Contentment Part 3

As we have seen so far, it appeared that contentment is a spiritual mystery, and indeed it is. But as Spirit filled children of God, we can grasp a bit of what contentment is and should be and actually learn to be content as the Apostle Paul was. Back in Genesis 33, verses 8, and 11, Jacob when his brother Esau met him, Esau refused Jacob's present, in verse 9, Esau says, "I have plenty(enough), my brother, let what you have be your own." In verse 11, Jacob says, "Please take my gift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty(enough)." In Hebrew though Jacob's word is different from Esau's, Jacob's word signifies I have all things, and yet Jacob was poorer than Esau. The Christian can say that too, not that I not only have enough, but I have all.

How can we as Christians say we have all? Because we have God who is all. Someone said, "He has all things who has Him that has all things. "Surely, we must have all things, because we have Him for our portion who has all things. English Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs states, "God has all things in Himself, and you have God for your portion, and in that you have all, and this is the mystery of contentment." The Psalmist mentions multiple times that the Lord is his portion, Psa.16:5, Psa.73:26, Psa.119:57, Psa.142:5. And if we have Him for our portion, we have all. Luke 12:32 states in the words of Jesus, "Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom." We already have a down payment on that inheritance in that the blessed Holy Spirit has already been given to us. The martyrs had contentment in the sufferings, for some of them said, "Though we have but a hard breakfast, yet we shall have a good dinner, we shall very soon be in heaven."

In the scriptures that are God-breathed for us to read, we have promises that are blood bought for our inheritance. We can lay our hands upon these promises and claim them for our inheritance. They are ours and are ours to live upon. Let us take a look at a few, for there are so many! But Psalm 34:10," The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing." Psalm 84:11,"No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly." Psalm 23:5,"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows."

Fellow believers, we need not faint at the struggles, trials, and afflictions that beset us in this life. For we can surely agree with the Apostle Paul that in 2Cor.4:16-18,"That we need not lose heart, though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal." Jeremiah Burroughs states, "A godly man in the midst of the waves and storms that he meets with can see the glory of heaven before him and so contents himself. One drop of the sweetness of heaven is enough to take away all the sourness and bitterness of all the afflictions in the world." This week, look past what you can see and see what you cannot. Keep walking by faith. If one day in His courts will be better than a thousand elsewhere, what will be an eternity of days in His courts be like?

Elder Randy Slak