Don't Worry, Be Happy

“Don’t worry, be happy.” – Bobby McFerrin

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” is a song written and recorded by Bobby McFerrin that was released as a single from his album Simple Pleasures in 1988. It was the first a cappella song to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was also a big hit in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. At the 1989 Grammy Awards, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” was named Song of the Year and Record of the Year, and McFerrin also won for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Here are some of the rather simplistic lyrics to McFerrin’s award-winning song…

Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry
Be happy
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it double
Don’t worry
Be happy

Actually, McFerrin’s theology isn’t too bad to this point, because God’s word does indeed promise us that we will face all kinds of trials, troubles, and tribulations (see John 16:33), but we are to be encouraged because Jesus has overcome the world (see John 16:33). Likewise, Peter reminds us in his first epistle to “Cast all your anxiety on Him [Jesus], because He cares for you.”

Unfortunately, the rest of McFerrin’s song is not only sugary-sweet, but also too pollyannish… especially the part about not being concerned when you can’t pay your rent and your landlord is threatening to take you to court. After all, there is a difference between not worrying and abdicating personal responsibility.

Leave it to Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers”, to set the record straight. True happiness comes not from burying your head in the sand or in the clouds, but from having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Special manifestations of Christ exercise a holy influence on the believer’s heart. One effect will be humility. If a man says, “I have had such-and-such spiritual communications, I am a great man,” he has never had any communion with Jesus at all; for “the LORD regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.” (Psalm 138:6) He does not need to come near the haughty to know them and will never give them any visits of love. Another effect will be happiness; for in God’s presence there are pleasures forevermore. Holiness will be sure to follow. A man who has no holiness has never had this manifestation. Some men profess a great deal; but we must not believe anyone unless we see that his actions agree with what he says. “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked.” (Galatians 6:7) He will not bestow His favors upon the wicked, for He will neither cast away a perfect man, nor will He respect an evildoer. Thus there will be three effects of nearness to Jesus: humility, happiness, and holiness. May God give them to you, Christian!

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” Matthew 6:25-27 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President