Are you content with God? In this article, I discuss what it means to find contentment and how to practice contentment with God.
Suddenly, the sting of rejection settled in like a raging forest fire running through my heart. I was stood up.
At the time as a teenage girl, I remember thinking, “What is wrong with me?” I should have thought, “ What was wrong with him, but I didn’t.”
This would be one of many moments in varying degrees that disappointment and discontentment would surface in my life.
The deeper parts of my heart tried to get my attention but my busyness distracted me once again.
I would spend unnecessary amounts of time and years searching for contentment only to feel disappointed over and over.
I wish I could say I got the message quick, but I didn’t.
It was the peeling back of long seasons and years of re-introducing myself to what mattered at the core of what I wanted in life.
We live in a world and culture of more. More tries to sell you on the blissful life.
Attempting to convince yourself that once you have a certain thing, the job you’ve always wanted or the perfect relationship in your life you would be content.
We have highlighted moments of stories on our social media feeds, that shout to the world, “Look how happy we are.” But are we?
The truth is, we are living adventures through the latest I-phone.
It over-promises but underdelivers the ultimate satisfaction and we are left more discontent.
We have FOMO (fear of missing out). We have stuff coming out of our ears and yet, we are dissatisfied. We ache with longing. Longing for contentment.
We pine away to be chosen and sought after and we wonder if we will ever be fully satisfied.
It is possible to have all the material things, a prestigious career, a great relationship, and still be discontent and unimpressed with life.
You were born for more. Not just for significance or purpose but contentment.
What is the big rock in your life that needs to be put in place?
When the big rock is put in place what would your life look like? Would it settle you and free you from striving or getting?
Contentment settles into our lives in various ways.
Without it we are miserable, but with it, we are a mystery to a watching world.
The world is perplexed when we are content with God’s portion and provision for us.
When His power and purpose leads us straight from a place of peace flowing from contentment they draw close to see where we get this in our life.
Let’s go deeper and look at some bible characters who experienced contentment and discontentment.
Let’s see what we can learn from their walk.
Longing For More Even Though We Have Eternity In Our Hearts.
Longing for more can leave you feeling empty when it’s not put in perspective.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t desire more or believe God for something, but it shows us how to be content with God while waiting on his promise to be fulfilled.
It is possible to be completely content with God if I don’t receive what I am believing God for in my life.
This is possible because eternity is in our hearts. To be with God is our greatest need underneath all of our searching and yearning.
Knowing him settles us and satisfies our hearts. The more we are with him, the more contented we are.
We can be yearning for the wrong things hoping they will fill holes that only God was designed to fill.
David knew what it was like to be in want, He was familiar with yearning in the middle of distress. David knew by discovering God. His yearning would be ultimately satisfied only by God.
In Psalm 42 David pours his desires out before God.
As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, oh God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, where is your God?
Psalm 42:1-4
David knew it was God who would satisfy his soul.
Through sorrow and struggles, David knew his heart was content in God alone.
Using words like pant lets you know his life felt dry and it was reflective of a great need in David’s life.
He was lonely, tired, and in emotional distress, as He considered His soul.
He knew the ache and longing within him would be met by God and only God could touch and fill that hollow place.
Like David, we all go through dark nights of the soul.
Our hearts and longings get uncovered in the most vulnerable yet, beautiful and terrifying way: We become undone and yet more known than ever before.
And in this upheaval of longing for more, we find our belonging to the one who knows us better than we know ourselves. Isn’t this what we all want?
He lifts us high above the storm that rages against our soul, quieting all of our wants with love.
He slips an arm around our shoulder drawing us to him.
We can then exhale because we are at rest, releasing all that we’ve been chasing.
Contentment is ultimately found in him. Nothing else will satisfy our soul.
Satisfied vs. Dissatisfied
Let’s look at Rachel’s life. Her story can be found in Genesis 29-31.
Outwardly she seemed to have it all. Jacob is enamored with her.
He worked seven years for her to become His wife but Jacob said, it seemed like days because His love was so great for her.
Then after that seven years, Laban added another seven years of labor for Jacob to have Rachel. Jacob worked for fourteen years to have Rachel as His wife.
Jacob’s desire was greater than his frustration, so He worked through to get to his desire.
Rachel was worth it to Jacob, she was a head-turner, easy on the eyes some would say. Rachel has favor with Jacob, but she is barren.
She felt left out and ostracized. Her sister Leah had an abundance of children but Rachel’s eyes were on her barren womb.
Rachel wanted to control the situation so she manipulated. Rachel’s need to know the end result drove her decisions. Doubt trumped her faith so she worked her backup plan.
But God was merciful.
God heard her prayer and blessed her with a son, Joseph and yet discontentment was still within her heart.
Rachel’s life shows us we can have everything outwardly fulfilled but true satisfaction and contentment in life can only be found in our relationship with God first.
Rachel struggled. We aren’t a lot different than Rachel. We want to control outcomes.
Rachel wanted to know her future was secure, and again, rather than trusting God, she came up with a plan to make sure she wouldn’t lose in life.
She wanted a guaranteed inheritance from her father, so she made it happen.
Rather than wait on God she seized control in another area of her life.
Out of her dissatisfaction, she stole her Father’s household gods and lied about doing it.
Discontentment led her to do things that would cause her more pain.
Discontentment has a way of snowballing if we don’t pay attention to what’s happening in our hearts.
Have you ever been in a place like David or Rachel?
Maybe, like David, you are panting for God out of desperation.
Maybe you seem to have it all but like Rachel your heart is still searching, thirsting for something to satisfy.
Instead of waiting, you are prone to control or wander because you wonder if God will come through for you.
Whichever it is, contentment with God is what all of our hearts desire.
When we are content with God we are at rest spiritually.
We aren’t antsy and scrambling, we are slowing our frenzied lives down to settle into a sacred place of hope, trusting that God is enough.
We’re Never Alone
We might be in circumstances and feel lonely or afraid but we can rest knowing, we will never be alone because God is with us.
In Joshua 1 we find Joshua in a place of complex change. Moses has died and God calls him to lead these people forward.
He was used to assisting Moses, now God says to Joshua, Moses is dead. Now arise. Now. Not, call a meeting, decide if I have what it takes, spend time praying longer.
No, this was a clear word from God to Joshua. Now Joshua. Arise. It was imperative.
Imagine being Joshua.
You quickly assess what has just happened, take a deep breath, and report for duty.
People need to be led and their leader has died.
Joshua is fully capable but He is learning from God on the “how to part.”
He is to lead these people according to what He is told to do in order to do it well.
Let’s look at how God instructs Joshua.
Every place that your feet touch Joshua, I have given you. God gives him the specific territory
He will lead him into. He doesn’t expect him to guess.
He tells Him no man will be able to stand against him and reassures Him that He’s with him and will never leave Him or forsake him.
God is reassuring Joshua that He can be content in His assignment because his assurance is knowing, God is with him.
God gives him the assignment but not until He tells him to be strong and courageous.
God gives him the plan:
You will divide as an inheritance, the land which I swore to their fathers that would be theirs.
Then, He gives him a strategy in order to do this.
Observe to do all you see in my law, don’t veer from my word, meditate on it day and night, for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success.
Joshua’s success would come from obedience and his obedience would come from the contentment of knowing God called him and was with him.
His part was to obey the instructions and God’s will concerning this massive assignment.
It sounds simple but isn’t always easy. This is when we need extreme reliance on the Holy Spirit. Trust God to direct your steps just like He did Joshua.
If He has asked us to do something we can rely on his power and presence to lead us as we do it.
Joshua knew God called him and was with him to fulfill the plan.
Joshua was content because God was leading him and He knew it. This wasn’t a plan or idea Joshua had it was God’s plan.
Joshua learned God being with you is enough in whatever situation we face. What about you? Have you learned the secret of being content?
What is The Secret of Being Content with God?
Self-centered thinking keeps us from being content.
If we are preoccupied with the blessings others have it can cultivate a, “What about me” mindset?
This type of attitude keeps us dissatisfied as we feed on our lack but have our eyes on the blessings of others.
We can acknowledge and ask for our needs to be met but if we are preoccupied with the have’s and have not’s in our life, this will only lead to more disappointment.
Comparing our lives to others and comparing their blessings, homes, children, spouses to ours creates an environment of discontentment.
The Apostle Paul can teach us a lot in the area of contentment. He talks about the secret of contentment in his letter as He writes it sitting in a jail cell.
He may have seemed caged from the outside but Paul demonstrated what it looked like to be free on the inside.
He lived from a place of being God-centered not self-centered.
His life overflowed with gratitude, in whatever situation he was in.
He was other-minded, considering what others needed not what He wanted.
Paul had needs but He didn’t allow them to dominate his thinking.
He knew God would provide and He rested in content because He knew that God would meet his needs.
Whatever circumstance you face or find yourself in Paul shows us what the secret of contentment looks.
Whether circumstances are favorable or unfavorable towards us we can still be content.
I Have learned the secret to being content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this who gives me strength.
Phillipians 4:11-13 (NIV)
There is a reason why Paul says He learned the secret to being content.
He experienced both. Hungry and well-fed. He refused to let it give him a clouded view of God.
Contentment is not something everyone has discovered.
Paul was qualified to talk about it because He lived it. Straight from a jail cell, He didn’t belong in, but this is where we find him, specifically because of His faith in God.
He didn’t want to be there but He learned how to have a content heart in all situations even if not for all situations He found himself in.
Finding contentment is something you seek out you don’t just stumble upon it.
Spiritual maturity and life experience can teach you how to live a contented life.
You might learn the secret of being content from a place of being discontent for a long time.
Experiencing the misery of discontentment can lead you to discover the way to living content.
Quick story:
Martin stared at the report in disbelief. He had lost three of his biggest accounts at the investment firm.
This was the majority of his income. He knew his job was at risk now but even more, his ego.
He had spent years trying to get to this place. His wife had become accustomed to the finer things in life.
They wined and dined at the finest and everyone admired the success Martin had attained, especially considering poverty in his childhood background. He beat the odds.
He wasn’t sure if He would lose His position at work which would cause his family to stop living the posh lifestyle they were accustomed to living.
After being unable to recover those accounts his boss let him go. Now what? Martin stared off in unbelief. His throat tightening up from stress, He called his sister for support.
She listened with empathy but gently said, Martin, God wants your heart, all of it, not just a Sunday morning portion.
The awkward dead air lingering between them broke when Martin blasted, Why has God let this happen to me? He angrily said I have to go.
For months Martin was angry as their bank account decreased while mortgage payments kept showing up.
The stress affected his marriage until one night the dam broke. Martin told God how angry He was but also how He needed him to help him through.
He wrestled with God until He wept his way into his arms of comfort and strength. He opened his bible and that’s when He read about the pearl of great price.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls who, when He had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that He had and bought it.
Matthew 13:45-46
From that night God began doing a new thing in Martin’s life. Martin learned restoration of what was lost in his life. Piece by piece God gathered the fragmented pieces of Martin’s life.
The Lord began to restore all that was lost, the disappointments about His life and childhood.
God opened his heart so He could learn contentment that comes from God alone. Maybe you don’t have Martin’s story but one that is equal in disappointment.
God is drawing you to open to him in the most vulnerable place that has been off-limits.
He only comes when invited but when He does He ever so gently begins to heal what has been broken.
He can be trusted with the pieces of that dream or the life you wanted that disintegrated in front of you.
He can start with the rubble, even the charred ashes that look impossible to do anything with now.
Have you discovered contentment in your own life? Are you panting for God in a weary season in your own life like David was?
Maybe you feel like Rachel and you’re tempted to take the outcome of situations into your hand because you just aren’t sure God will come through for you?
He will. When we try to take things in our own hands it keeps God’s hands out of it and we end up more frustrated.
We can trust his process friend. Let’s lay it at his feet even if it looks dead to us.
You might be at the place like Paul where you have experienced abundance and some seasons of just enough, but your heart is settled.
You’re content because God has shown you His faithfulness.
You might be like Joshua and complex change is staring you in the face. You didn’t desire it but God prepared you for a role of leadership where you are right now.
God is saying, Now is the time for you to rise. Rest content in Him and if He calls you to it He will see you through it.
There is no rest like the rest we find in Christ. There is no fulfillment like saying yes to God’s call.
There is no contentment outside of a relationship with Christ, only one with him at the center of our lives and choices.