Be Rich”

By now you’re wondering what these stories have in common and why a cultural apologist would choose to write about them. Here’s a point they both make, one I need to remember: this world is not enough because it cannot be enough.

But Jesus is.

My thoughts are inspired by an Atlantic article published yesterday that helps explain the recent furor over tariffs and stock market volatility. Titled “Americans Want to Be Rich,” it reports:

• Roughly 79 percent of Americans describe money as “extremely” or “very” important to them.
• Eighty-four percent say there’s “nothing wrong” with trying to make as much money as they can.
• Sixty percent believe that “most rich people earned their wealth.”
• American parents put much more weight on their children being “financially independent” and having an enjoyable career than they do on those children getting married or having children themselves.

As a result, when Washington or anyone else threatens our finances, we react with predictable anger and angst.

However, our wealth (or lack thereof) is as impermanent as a basketball game. Whether our team (or favorite player) wins or loses, the game is soon over and there’s always another one to play, this season or the next. All wealthy people eventually go the way of the “great Gatsby,” whatever the means of their demise, along with the rest of us mortals.

This world cannot be enough because it was never intended to fill the God-shaped emptiness with which we are all made. As I noted in today’s Daily Article, trying to understand and use the creation apart from the perspective and purpose of the Creator is a “category mistake” fallacy akin to asking the weight of a circle or the color of the number 7. Using the material to replace the spiritual negates both.

How to “take hold of that which is truly life”

Paul counseled young Timothy:

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life (1 Timothy 6:17–19).

The key is to use our material means as the tools they are intended to be. A screwdriver works for driving screws better than for hammering nails. This temporal world is intended to be enjoyed in the moment (v. 17) but employed as a means to eternal ends (v. 19).

The best way I know to do this is to live as “vertically” as possible, walking through each day in conversation and communion with the living Lord Jesus. Whatever I do and wherever I go, he wants me to consciously and intentionally practice his presence. Separating life into the “secular” and the “sacred” does violence to both.

I am obviously (and gratefully) married to my wife every moment of every day. If I were to segment my life into “Janet” days and “non-Janet” days, how strong would my marriage be? The Bible likens my relationship with Jesus to my relationship with my wife, calling the church the “Bride” of Christ (Revelation 19:7; cf. 21:2).

During this Easter season, remembering all that Jesus did to secure my salvation and union with himself especially moves me to respond in gratitude for such grace.

“Crowned with victory at thy feet”

To this end, I’ll close with three readings I discovered recently that are helping me draw closer to my living Lord. The first comes from the Patristic theologian Tertullian (AD 160–240) in his treatise On Prayer:

Prayer is an offering that belongs to God and is acceptable to him: it is the offering he has asked for, the offering he planned as his own.

We must dedicate this offering with our whole heart, we must fatten it on faith, tend it by truth, keep it unblemished through innocence and clean through chastity, and crown it with love. We must escort it to the altar of God in a procession of good works to the sound of psalms and hymns. Then it will gain for us all that we ask of God. . . .

Prayer cleanses from sin, drives away temptations, stamps out persecutions, comforts the fainthearted, gives new strength to the courageous, brings travelers safely home, calms the waves, confounds robbers, feeds the poor, overrules the rich, lifts up the fallen, supports those who are falling, sustains those who stand firm.

In this light, the biblical command to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) takes on new meaning as a way to redeem the challenges of this fallen world.

The second comes from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners. Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

When God helps me “love what you command and desire what you promise,” my heart is united with him in “true joy” and I use this world for the next.

The third comes from the English minister Philip Doddridge (1702–51), who wrote a hymn that inspires us to eternal purpose:

Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve,
And press with vigor on;
A heavenly race demands thy zeal,
And an immortal crown.
A cloud of witnesses around,
Hold thee in full survey;
Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thy way.
‘Tis God’s all-animating voice
That calls thee from on high;
‘Tis his own hand presents the prize
To thine aspiring eye. . . .
Blest Savior, introduced by thee,
Have I my race begun;
And crowned with victory at thy feet
I’ll lay my honors down.

What “honors” will you lay at the feet of your Lord today?

Denison Forum

President Trump announced yesterday a ninety-day pause on higher tariffs for dozens of countries while hiking levies on China to 125 percent. The Dow Jones surged nearly three thousand points on the news for its largest rally in five years. The Nasdaq Composite jumped more than 12 percent as well, its second-best day ever. The S&P 500 had its biggest one-day gain in seventeen years.

About thirty billion shares traded hands, comprising the heaviest volume day on Wall Street in history. World markets soared this morning as well, with Japan’s benchmark jumping more than 9 percent.

If the world made your life an island

The recent volatility of an economy most of us have no way to influence highlights the degree to which you and I are “catching and not pitching” in the modern world. Think about it: How much of your life is under your direct control? Do you personally determine your income? Do you grow your own food and chop your own firewood for heat? Can you fix your car if it breaks down? Can you treat yourself if you get really sick?

If the world made your life an island, how long and how well would you live on it?

We all want to believe we are in charge of our lives, a “will to power” impulse that goes back to the garden of Eden and the temptation to be our own god (Genesis 3:5). Advertisers know this, which is why they pitch us products and services that claim to help us control our finances, circumstances, health, and happiness. But the next downturn, disaster, illness, or disappointment will pull back the curtain on our illusion.

The roof collapse at a Dominican Republic nightclub that killed at least 184 people, including two former major league baseball players, is a tragic metaphor for our times. None of us knows when we will be next.

This is where you’d expect me to recommend faith as an antidote to our fears. A sign I recently saw comes to mind: “Accept what is, let go of what was, have faith in what will be.”

But in a broken and chaotic world, having faith is not enough.

It can make things worse rather than better, in fact.

What Einstein got wrong about the universe

You and I have a binary choice today: We can define our identity with reference to ourselves and/or other people, or we can do so with reference to God. If we decide that our secularist society is right in rejecting God from consideration, we are left with some version of humanity defining humanity and the cosmos.

Even Albert Einstein fell prey to this “category mistake” fallacy by claiming that physical laws are the universe’s own form of self-expression. If we refuse to interpret creation through the lens of the Creator and his revealed truth, we are forced to interpret it through itself. This is what we do with our own quest for identity as well when we eliminate God from the equation.

How did this work for Einstein? The great scientist was known for being unfaithful to both his wives and for his failures as a father. How is it working for our broken society today?

By contrast, David could testify: “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust” (Psalm 18:2 NKJV). Why should we do the same?

It is a fact that “the Lᴏʀᴅ reigns” and “is exalted over all the peoples” (Psalm 99:1, 2), whether “all the peoples” acknowledge this fact or not. Charles III is king of the United Kingdom whether every person in his kingdom recognizes his rule or not. Those who reject his authority only exempt themselves from what he could do in and for their lives.

In the same way, sacrificial obedience to the King of the universe positions us to experience his transforming and sanctifying power (cf. Romans 12:1–2). Being our own king limits us to our finite, fallen capacities.

Bonhoeffer on “the wisest course for the disciple”

So, having faith helps us respond to our challenges only if the object of that faith is able to respond to our challenges. Otherwise, misplaced faith does more harm than good. We can take the wrong medicine in sincere faith, but it can still poison and kill us.

Having faith in ourselves, others, or our world builds our house on sand. When the inevitable storms strike, our house will inevitably fall (Matthew 7:26–27). Building the same house on the rock of Jesus’ word, by contrast, enables it to stand firm (vv. 24–25). Our Lord was adamant: “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

Yesterday was the anniversary of the 1945 martyrdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In a website paper I wrote for the occasion, I quoted the great theologian’s statement in The Cost of Discipleship: “It will always be true that the wisest course for the disciple” is “to abide solely by the Word of God in all simplicity.”

Bonhoeffer staked his life and his eternity on this fact. When he was led away to his death just a week before the Allies liberated his prison camp, he told another prisoner, “This is the end—but for me, the beginning—of life.”

How can we make his empowering faith in God our own?

How to be “powerful in his power”

The English poet Ralph Hodgson noted, “Some things have to be believed to be seen.” St. Augustine similarly observed, “Faith is to believe what we do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”

So, name the reason you need faith in God today. Decide that you want to trust in his power and wisdom over your own. Now ask him to help you “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:17), and he will (Mark 9:24).

The British essayist Joseph Addison (1672–1719) assured us:

“The person who has a firm trust in the Supreme Being is powerful in his power, wise by his wisdom, happy by his happiness.”

How firm is your trust in your Father today?

Quote for the day:

“Yet, in the maddening maze of things / And tossed by storm and flood / To one fixed trust my spirit clings / I know that God is good!” —John Greenleaf Whittier

Our latest website resources:

• The anniversary of the martyrdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The cost of discipleship and the path to liberating joy
• American tourist arrested for trying to contact lost tribe: Why our motivations matter

• An Israeli’s perspective on the Houthis: Who are the Houthis and why are they the world’s problem?
• What does the Bible say about identity?—Part 2
• Trump’s tariffs, financial anxieties, a Masters preview & hot take, plus more trending news / Ep. 14

Denison Forum