Based on your concluding sentence, your precepts are something like John Calvin, who said that our salvation or perdition is preordained by God, and nothing you can do will ever change your fate. All the good works you do won’t make a bit of difference.
If any part of you is still interested in happiness, then you might want to change or rearrange your basic assumptions. Off the top of my head I can only recommend listening to a Yes song titled “I’m Running.” If nothing else, just read the lyric. Even if you can’t be happy, remember that the future is about our children’s lives.
robgradens 
I can easily find happiness. In fact, I find it easier the less I focus on whether I’m predestined to a, “place.”
The Bible can be interpreted in more ways than just one. Calvinists are just a type you may find in the world of religion. I wonder what your pastor considers himself? The point I had intended to make was how “sad” the life I lead truly is the more I hope for things. Hope is a setup for failure, in my view. Do we manifest what we desire? I don’t know, but I do know it doesn’t always work.
God decides when the grass withers, when we die, when the man or woman survives the challenge….
I guess?
Take care bro.
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