The Power of Christian Contentment
In Andrew Davis’ book, “The Power of Christian Contentment, he defines contentment as: “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.”
As you think about this definition, what convicts you? When are the times and situations that your frame of spirit is bitter, disquieted, and not gracious? In what circumstances do you kick against God’s wise and fatherly disposal of your life?
When do you tend to complain? A quick search on the internet lists people’s most common areas of discontent.
Slow wi-fi, Customer Service issues, Having to wake up for work on Mondays, Traffic, rain or any type of weather, interruptions to plans, lines at the grocery store.
The list could go on and on. We are quick to give voice to our discontent but long before it escapes our mouths as verbal complaints, our hearts have been in turmoil over not trusting God’s good plan. Our discontent is a doubting of God’s goodness, wisdom, love, and sovereignty over our lives.
Sadly, when we complain, we look just like the world. An article in Psychology Today even points to the benefits of complaining! How sad that the world would seek to find good in evil. The article suggested that as a form of communication that has the benefit of connecting people and makes people feel better for having vented their feelings. It goes on to say that complaining leads to people feeling validated. Complaining is something that is very common, and maybe so common we don’t realize we even do it. As you think about your own patterns of both THOUGHT and WORDS - what do you complain about?
I encourage you to make a list of things you mentally and verbally complain about so you can address your heart of discontent.
Consider what God’s word says about those who do not grumble and complain but are content.
Philippians 2:14-16 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.“
The command to not grumble or dispute is given SO THAT you stand out from the world around you. God is saying that the world is great at grumbling and disputing - when a believer responds to circumstances without complaining, they are remarkable - they shine like bright lights in a dark world. Why? Because the power of God is at work in their hearts transforming them to desire what God desires - His glory and our transformation into Christlikeness.
Paul is also saying that the Philippians contentment is evidence that his ministry was faithful and God worked through him to bring genuine change!
We should NOT overlook the importance of contentment. Being content is evidence that God’s power is at work in you!
I think that’s worth pursuing!
Let’s start with the Israelites. We are quick to judge them as being complainers and not being content, but let’s learn from them.
Let’s review a little of their history
Exodus 13: 21-22 “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people”.
They had God’s presence in visible form. He literally was leading them in a way they could see.
Exodus 16:4-6 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt,”
God provided food and water for them. Every single day, they collected manna. It was a picture of their daily need for God’s grace and God had faithfully given manna every single day.
Exodus 19:2b - 6 “There Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
God is pointing to His delivering work and promising that He will be with the Israelites. He will be faithful to the covenant He has made with them. They will be His treasured possession. They will be a kingdom belonging to God.
Exodus 20:1-3 And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.
God gives them the commandments that will regulate their living which gives them a safe, loving environment to exist in. God was a personal God to them (just as He is for us).
With these amazing gifts and promises - let’s look at their response. And before we criticize these heathens who are discontent with all God has done for them, we have a covenant in Christ which abounds in gifts. Let’s consider our response as we read about the Israelites.
Numbers 11: The People Complain
Verse 1 “And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.”
Misfortune is also translated as trouble, adversity, affliction. They are discontent with their circumstances. God, in His power, sovereignty, goodness, wisdom, and love for them, has placed them in this situation.
God’s response - anger. His anger is provoked by their complaining. Why? Because it’s not neutral to complain. God’s goodness, wisdom, and love are being questioned and doubted. Complaining is personal to God.
2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.
4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
Rabble is a collection of people. They are complaining as a group about a strong craving that is not being met. Think about their heart. Their discontent, their complaining and anger with Moses (and God) is because they are not getting what they want. They are crying out about food but it’s not really about food. They want the pleasures and diversity and ease of getting different food in Egypt. Nevermind that they were slaves, being whipped and forced to make brick without straw - they are WANTING the comfort and pleasure of food.
7 “Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.”
10 “Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased.”
Moses now joins the complaining/discontentment. And listen to what He accuses God of.
11 Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
Why have you dealt ill with your servant? - Moses is accuses God of dealing with him unfairly and wrongly. Moses doesn’t think he “deserves” to have to lead ungrateful people. Moses is saying “you made these people, they are your people, God. Why do I have to deal with them?
Moses is doubting God’s goodness in the role God placed him in. What does Moses want? Moses wants a complaining free work environment. Moses wants to be appreciated and respected by the people and he wants God to do that for him.
Moses’ anger isn’t righteous anger because he is focused on himself and his own inconvenience of dealing with whiners. But God is gracious.
16 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 17 And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.”
God eases Moses’ burden by giving some co-leaders. God responds with compassion.
18 “And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”
Here we see what God really thinks about complaining. You have rejected the Lord! Complaining is rejecting what God is doing in your life.
God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt miraculously! He was guiding them by a pillar of cloud and fire. He was giving them daily bread to eat and providing water for them (both out of a rock and by making undrinkable water safe for them.). God had given them the law to bless their communal living. They were rejecting God in their complaining that He should have dealt better with them.
21 “But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?”
Moses, who called down the plagues in Egypt, doubted God’s ability to provide meat. Moses is not the hero of this story. Moses is a sinner! It is God who is the central focus of all of scripture.
23 “And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord's hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”
God responds to Moses, “do you think I’m not powerful enough to do this”?
24 “So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.”
31 “Then a wind from the Lord sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground. 32 And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.”
God provides the meat - in abundance! God gives them their desire.
The Israelites desire was a sinful, idolatrous desire in their heart. They sinned because they weren’t getting what they wanted - specific food. This is an alarming story where they get their sinful desire met.
We need to check our desires and be willing to submit our desires to “God’s will be done”. God knows what is best for us! He is working His good plan in our lives. God was showing them the dangers of not trusting His plan.
33 “While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague. 34 Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving. 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.”
God’s anger is kindled by complaining because it is a rejection of Him. To complain is to reject God’s character and plan in our lives.
Sadly, the Israelites do not learn from this. In Numbers 14 they complain and wail again against God and Moses because the report about the Promised Land is that giants and well armed people live there. Again, God’s anger is kindled and God declares that none of these people will see the Promised Land. God will wait until they have all died before bringing the younger generation into the land.
How do the Israelites fail to be content?
“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.”
What was their frame of spirit? Were they sweet and quiet in heart? - NO! They were grumbling and complaining. They were in inner turmoil over not having what they wanted.
Were they freely submitting to and delighting in God’s wise and fatherly disposal of their condition? - NO! They wanted meat. They wanted the comforts of variety and wanted a better leader.
Contentment starts in the heart - like everything else we say and do. Their hearts were hardened against God and His plan for them. What came of them - complaining, rabble, grumbling, murmuring, were words coming from their heart revealing their sinful desires and idolatrous worship of SELF.
The Israelites had witnessed the plagues, the “plundering” of the Egyptians as they were given money and goods as they left Egypt. They saw the Red Sea part. They saw the pillar of fire and smoke that led them. They saw God descend on the mountain as He met with Moses.
It’s easy to say, “I can’t believe they complained and doubted God!” “I can’t believe how ungrateful they were!”
We are way too much like the Israelites who expect our conditions to be favorable and to have our “cravings” met.
Let’s look at what Christ has done for us. All of the commands of scripture are rooted in “I am the Lord your God” -
All of the ways we are to be like Christ begin with “Christ has set you free from being enslaved to sin, Christ has brought you into relationship with God and made you God’s child”
THEREFORE….
That is the root of being content.
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.”
What do we need to consider to have this inward disposition of freely submitting to and delighting in what our wise and fatherly God gives us.
Ephesians 1:3-14 lists just a few things we have to rest on as we live each day!
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
We have every spiritual blessing -
Forgiveness,
Grace
Mercy
The holy spirit
The Word
Communication with God - prayer
We have a sympathetic mediator
We have all of God’s promises
We are loved
We are made children of God, co-heirs with Christ
4 “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him”.
We did NOTHING to earn these spiritual blessings - God chose us before the foundation of the world! They are free gifts! Unearned! God’s kindness and goodness given to undeserving people!
“In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”
We are Adopted - God goes from judge to Father
Jesus is our Brother - we will inherit with Christ the blessings of God
6 “to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved”.
Grace! - God’s goodness given freely!
7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,”
Redeemed - bought back from slavery to sin - accomplished at the great cost of Jesus paying the cost for our sins. Jesus shed His blood, died a horrific death as a completely innocent person, so that we are forgiven.
His forgiveness is according to the riches of His grace - we add nothing to the work of Christ. We don’t add ANYTHING - there is nothing good in us when God grants forgiveness
8 “which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight”
God’s grace is lavished - great amounts, profuse amounts of goodness!
God gives His grace with wisdom and insight - it’s not random or on a whim - God is wise and has perfect insight
9 “making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ”
God makes known the “mystery of Christ” - that Christ is the Savior, Messiah - through the power of the Holy Spirit opening our blind eyes to that truth. God makes that known. We are not smarter or wiser than an unbeliever in putting our faith in Christ. It is God’s work.
10 “as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”
We understand God’s plan to unite all things under His power. Right now, Satan still has power and is actively accusing believers and “prowling around like a roaring lion”, but the end is guaranteed - ALL will worship God - all things will be redeemed and made new to worship God.
11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,”
We have the inheritance of eternity with God face to face. We have the inheritance that we will reign with Christ. We have the confidence that God is sovereign and works ALL things according to the counsel of His will. We don’t have to question or doubt our circumstances because God is working all things according to His wise and insightful plan.
12 “so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”
We hope in Christ because He opened our spiritual eyes to see our need for Him. God does this so that we praise His glory!
13 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
We are “sealed” with the Holy Spirit - This is the guarantee that our salvation is real, genuine, and eternal. You don’t have to fear losing salvation or not enduring to the end. It is the seal of the indwelling Holy Spirit that will never leave us or forsake us that we were given at the moment of salvation!
How does this help us to have the sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”
This is a trust issue with God. Are His desires better than your desires? Is being transformed into His image better than you getting what you want?
We lose our contentment in times of difficulty. Some of the difficulty is small things like slow wi-fi, traffic, long check-out lines at Costco, the relatives that are selfish. Some of the difficulty comes in big, life altering situations like the death of a loved one, an unbelieving child or spouse, an illness or chronic pain, cancer, an accident. There are many situations small and big, and everything in between that tempts us to lose contentment.
The situation doesn’t CAUSE our discontent. The desires of the heart are what make us discontent. We want something that God has chosen to withhold. The circumstances reveal that we have unmet desires.
When those real, difficult circumstances come, how do we grow to depend on God and find contentment in Him?
The next blog will address God’s comfort in suffering as a way to choose contentment.