If it were up to us, God would resolve our difficulties in ways that produce the highest good for us—as we count goodness—in the shortest possible time.
Instead, God uses our trials to produce the highest good for more than just us—as he counts goodness—no matter how long it takes.
In the interim, he provides the means for us to be truly content, independent of our circumstances.
God’s Contentment In Us
True contentment is the manifestation of God’s contentment within us.
God is by nature utterly content. His essence includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Each of these attributes is an aspect of his perfect contentment. Taken together, they constitute true contentment.
God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, takes up residence in us when we are spiritually reborn. As we walk in harmony with him, he manifests in us the aspects of his nature that constitute true contentment.
True contentment is thus a function of our relationship with God rather than our circumstances. We can experience it in any situation.
The more diligently we cultivate our relationship with God and walk in harmony with him, the more consistently we experience and emit his natural contentment.
A person who senses and exudes God’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in every circumstance is truly content.
True Contentment And Faith
True contentment begins with faith in God.
In times of distress, we demonstrate this faith by choosing to believe what God has revealed about himself in nature and in the Bible rather than what we might infer about him from our adversity.
We set aside the doubts about God raised by affliction and proceed on the assumption that he is good, that his ideas and methods are superior to ours, and that his love is unfailing.
We presume he will come to our aid as promised.
True Contentment And Communion
We experience true contentment during distress by increasing the quality and frequency of our communion with God.
We spend time alone worshipping him, reading what he has already said in the Bible, and intentionally engaging with him throughout the day through prayer.
The more intense our difficulty, the more often we may need to commune with God to experience and emit his natural contentment.
True Contentment And The Bible
Communion with God requires a correct understanding of who he is, who we are, and why we suffer.
The Bible accurately describes these things, so cultivating true contentment requires us to study it.
However, it is impractical to set aside our daily tasks to read the Bible whenever we feel distressed. The solution is to memorize the verses we find meaningful.
Meditating on our favorite Bible verses refreshes our understanding of God and helps us commune with him, especially in times of affliction.
True Contentment And Prayer
Prayer is essential to communion with God, making it vital to experiencing true contentment.
Jesus gave us the template for prayers that embody communion. His example is commonly known as The Lord’s Prayer.
Jesus said that in times of need, our prayers should include the thoughts he expressed in his own prayer.
- Our father in heaven – We are speaking to the Creator of the world; we are all equal before him.
- Hallowed be your name – God is majestic and holy.
- Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven – God is sovereign over all; our will is subordinate to his.
- Give us this day our daily bread – We ask God to provide for us and for those in our orbit.
- Forgive us our debts – We confess our sins to God, acknowledge his complete forgiveness, and ask him to be merciful to others as well.
- As we also have forgiven our debtors – We are reminded to extend mercy and grace to those who have hurt us because God has extended mercy and grace to us.
- And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one – We ask God for moral strength and protection.
We do not need to recite every line of The Lord’s Prayer each time we pray spontaneously. However, when we set aside time to commune with God, our prayers should include these concepts, expressed in our own words.
True Contentment And Obedience
Anything that disrupts or dilutes our communion with God impedes our access to true contentment. This includes personal unrighteousness.
Experiencing God’s natural contentment requires us to do our best to abide by the principles and precepts he sets forth in the Bible.
But God knows we are imperfect. He does not deem us unworthy of further communion when we sin.
However, each time we sin—in our heart or in our behavior—we must realign ourselves morally with God to restore our communion with him and regain access to his natural contentment.
We restore our alignment with God by confessing our transgressions, accepting his forgiveness, asking him to help us live righteously, and resuming our efforts to walk in harmony with him.
Quiet Confidence, Not Bliss
True contentment does not always translate into bliss.
We can be truly content and still suffer pain and sorrow. We can still feel the pang of unmet wants and needs. We may still struggle with the aftereffects of our past.
In tough times, true contentment is a quiet, patient confidence that God will fulfill his promise of aid. It feels like rest.
We rest knowing that God exists; that he is present with us; that he sees our plight; that he cares about us; that he has the resources to help us; and that he has obligated himself to help us.
We persevere through our affliction, assured that God is good, that he has our circumstances under control, and that he has made preparations for our future, whatever it may be.
We press on, knowing that God will supplement our innate resilience with his natural contentment, produce goodness from our suffering, and resolve our situation as he deems best for us and those in our orbit, an assessment we can trust.
God Is Enough
Only God can produce true contentment in us.
Nothing else can replicate the superior quality of his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control amid affliction.
This truth becomes clear when the temporal things we value are diminished or lost and we look to God for help.
Just as the darkness of night enables us to see features of the moon we would otherwise miss if the sun were always shining, the dark periods of life help us understand aspects of God’s excellence we would never grasp if life were always easy.
As we walk in harmony with God amid affliction, we learn, at deeper and deeper levels, that he is always good, that his ideas and methods are superior to ours, and that his love for us is unconditional and unfailing.
We realize anew that God is who he claims to be—our refuge, comforter, redeemer, deliverer, and friend. We rediscover that he is the sole source of true contentment.
Not until God is all we have do we truly understand that he is all we need.
