Knowing His Presence

From Daily Readings by Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

April 22, 2026 · 2 min

About this episode

The episode explores the pursuit of happiness versus the joy found in God's presence, emphasizing the importance of facing suffering to experience true freedom.

I love feeling happy. Absolutely love it. Who doesn't? But my pursuit of it has sometimes gotten me into trouble. I'm pretty sure it's gotten you into trouble too. Sometimes I wonder if, in our mad pursuit of happiness, we run right past the joy that might be ours. We work hard to change our circumstances or change ourselves so that we might be happy. We get ourselves into addictive behaviors (exercise, by the way, is also very addicting; so is organizing your life). Then we work hard to get ourselves out of our addictions, which sometimes only makes matters worse. And all the while, God is right beside us with a gentle invitation to joy. But we can’t hear that invitation while we are focused on whatever it is we think has to happen in order to make us happy. If we want to live in the power of Jesus’ resurrection, we must first pass through the crucifixion. We must stop running. Self-soothing may last for a moment, but that moment may become a doorway to a cell. Jesus came to set us free, and in Him we can be. But we will not be free if we continue to hide and refuse to face the bitter sorrow that must be braved in order to bear goodness. Suffering is an essential part of all our…

People in this episode

Host: John Eldredge

Topics covered

happiness
joy
suffering
God's presence
spiritual growth

Keywords

happiness
joy
suffering
God
spirituality
freedom
addiction

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Defiant Joy