Success can be defined as getting what you want. But happiness is wanting what you get.

We often get the two confused. God's people of old did, and so do we.

The Israelites were certainly successful and got what they wanted -- freedom from slavery and oppression in Egypt; the powerful promise of God's guiding presence. But they were downright miserable in that they did not want what they got -- the loss of the familiar, a strange new way of life, the disappearance of stability and security.

At least in Egypt the trains ran on time, if you will. Here in the desert there weren't even any trains. At least in Egypt they had their McDonalds. Here in the wilderness they had to stomach God's strange food.

So intent had God's people been on getting what they wanted that they could not imagine not wanting what they got. Their success made them miserable.

Aren't we a lot like this? Some of us used to want nothing so much as to fall in love, get married, have a nice home, a couple of kids, a good car, an occasional vacation.

And we got it. Yet counselors' and pastors' offices are full of unfulfilled wives and unhappy husbands. They got what they wanted, but ended up not wanting what they got.

Some of us wanted nothing so much as to get a good job. And we got it. Yet before too long that became old hat and we grew dissatisfied, became irritable, and wished we could do something else.

Some of us had real cause to worry about a possibly serious health problem. We finally bit the bullet, went to the doctor, got ourselves checked out, learned that it wasn't the end and life could be quite manageable. We were relieved for a while, but the good news wore off and soon we became convinced not all the trouble was diagnosed!

Some of us really wanted to get our lives straightened out by taking God and church seriously, so we did. But that early glow faded, our enthusiasm dwindled, and before long church became "one more thing I've got to do."

When you stop and think about it, most of our discontent can be explained not by failing to get what we want, but by getting what we want and feeling unhappy with it -- unfulfilled. And we soon become "pro's" at discovering the worst in even the best situation.

We're something like the Navy physician who was stationed in the Pacific. He wanted nothing so much as to hear from his fiancee. Weeks passed with no mail. But finally he got what he wanted. A letter from his fiancee arrived. In it was a snapshot taken on a beach and showing two couples smiling contentedly while his fiancee sat alone at one side, forlorn and lonely.

A note was enclosed explaining that this is how she was fretting away the time until he returned.

At first the physician was delighted, displaying it proudly to several fellow officers.

That night, however, after studying it a long time in silence, he turned to his roommate. "John," he said, "I wonder who took that picture?"

We can get exactly what we want, only to end up finding reason to be unhappy with what we get!