Focus on the Family: Divine Contentment
Over the last 2 weeks, we looked at…
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Ruth – How right choices positions her for God’s blessings.
Through her choices, God is able to bring to fruition His plans and
purposes for her life.
The importance of Trusting God – Prov 3:5-6
20 – 24 July 2015
2. ENJOY WHAT YOU HAVE
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If we are going to trust God in all things, we need to be willing to be
content with all things!
We will only enjoy life when we are content, and we can only enjoy it
when we reject those places of fear and anxiety that lead to the anger
& disappointment of not having enough.
What does the Bible say?
Phil 4:11-13 “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to
be 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 everything through him who gives me strength.
3. BE DISCONTENT
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Also: 1 Tim 6:6-10, Heb 13:5, 1 Tim 6:17, Rom 14:17-18, John 10:10, John
14:27, Matt 6:25-34
1. BE CONTENT
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Without contentment we become a prey to the enemy.
o Paul had to learn it – Phil 4:11 “…I have learned”
o Job had to prove it - Job 1:11-12
If you can’t change something, be content, until you can. If you never
can, commit it to God, be content, & get on with life.
o Eccl 3:12-13
If we are content, we can actually find it easy to trust God, and avoid those
places of fear and anxiety (that leads to anger, hurt & disappointment).
Research proves the more we have, the more discontent we are!
To enjoy life we have to first be content with what we have.
Then we have to get over the “false guilt” of actually enjoying the
blessings of God.
o Eccl 3:22; 5:19-20; 11:8
o 1 Tim 6:17; Eph 6:3; 3 Jn 2
“Everything is my responsibility but nothing is my fault”
At the same time as we are to enter Divine Contentment, there is a sense
in which we must also experience Divine Discontent.
o Phil 3:12-14 “… press on ….straining towards what lies ahead”
o Col 1:9-12 “… not stopped”
We are always in the process of change, growth and expansion; we never
arrive until we get to glory; we are always on a journey.
What we can learn…
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Paul lived in the tension between “Divine content” and “Divine
discontent”.
Paul had learned to be content “whatever the circumstances”.
So when God shut one door of ministry in Paul’s face, he didn’t get upset,
he didn’t get angry, he didn’t blame others or the devil – “He trusted
God”; when he was shipwrecked, in prison, in sickness, he didn’t
complain, get angry, arrange a protest – “He trusted God.”