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.