One of the most powerful traits the believer can obtain is contentment. It is not something that one can do overnight for it is a process. God must teach it to us through the circumstances of our life. God takes things out of our life to prove to us that if we have Him, we really didn"™t need those things"”or people. God puts things into our life to show us that they cannot bring us the full sense of joy that our relationship with Him brings us. Both the lack and the abundance are God"™s tools to teach us contentment. He is trying to teach us that the circumstances are irrelevant because He is in the circumstances. Our life is in His hands, in His control. He can be trusted. Completely. Without the slightest reservation.
We can tell when we our discontent with the taking away when we become angry at the circumstances or the people who did the taking away or the leaving. For such anger, even though not always expressed in those terms, is directed at God. How could He let such a thing happen! We have fervently and faithfully prayed that He not do so; and yet, He has chosen to do the taking away. Self-pity is also evidence of a lack of contentment. Self-pity is really just self-worship. We don"™t believe that we, of all the people on the earth, deserve to have that happen to us. A moment of serious reflection should expel that notion. And that is the real problem with being discontent. We are not allowing God to teach us. We are not reflecting on the situation in the right way. We do not fear the Lord"”the beginning step to finding wisdom. We have forgotten that every situation and the choices we make in that situation affect our relationship to Him. He has designed them, not to push us away from Him, but to draw us into His embrace, not to cause us to doubt His love, but to allow us to more fully sense how deeply in His love He is devoted to our good. When we become discontent, we push away the One we need the most.
And notice that I did not say that sorrow is an evidence of being discontent. When we lose someone we love, God expects us to be sorrowful, just not as the world sorrows"”without hope. I am positive that no human on earth"”for He was fully human"”mourned the loss of a father more than our Savior mourned the loss of Joseph. No son loved his father more than Jesus loved His. Too often we forget that sorrow is an instructor as well. Losing someone should cause us to reflect on the brevity of life and the temporal nature of the earthly. In doing so, we are motivated to focus on the eternal, to use the moments we have to love those still in our lives, and to rejoice in the One we can never lose.
And in closing there is one more side of contentment I must address. Prosperity should teach me contentment too. God wants me to use my prosperity to help others as He directs. But He also wants me to enjoy those things He has blessed me with. Too often in times of prosperity, we sit around fretting about what horrible thing is going to happen next. We think that the time of blessing is surely some mistake"”God couldn"™t love us that much"”and boy, are we going to have to pay big time if we enjoy His goodness. It is such an attitude that Solomon says makes a life futile and full of the deepest dissatisfactions. Has God given you times of prosperity? Enjoy them! Anything else is ingratitude"”being discontent with God"™s love.
Contentment comes from holding firm to a simple truth: the Lover of your soul is in complete control of your life. The end is better than the beginning. The big picture is that all things will work together for your good because He loves you. And as Paul tells us, once he learned to be content in both the good times and the sorrowful times, he also learned a majestic, empowering lesson: "śI can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."ť
--www.cobg.org
Contentment
