A Case for Contentment

Since being diagnosed with breast cancer last September, undergoing surgery, then radiation treatments, I have had a good bit of time to meditate and contemplate.  I have spent much of this time meditating on contentment. God has impressed on my heart the need to be content and has given me the desire to be content.  However, contentment is not a state that just happens.  As we learn from the apostle Paul, it is a heart attitude that is learned.

In Philippians 4:10-13, Paul states, "I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.  You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Paul was thanking the Philippians for their support but he wanted them to know that he had learned to be content.  How did Paul learn to be content?  It was under the most difficult circumstances: being ship wrecked, being imprisoned, being beaten, wanting to go to Spain to spread the gospel and not being able to. We learn contentment or discontentment from life lessons.

The children of Israel chose to be discontented in their difficult circumstances.  Remember how they looked back to Egypt and grumbled and complained about not having what they wanted to eat or not having water or about Moses' leadership or about being afraid to follow the Lord's leading? They were discontented because they did not trust God and His sovereign plan for their lives. They were discontented because they were ungrateful for the provisions God had given them. They were also discontented because they were disobedient. They broke God's laws again and again, which caused them to be out of fellowship with Him.

Paul said, "I have learned the secret of facing hunger, abundance and need."  That secret was trusting God so absolutely that he was able to say, "I can all things through Him who strengthens me." Contentment brings joy, and Nehemiah tells us, "… for the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10b)  Psalm 28:7 tells us that a thankful heart exults.  "The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song, I give thanks to him." The third verse of the wonderful hymn, “He Leadeth Me, O Blessed Thought”, says, “Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine, content, whatever lot I see, since ‘tis Thy hand that leadeth me.”

I am convinced that a lack of trust in God's sovereign plan for our lives, an ungrateful heart, and a disobedient spirit keep us from being content.  So, I challenge us today to trust God completely in all the circumstances of our lives, give thanks always and for everything, act in obedience to His word, and learn to be content.

Abiding in God's Word

I become more and more convinced of the importance of hiding God's word in our hearts. This was brought to mind again yesterday as I was teaching of Jesus' temptation by Satan from Luke 4. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to come face to face with Satan. Three times Jesus comes against Satan's temptations with quotes from the Old Testament. This gives us an example directly from our Savior, who was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, how we are to come against the temptations we face. Ephesians 6:11 tells us. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” A very important piece of that armor is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” 

Another reason for being in God's word and knowing it is to be able to come against the lies of Satan, discouragement, and despair with the truths of the word.1 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ...” The Holy Spirit uses God's word to convict us of sin and bring us to repentance. Hebrew 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” God's word gives us guidance. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” Psalm 119:105. We go to God's word daily for comfort, assurance, peace, and strength. 

Finally, I love the admonition and promise in Joshua 1:8, “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Spend time in God's word this week.

Grumbling and Complaining

I am always amazed when reading Exodus at how quickly the Israelites lost their joy at being a freed people and turned from thanksgiving and rejoicing to grumbling and complaining. Exodus 16:1-2 tells us “They set out...on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness...” Just six weeks after God had miraculously parted the waters of the Red Sea, killed the Egyptians pursuing them, and freed them from slavery, they are grumbling and complaining. True, they are hungry, but rather than praise God for His mercies in the past and ask Him to please provide for them now,  they go into drama mode saying it would have been better to have died in Egypt by the meat pots and with stomachs full of bread than to die in the wilderness of hunger. 

Grumbling comes from an ungrateful, untrusting heart. When my children were young and began complaining about this or that, I would challenge them to give me a list of what they were thankful for.  Of course, that usually generated more grumbling, but I  persisted, making my point with them.  Paul admonishes the Philippians in 2:14 to “Do all things without grumbling or questioning...in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world...” In this passage, Paul is telling them to work out their salvation by demonstrating their faith daily, growing spiritually, and therefore showing a sinful world what Jesus Christ looks like. He is cautioning them against being like their forefathers whose spiritual progress was hampered by grumbling and questioning. Christians are to be marked by thanksgiving, not grumbling and questioning. We see the admonishment to be thankful in Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians.

So, this week I challenge us all to take every complaining thought captive, replacing it with rejoicing and thanksgiving. I challenge us to not allow our joy to be stolen or to rob someone else of joy by grumbling. Let’s honor our Lord and be a blessing to others as we “givie thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1Thess 5:18)