Contentment

Content. That’s a difficult word to abide to! I was doing my Bible study for tomorrow and the title of it was “When Disaster Strikes.” The main point I found was that God shows himself in many ways through disaster. He shows to be all-powerful, sufficient, all authority, and all majesty. Because God is to be glorified, even in the tough times, it makes reading those “disaster” stories in the Bible a whole lot easier. Now, that makes me look at my life. When I “read” my story, does it glorify God? At the end of a good OR bad day, do I rejoice in a God who saves and gives eternal life? And where does contentment fall into that? Right now, with regards to this subject, I think contentment means accepting the circumstances God has given, rejoicing in the God who gives strength, and realizing I can’t do it on my own.

In Philippians 4:12-13, Paul is writing to the Christians in Philippi (duh), thanking them for their generosity and also talking about what he has realized while being there and realized the people there helped fulfill his needs.
Here he says: “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 everything through him who gives me strength.”

I find it VERY interesting that the “I can do all” verse comes right after the verse about being content. I almost feel like it’s a “be content first, then know you can do anything.” Not – you can do anything and then you’ll learn to be content. Regardless, whatever we do, we can do anything THROUGH CHRIST – it’s not our own strength, it’s not who we are, it’s not our money – it’s what God empowers us to do. That’s humbling. I have read that verse umpteen times, yet never really thought about the verse that comes before it.

Yesterday I was thinking about our trip that we will be taking to the Dominican in February. The last time I went was such a life-changing trip. I cannot WAIT to hold those kids. I cannot WAIT to love the people. I cannot WAIT to serve God’s people. It’s on that trip that I learned a whole lot about being content. The people have next to nothing. I will never forget this one story – our group went to the local CRC church and afterwards we were kind of waiting around for I don’t remember what. Anyways, a Dominican woman asked if we needed to use the bathroom before we left and us women said yes. She led us to her house and she pointed me to this corner where all the corn for their meals were. There sat a little tin dish on the ground. I don’t know where her family went to the bathroom. After we all went, she insisted on taking care of it all. I just cried. It still makes me all teary eyed to this day. Not trying to be gross by talking about a bathroom story, but talk about a servant. This woman had no clue who we were. She served us to the deepest of depths I felt that day. Could I do that for someone? Maybe that dish was all she had – maybe they just go to the bathroom out behind their house somewhere in the field. I have no clue – I knew that this situation, it seemed she was making it “special” for us b/c we were guests. I learned contentment that day.

Contentment is an ongoing process for me. Learning to be content in ANY and EVERY situation. Rejoicing in ANY and EVERY situation God takes us through. Praise the Lord for His grace and mercy b/c I know I surely don’t have it mastered yet!