Godly Contentment

Have you ever said, “I can’t take it anymore” or, “I’m at the end of my rope?" If you are in the habit of thinking like that, you are missing out on tremendous blessings and sinning against God. Those kinds of statements are common, but lack godly contentment. Maybe you think life just isn’t the way you want it to go, and if you just had a different job, you'd be happy. Or you just had one real good friend to confide in. Or if you just had a little more money, or if you just could have that health issue resolved. Maybe it’s your marriage, your car, your home and if that changed you could be satisfied. Your problem is not that you don’t have what you need, the problem is you don’t have what you want and you think those missing parts will bring you  satisfaction.

Jeremiah Burroughs has a good definition for what we mean by Godly Contentment. "Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and Fatherly disposal in every condition."  Or to shorten it “taking pleasure in God's disposal." Contentment is freely submitting to God’s will. Not by force, or by dulling the trial, not by ignoring the situation, or denying the trail exists and not by our fleshly determination, but submission to God's providence (Philippians 4:10-13). A criminal resisting arrest will finally submit when there are enough knees in his back and lumps on his head. That is not contentment that is resignation and the realization that stun guns hurt. You absolutely will go through God’s plan for your life, but godly contentment allows us to rejoice along the way. Not in the circumstances of providence, but in the God of providence, no matter the circumstances.

Economy, jobs, unemployment, retirement, healthcare issues are all on the forefront of the national conversation, many concerned Christians are upset and worried about their future, their family, and their livelihood. There is nothing wrong with planning and being prepared, and we ought to do all we can to be ready, but when God has put us in a situation, and we have done all we lawfully can do, the Christian's duty is to quietly submit to the Lord's dealings with us, in faith, trusting His kind and Fatherly plan for us.

When we have godly contentment, we spend our days thinking about what Jesus has done for us, is doing for us, and what He WILL do for us. You see life as planned by God for your good. That the stars in space, the clouds in the air, the ground beneath your feet, the flowers in the fields are there, in accordance to God’s providence, for your good. Your poverty, your pain, your sickness was planned by God. Be content that your Heavenly Father is in control and that this world is not all there is and God is now preparing you for glory.