Contentment

1 Tim. 6:6-9 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.

God had given Moses a song to teach to Israel about His love and care for her:

Deuteronomy 32:10–13 “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness [destitute]; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the LORD alone guided him, no foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he suckled him with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.

 

It was all about His love and care for His chosen children, Israel, like a mother caring for her newborn, an experience He would never forget, even as Israel would turn against Him.

 

Yet His love would never depart: Isaiah 49:15–16 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…”

 

Our God has now adopted additional children, the Church (Galatians 3:28-29), and has promised:  Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (This should be reason enough for contentment!)

 

He has a blessed plan for our lives. He has taken us by the hand and whispers into our fearful ears, “You are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).  There is no greater Foundation for our contentment but the knowledge that we belong to belong to Him as a babe to his mother.

 

Contentment testifies that we are being nourished from above every step of the way, even through the “valley of the shadow of death.” When we forget that He is working everything for our good (Romans 8:28), we become vulnerable to discontent and its evil partners—jealousy and bitterness:

 

James 4:1-3 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

 

Should we be discontent with the limited endowment of love, Bible study, prayer, or our diminished ministry? John the Baptist’s disciple became discontent when they observed his disciples were leaving him for Jesus:

John 3:27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”

 

Jealousy is a thief. It robs us of our peace and contentment with our God-given portion. The answer is always the same: Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (He will also enable us to be content with our portion.)

 

Jesus had counseled us against anxiety and discontent: Matthew 6:30–33 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

 

Will He take care of us? Yes, but perhaps not in the way we expect. For Him greatness is servanthood. James and John clandestinely came to Jesus to request that they reign with Him, Instead He and corrected them:

Matthew 20:27–28…”whoever would be first [great] among you must be your servant even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

 

Jesus had become “A man of sorrows acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Contentment understands that God’s will and ways are preferable to our goals and desires. It trusts that God can take better care of us than we can. Contentment therefore has learned to not insist in our own way, but instead to trust in our Savior to lead us into His glorious plan for us.

 

Contentment is willing to embrace God’s plan for our lives, even though it is often painful and non-glorious. Instead glory awaits the next  life.

 

Romans 8:23    [We] groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 

 

Consequently, our understandable hope for joy, love, and peace is not found in this life. Instead, the object of our hope is unseen. It is the certainty of this hope that enables us to tolerate this life’s disappointments.

 

If our expectations are invested in this life, we will suffer disappointment, as one who expect a $10,000 dollar bonus at the end of the year and only receives $1000, we will be disappointed. However, if we understand and trust that our Lord has a purpose for depriving us, we must abide in contentment. During his lengthy prison incarceration, Puritan preacher
John Bunyan confessed as much:

 

He who is down needs fear no fall,

          He that is low no pride.

How that is humble ever shall

          Have God to be his guide.

I am content with what I have,

          Little be it or much:

And Lord, contentment still I crave,

          Because Thou savest such. (Pilgrim’s Progress)

 

Bunyan had learned of the need to be content with the little he had in prison. However, on an emotional level, he craved this rare jewel.