The Secret of Divine Contentment - Thomas Watson (Audiobook)

The Secret of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson, originally published in 1784. Audiobook produced and copyrighted by scrollreader.com. Chapter 1

Paul's lesson in contentment and trust. Philippians chapter 4, verse 11. I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. These words are given to answer a possible objection before it is raised. In the verse just before, Paul gives several serious and heavenly commands, one of which is, do not be anxious about anything. That command. must not be misunderstood. It does not mean we should throw off all kinds of care. First, it does not forbid wise and responsible concern.

for anyone who does not provide for his own family has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Second, it does not forbid spiritual diligence. since we are called to make every effort to confirm our calling and election. What it does forbid is anxious, unbelieving worry about how things will turn out. Do not worry about your life, what you will eat. In this sense,

A Christian should be careful not to be full of care. The Greek word for careful means to tear the heart apart, a kind of worry that divides the soul. We must avoid this. We are told to commit our way to the Lord. In the original language, this means to roll your burden onto the Lord. Our job is to throw off our worry, and it is God's job to take care of us.

By our excess and lack of trust, we try to take God's work out of his hands. Worry, when it becomes sinful, either full of doubt or filled with distraction, is deeply dishonoring to God. It denies his care for us, as if he were distant and uninvolved, like a clockmaker who builds the clock and then walks away, leaving it to run on its own. Excessive worry pulls our hearts away from what matters most.

Often while we are caught up in how we will live we forget to prepare for how we will die. Worry is like a spiritual disease that drains and weakens the soul. By worrying, we are more likely to increase our sorrow than our peace God even threatens worry as a curse They shall eat their bread with anxiety Better to fast than to eat that kind of bread

So the command stands, be anxious for nothing. Now someone might say, Paul, you are telling us not to worry, but have you truly learned that yourself? And it seems Paul answers this quietly in his next words. I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. This is a statement worth carving into our hearts and writing in gold on the crowns of kings.

The verse naturally divides into two main parts. First, the student. Paul says, I have learned. Second, the lesson. In every state to be content.

Chapter 2 The First Lesson, Becoming a Learner of Christ We begin with the first part, the learner, and the progress he has made in Christ's school, summed up in these words. I have learned. From this, we can observe two things in passing. First, notice that the Apostle does not say, I have heard that in every situation I should be content, but I have learned.

From this we draw the first truth. It is not enough for Christians to simply hear their duty. They must learn it. Hearing and learning are not the same. Just like eating and digesting are different, so it is with hearing and learning. Paul was someone who lived what he heard. Many Christians hear a great deal of truth, but sadly learn very little from it.

In Jesus' parable of the sower, four kinds of soil received the seed, yet only one produced fruit. The lesson is clear. There are many who listen, but few who truly learn. There are two main reasons why we fail to learn. First, we make light of what we hear. Christ is the pearl of great value. If we don't see the worth of this pearl, we will never truly learn what it's worth.

or what power it holds. The gospel is a deep and precious mystery. In one place, it's called the gospel of grace, and in another, the gospel of glory. because in it like a clear glass the glory of god shines brightly but if someone treats this mystery with contempt they will hardly ever learn to obey it If a person sees the things of heaven as something secondary, while business, politics, or personal plans seem more important, then that person is walking straight toward destruction.

He will never learn the things that make for his peace. Who will care to learn what he believes isn't even worth the time? Second, we forget what we hear. If a student reads his lessons but forgets them as quickly as he reads them, He will never learn. One ancient writer said that a person's memory is like the scribe of the soul, carefully writing down and preserving everything that enters the mind. Another said that a person's memory

is like the soul's stomach, holding what it receives and slowly turning it into spiritual strength and growth. Yet, we often remember unimportant things most easily. Cyrus could remember the name of every soldier in his great army. We remember offenses, but this is like filling a treasure box with garbage. And yet, how quickly we forget the holy truths of God.

Many Christians are like leaky buckets. When you lower a bucket into water, it fills for a moment but as soon as you lift it out, the water quickly drains away. In the same way, some people in church remember a little while they are listening, but as soon as the sermon ends, it all slips from their minds. Jesus said, Let these sayings sink down into your ears.

In the original, the phrase means, place these sayings into your ears, like someone who locks up a jewel to keep it safe. Let the word sink. Not like dew that only touches the leaf, but like rain that soaks down to the roots and causes fruit to grow. How often Satan, the bird of the air, comes and snatches away the good seed that has been sown. Let me now bring this to a serious and personal application. Many of you have lived under the sound of the gospel for decades, 40, 50, even 60 years.

You have heard hundreds, even thousands of sermons. But here is the question. What have you truly learned? Let your conscience answer. First, you have heard much preaching against sin, but have you merely listened, or have you actually learned? You've heard many warnings against covetousness, that it is the root from which pride, idolatry, and even betrayal grow.

Some have called it a master sin because it feeds and fuels many others. And yet, do you still chase after more, crying like the greedy leech, give, give? You've heard much against anger. that it is a kind of madness, a dry drunkenness, that it settles in the heart of fools. But do your temper and words still catch fire at the smallest offence? You've heard clear commands against swearing.

Christ said plainly, swear not at all. This sin offers no pleasure, no gain. It is a useless evil, painted over by Satan with no reward behind it. And still... Do you treat your tongue like a racket, hitting oaths and curses around like a game? Do you make a sport of sinful speech, like the Philistines mocking Samson, only to have the judgment of God one day fall suddenly and crush you?

The truth is this. You have not truly learned what sin is if you have not learned to leave it. Does someone really understand what a viper is if he keeps it in his hand and plays with it? Second, you have heard much about Christ, but have you truly learned Christ? As Jerome once said, the Jews carried Christ in their scriptures, but not in their hearts. As Scripture says,

they have not all obeyed. Consider this. First, a person may know much about Christ and still not have learned Christ. Even the demons knew who he was. Second, a person may preach Christ and still not have learned him, just like Judas and the false apostles, who spoke in his name but never truly followed him. Third, a person may profess Christ and still not have learned him.

Many today bear the name of Christian, but Christ himself will one day say to them, I never knew you. So ask yourself not, have I heard about Christ, but rather, have I truly learned him? Has he entered my heart, changed my life, and become my greatest treasure? Question. What does it mean to truly learn Christ? First, to learn Christ is to be made like Christ.

to have His holiness imprinted on our hearts. As Scripture says, we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into the same image. This is a real transformation. When a sinner looks at Christ through the lens of the gospel with spiritual eyes, he has changed into what he sees. No one ever truly looked upon Christ and stayed the same.

A genuine believer becomes like a living portrait, reflecting the beauty, spirit, and mind of Christ. He begins to think like Christ, to desire what Christ desires, and to walk in his ways. Second, to learn Christ is to believe in him. Like Thomas, the heart cries out, my Lord and my God. This is more than just believing about Christ.

It is trusting in Him, applying His blood to our own souls like a healing medicine. You may have heard many sermons about Christ, but if you cannot humbly and personally say, My Jesus, then be warned. Even the devil can recite the creed. Third, to learn Christ is to love Christ. When our lives shine with godliness, like diamonds reflecting light, we show the world

the beauty of Jesus. Our conduct becomes a visible reflection of his life, a copy that points back to the original. This is what it means to learn Christ.

Chapter 3. Contentment. A lesson nature cannot teach. The words I have learned suggest something difficult. something that did not come easily to the apostle. It shows us how hard it was for Paul to gain a contented heart. This kind of contentment was not something he was born with. It did not come naturally. He had to learn it.

It came through many prayers, many tears, and by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. From this we draw our second truth. Good things are hard to come by. The work of true religion is not as easy as many imagine. Paul says, I have learned. You don't need to teach a man how to sin. That comes naturally. As scripture says, we go astray from the womb. Sin is like water flowing from a spring.

It comes with no effort. It is easy to be wicked. Hell will be filled without anyone needing to fight their way in, but the things of God, such as contentment, must be learned. Cutting flesh is easy. but cutting carefully enough to open a vein without hitting an artery takes skill. So it is in the soul. The path of sin needs no training.

But the art of spiritual contentment takes hard, holy effort. As Paul said, I have learned. There are two clear reasons why spiritual contentment requires effort and learning. first because spiritual things are against nature. Everything in true religion is opposed to what comes naturally. This shows itself in two ways. One, in matters of faith.

To be justified by the righteousness of another. To become a fool in order to become wise. To gain all by losing all. These go completely against human reasoning. in matters of practice to deny yourself your wisdom your will to put to death your dearest sin like plucking out an eye or cutting off a hand

To be content in poverty, to take up the cross, to follow Christ even when he leads through suffering. To embrace religion when it brings shame instead of honor. These things are not natural. They must be learned. To examine your heart, to open it up like a watch, to set up a court of conscience, to search out your sins with the candle of the word, and then to pass judgment on yourself. This is against nature, to reform your life.

To live as a new man, to walk in the opposite direction of your old self like a stone rising upward. This also goes against nature. The soul's upward motion is not natural, but spiritual and must be taught. Flesh and blood cannot do this. Nature cannot overcome nature. Second, because spiritual things are above nature. Even in nature, some truths are hard to discover.

The causes of things are not known without study. Aristotle, a great philosopher, could not understand the motion of a single river and threw himself into it. How much harder then are divine truths? Those that are above reason, like the Trinity, the union of Christ's two natures, and the mystery of believing in hope against hope. Only the Spirit of God can give us light to understand these things.

The Bible calls them the deep things of God. The gospel is full of treasures, but they are hidden from sense and reason. Even the angels search into these holy depths. Let us earnestly ask God to give us his spirit to teach us. We must be taught by God, or we will never truly learn. The Ethiopian eunuch could read the scriptures.

but he could not understand them until Philip was sent to guide him. In the same way, God's Spirit must come alongside us. He must join himself to our chariot, or we will remain in darkness. Scripture says, All your children shall be taught by the Lord. A man may read the numbers on a sundial, but he cannot tell the time unless the sun shines on it.

Likewise, we may read the Bible cover to cover, but we will never understand its meaning until God's Spirit shines into our hearts. So, let us plead for this blessed Spirit. It is God's royal right to teach. He says, I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit. Ministers can speak the lesson, but only God can cause us to learn it.

By nature, we are not fit to learn. Since Eve listened to the serpent, we have been spiritually deaf. Since she looked at the tree of knowledge, we have been blind. But when God teaches, he removes both blindness and deafness. We are by nature dead in sin. Who would think to teach a dead man? Yet God does what no one else can do. He gives life.

and then he gives understanding. God is the great teacher. This is why the preaching of the word has such different effects. Two people may sit side by side. One is changed. The other remains untouched. like a lifeless child at the breast gaining nothing. Why? Because the spirit breathed would only make and not the other. One has the anointing that teaches all things, the other does not.

The Spirit teaches sweetly but powerfully. In the book of Revelation, only those sealed with the Spirit could sing the new song. Those who truly know the mysteries of salvation are those marked by the Spirit. So let us pray. Lord, breathe your spirit into your word. And we have a promise to encourage us. If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.

How much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? And this brings us to the end of the first part of the text, The Student, which I have only briefly explained.

Chapter 4. The heart of the text, content in every state. Now we come to the second part, which is the heart of the text, the lesson itself. In whatsoever state I am. therewith to be content. This is a rare and excellent kind of learning. It is more to be admired in Paul that he knew how to adjust his heart to every condition than all the famous learning of the ancient world.

Men like Julius Caesar, Ptolemy, and Xenophon were praised for their wisdom, but this lesson of contentment is above them all. The words of the text are few, in every state content, but they carry great weight. As Fulgentius once said, the richest sayings are often both brief and sweet, so it is here. This sentence is like a precious jewel, small in size but of great value.

The main truth to be drawn from this part of the text is this. A spiritually mature heart is a contented heart. The lesson of contentment is a high and excellent doctrine. Until we have learned this. We have not truly learned what it means to be a Christian. First, it is a hard lesson. Even the angels in heaven had not learned it. Though their position was glorious, they were not content. They longed for more.

The angels who did not keep their first estate. They lost their place because they were not satisfied with it. Our first parents in paradise, though clothed in perfect innocence, had not learned to be content. Their hearts reached for more. They thought their human nature too low and common, and they longed to rise higher, to be like God.

Though all the trees of the garden were given to them, they were not satisfied unless they could eat from the one tree, the tree of knowledge. They thought it would open their eyes and make them all wise. if contentment was so hard to learn in a state of innocence how much harder is it for us now weighed down by sin and corruption second

This lesson of contentment is universal. It concerns all people, both rich and poor. First, it concerns rich men. At first, it may seem unnecessary to urge the rich to be content. Shouldn't they simply be reminded to be humble and thankful? But no, those with wealth also need to be taught contentment. Riches do not calm the heart.

Even with great wealth, many are still discontent. If they have much, they want more. They would turn a hundred talents into a thousand. Just like a drunkard, the more he drinks, the more he thirsts. So the covetous heart is never filled. It is a spiritual disease, a dry dropsy. The grave is never full, and neither is the heart of one ruled by earthly desires.

Even if a rich man is content with his wealth, which is rare, he may still be discontent for lack of honour. Though his barns are full, he is not satisfied unless his name is great. He wants to be important, like Theudas, who boasted himself to be somebody. Many are only joyful when they are praised. If the applause stops, so does their peace. Look at Hermann. He had honour.

power, and position. He was the second man in the kingdom. Yet, because Mordecai refused to bow, Haman burned with rage. Nothing could ease him but the blood of the Jews. The desire for honor is rarely quieted without blood. So again, rich men, be content. Even if a rich man is satisfied with his wealth and his titles, he may still lack contentment in his relationships.

The wife in the bosom may turn and stir up strife, as Job's wife did, urging him to curse God and die. Children too can cause deep grief. A mother may nurse a child who later turns against her. Parents often raise up thorns instead of grapes and thistles instead of figs. Children are like roses, beautiful but full of thorns. Our closest comforts in this life are not pure.

They are mixed. Like a river that flows sweet in the morning and bitter in the evening, so our relationships often shift. There is no life free from trouble, so even the rich must learn contentment. Second, this doctrine concerns poor men. You who live on little and daily depend on providence. You too must be content. It is a hard lesson, and so it must be learned early.

How hard it is to be content when your estate is gone, when what once supported life has dwindled to nothing. In scripture, our means of living is called our life, because it keeps life going. The woman in the gospel spent all her living on doctors. The word in the Greek means she spent her whole life, that is, all her livelihood. When poverty has clipped our wings, then to be content, that is difficult.

Yet it is a noble thing. Paul had learned this. God had placed him in more changing conditions than most men ever experience, and yet he was content. That alone shows the power of this grace. He said, We are troubled on every side. That was his hardship, but not distressed. There was his contentment. Perplexed, that was his burden, but not in despair.

That was his peace. He listed afflictions, necessities, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, and yet said, as having nothing, yet possessing all things. Though he was cast out of every worldly comfort, yet in his heart he had such contentment, such inward peace, that it was as if he owned everything. In another place he sums up his trials.

in prisons more frequent, in deaths often, and more. Yet he could still say, I have learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be content. Whatever direction Providence turned, Paul had spiritual wisdom to adjust. Whether he was at the top or the bottom, singing the anthem or the dirge, he could be what God would have him be. He said, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

Here is a rare example for us to follow. In faith and courage, Paul was like a cedar, firm, unshaken, but in outward things he was like a reed, bending easily with the wind of God's providence. When the breeze of prosperity blew, he bent with it. I know how to be full. When the storm of affliction struck, he bent in humility. I know how to be hungry. Paul was like what Aristotle described.

a four-sided die. However you throw it, it always lands on one side. However God cast Paul into plenty or poverty, he always landed on the same foundation. Contentment. A contented heart is like a well-made watch. You can turn it any direction, up or down, but the inner spring stays tight and the parts work smoothly. It keeps the same time no matter how it's moved.

In the same way, Paul's heart remained steady. Whether God placed him in a high or low condition, he wasn't proud when lifted up or discouraged when brought low. The inner spring of his soul held firm. His heart stayed steady. always moving toward heaven, always content. A ship that is anchored may shake, but it doesn't sink. In the same way, flesh and blood may tremble at trouble, but grace keeps the heart from sinking.

The believer anchored in God will not be swept away. A heart formed by God's grace is a heart settled in contentment. This is a rare and holy skill. Paul didn't learn it at the feet of Gamaliel. He says, I am instructed, meaning I have been initiated into this sacred mystery. He had learned the divine art. He had the gift, the knack of it.

God had taught him, if you ask someone to practice a skill they've never learned, they'll fail. Put a farmer in front of a canvas and he'll ruin the painting. Put a trained artist behind a plough and he'll ruin the field. It's not their area of skill. So, if you tell a worldly man to live by faith, and to be content when everything goes wrong, you're asking him to do something he knows nothing about. You may as well tell a child to steer a ship.

To live content with God when outward comforts are gone is an art that flesh and blood cannot learn. Even many of God's people, who may excel in other duties, struggle here. When it comes to the art of contentment... How many fumble and fall short? Few have graduated in this school. Fewer still have mastered it. Chapter 5

answering objections about contentment. To help explain this doctrine of contentment, let us consider a few key questions. Can a Christian feel the weight of his suffering and still remain content? Yes. Otherwise, he would not be a Christian, but a Stoic, one who endures hardship by suppressing emotion and relying on human reason and self-discipline alone.

The Stoics sought peace by hardening the heart. The Christian finds peace by softening it under the hand of God. To feel sorrow or discomfort and suffering is not sinful. Rachel wept for her children. and that was natural. Her error was in refusing to be comforted. That was discontent. Christ himself was deeply moved in suffering. In the garden he sweat great drops of blood and prayed.

Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet he did not resist God's will, but submitted, Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. So a Christian may feel his afflictions and still be content so long as his heart remains humble and submissive under God's hand. Scripture calls us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.

We are not called to feel nothing, but to yield everything to God's wise will. One man may wish for a higher position, not knowing that God sees his present state to be better for his soul. Another may desire health. Yet God knows sickness is more useful to him. It may weaken the body, but cure the soul. Another may long for freedom, but God chooses to enlarge his heart through restraint. When his feet are bound, his spirit will heal.

grow strong. If we truly believed this, that God wisely appoints all things for our good, it would silence our sinful complaints. Shall we be discontent with what God has decreed? Shall we murmur against the very path that his providence has chosen for us? Is that the spirit of a child, or of a rebel? Chapter 6

How to live with joy in any condition. Christian contentment shows how a believer can live with real comfort, even a kind of heaven on earth, no matter the circumstances. The comfort of life does not depend on having much. Christ said a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. True comfort lies in being content.

Is not the bee just as satisfied feeding on dew or sipping from a flower as the ox is grazing on the hills? Contentment is found within. In the heart, the way to a peaceful life is not by having full barns. but a quiet mind. The contented man, said Seneca, is the truly happy man. Discontent is a restless, bitter spirit. It dries the mind.

drains the strength and eats away the joy of life. It keeps a man from enjoying what he already has. A few drops of vinegar will sour a whole glass of wine, so even a little discontent can spoil all of one's comforts. Let a man have every outward blessing. Just a drop of discontent can make it all bitter. True comfort depends on contentment. When Jacob's thigh was injured, he walked with a limp.

In the same way when contentment is weakened our comfort falters. Contentment is as necessary to a joyful life as oil is to a burning lamp. Without it, the clouds of discontent will often turn into showers of tears. Would you have comfort in life? You may, if you are willing. A Christian can shape his condition by the frame of his heart.

Why complain about your troubles? It is not the trouble itself that disturbs you but your discontent. A ship is not sunk by the water around it but by the water that leaks inside. In the same way, outward afflictions cannot make a Christian's life miserable. But when discontent enters the heart, then the soul is troubled and begins to sink. Do as the sailors do, pump out the water and seal the leak. Stop the leak of discontent in your soul and no outward trouble can harm you. Chapter 7

The murmuring spirit, a rebuke to the discontented. This is a strong rebuke to those who are discontent with the condition God has placed them in. This disease is widespread, almost universal. Some are not content with the calling God has assigned them. They must climb higher, from the plough to the throne, like the spider in Proverbs that takes hold with her hands and is in king's palaces.

Others are not satisfied with working in the shop. They must be in the pulpit. They want to be in the temple of honor before they've walked in the temple of virtue. They push themselves into Moses' seat. though they lack Aaron's bells and pomegranates, gifts and graces. Like apes, their pride becomes most visible when they climb. Has not God already given them gifts to build up others quietly?

Has he not shown them much mercy? And yet they say by their actions, Seek ye the priesthood also. This is discontent driven by pride. Such people quietly accuse God of lacking wisdom, that he should have placed them a step higher. Everyone complains that his outward condition is not better, but few complain that their heart is not better.

One praises country life, another city life. The soldier envies the merchant, and the merchant envies the soldier. People are willing to be anything, except what God would have them be. Why is no one content? Very few have learned Paul's lesson. Neither rich nor poor have mastered it. They can learn many things, but not this. When men are poor, they often fall into envy. They resent those who are above them.

Another person's success becomes a source of bitterness. When God's light shines on their neighbor's home, that light offends them. Even in the midst of poverty, they can still overflow with envy and malice. An envious eye is an evil eye. They also become full of complaints, constantly speaking as if God has treated them unfairly. They are always talking about what they lack, this comfort or that help.

Yet the greatest thing they lack is a contented heart. They are content enough to keep their sin, but not content with the condition God has placed them in. When men are rich, they often become covetous. always thirsting for more of the world and gathering it by unjust means. Their right hand is full of bribes, as the psalmist says. Put a just cause in one scale and gold in the other, and the gold outweighs it.

Solomon said there are four things that cry, it is not enough. A fifth may be added, the heart of a covetous man. So neither poor nor rich know how to be content. Never, perhaps, since the world began, has the sin of discontent so greatly ruled, or rather, raged as it does now. Never has God been more dishonored by murmuring spirits.

You can hardly speak with anyone without hearing discontent come out of their mouth. Everyone speaks of their trouble. Even those slow to speak grow fluent when complaining. If we do not get what we want, we give God a hard look. We are soon sick with discontent, ready to die from nothing but a restless spirit. When God would not grant Israel's craving, they were ready to die. Give us quails or take our lives.

Ahab, though a king with lands and power, was discontented over one vineyard. Jonah, though a prophet, asked to die because God destroyed his gourd. Rachel cried, Give me children. or I die. She had many blessings, if only she had seen them, but she lacked contentment. Will God supply our needs, and must he also serve our cravings? Many today are discontented over the smallest things.

Someone else has a finer garment, a newer fashion, a brighter jewel. Nero, though emperor, was troubled that a musician had more skill than he in playing. How foolish are those who waste away and discontent over things that, if they had them, would only make them more ridiculous. Chapter 8

Answering discontent in losses and relationships. Let us be urged to pursue contentment. This grace adds beauty to the Christian life, like a piece of fine embroidery. Contentment decorates the soul and makes the believer stand out as a bright testimony before the world. But now I seem to hear some saying with deep complaint, How can I possibly be content? The Lord has made my chain heavy.

He has cast me into a hard and sorrowful condition. It is the nature of every sin either to hide itself under a mask, or, if it cannot be hidden, to excuse itself with some defense. Discontent does the same. It is very clever in making excuses, pretending it is justifiable in certain cases. First, we must settle this truth in our minds.

Discontent is a sin. No matter what excuse it gives, no matter how it tries to defend itself, all such arguments are nothing but painted lies, like a harlot dressed to look pure. The first excuse discontent gives is this. I have lost a child. Paulina, after the death of her children, was so overtaken with sorrow that she nearly buried herself in her own grief.

Often, our love for family rises above our love for God. First, we must be content not only when God gives blessings, but also when he takes them away. If we are commanded to give thanks in everything, then we must not be discontent in anything. Second, perhaps God has taken away the cistern so that he may give you more of the spring. He has darkened the starlight so that you might enjoy more of the sunlight.

God may intend to give you more of himself. And is he not better than ten sons? Do not look only at what has been taken away, but also at what God may be giving. Earthly comforts are mixed and bitter. The comforts that come from God's promises are pure and sweet. Third, your child was not given to you as a possession, but lent for a time. Hannah said, I have lent my son to the Lord.

but in truth the Lord had lent him to her. God's mercies are not entailed or guaranteed, they are lent, and what is lent may be called for again at any time. God placed your child with you for a season, like a nurse hired to care for another's infant. Will you be angry if the father takes his child home? Do not be discontented that the mercy is taken away.

Be thankful that it was lent to you at all and for so long. Fourth, suppose your child has been taken from you. He was either godly or ungodly. If he was ungodly and rebellious, then you have not so much lost a child as laid down a burden. You are grieving over what might have become a greater grief. If he was godly and faithful,

Then remember, he is taken away from the evil to come and brought into perfect joy. This world is full of thick, harmful vapors. How blessed are those who are lifted above them into the pure air of heaven! Scripture says, the righteous are taken away. In the original, it means gathered. A wicked child is cut off, but a godly child is gathered, like a flower picked and preserved.

God has gathered your child as a sweet blossom to preserve forever in glory. Why then should a Christian be discontent? Why weep so bitterly? Christ said, daughters of Jerusalem. Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves. So too, if we could hear our children from heaven, they would say, Weep not for us who are happy. We rest on soft pillows in the bosom of Christ.

The Prince of Peace is embracing us. Do not grieve over our joy. Weep for yourselves. You are still in a world of sin and sorrow. We are on the mountain of spices. You are still in the Valley of Tears. We have reached the harbor. You are still tossed on the sea. O Christian, do not be discontent that you have parted with such a child, but rather give thanks that you had such a child to part with.

Rejoice in this honor, to be the parent of one who, while living, brought joy to the angels, and in dying added to the number of the glorified saints. Fifth, if God has taken away one of your children, He has still left you others. He could have taken all. Job lost his estate, his children, and nearly every comfort. His wife remained, but more as a trial than a help.

As Chrysostom said, Satan made a bow out of Job's rib and shot a temptation at him through her, Curse God and die. But Job wore the breastplate of integrity. Though he lost his children, he did not lose his grace. He remained content and still blessed God. Think how many mercies God has still left you. Yet how quickly your heart is discontent over one loss, and how slow to give thanks for a hundred mercies.

God has taken one cluster of grapes, but how many remain on the vine? You may say, but it was my only child, the staff of my old age, the hope of my name, the one blossom through which my family would continue. 6. If you belong to God, He has promised you a name better than of sons and daughters. As your child died, the one who would have carried on your name, God has given you a greater name.

He has written it in the book of life. This is your true heritage, your spiritual honor, a name that cannot be cut off. Has God taken away your only child? He has given you his only son. Is that not a blessed exchange? Why should anyone mourn over loss, who still has Christ? He is the brightness of the Father, the treasure of heaven, the delight of God himself.

If there is enough in Christ to satisfy the heart of God, is he not enough to satisfy yours? Christ is wisdom to guide you, righteousness to cover you, sanctification to adorn you. He is the gift of God, the bread of angels, the joy of saints and all in awe. Why then are you discontent? Though your child is gone, you have him for whom all else is loss.

Seventh, let us be ashamed that nature should outdo grace. Pulvilus, a heathen, was about to dedicate a temple to Jupiter when news came that his son had died. Yet he did not stop his work. but calmly gave instructions for the burial. Shall a pagan show more composure than a Christian? Now comes the second excuse that discontent offers. I have lost much of my estate. My business is failing.

My income is shrinking. Yes, God sometimes brings his children very low. He may reduce their estate and cut off many outward comforts. They may be like the widow who had nothing in her house except a pot of oil. But still. Be content. First, God may have taken away your estate, but he has not taken away your portion. This is a holy paradox. Honor and wealth are not part of a Christian's true inheritance.

They are luxuries, not essentials. They are outward things, not part of the soul's treasure. So their loss does not make a Christian poor. The portion still remains. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Imagine a man worth a million losing a pin from his sleeve. Would you say he is ruined? No, the loss is nothing. In the same way...

Earthly comforts are to a Christian's portion what a pin is to a million. Jesus said, These things shall be added to you. They are extras, not the substance, like a piece of cloth with a few inches added. If the extra is lost, the cloth still remains. So when your outward estate is taken, your spiritual inheritance is untouched. A thief may steal all the money in your pocket, but not your land.

You still hold title to the land of promise. Mary chose the better part, and it shall not be taken away. Why then should a Christian be discontent when his true treasure remains safe? Second Perhaps if your estate had not been taken, your soul would have been. Outward comforts often cool inward zeal. God may give us a jewel, but we fall so in love with the gift that we forget the giver.

How sad that we turn blessings into idols. Sometimes God must drain away our wealth to save our souls. The plate and jewels are thrown overboard to keep the ship from sinking. Many have lived to regret the day they became rich. It drew their hearts from God. They that will be rich fall into a snare. Are you troubled that God has saved you from a snare? Riches are thorns. Are you upset that God has pulled a thorn from your side?

They are like thick clay. Perhaps your heart, like feet stuck in deep mud, would have been held back from heaven. Be content if God has blocked the stream of your outward comforts. It is so the stream of your love may flow more freely toward him. Third, if your estate is small, yet God can bless the little you have, it is not how much you possess, but how much blessing God puts on it.

He who often curses bags of gold can bless a handful of meal in the barrel and a little oil in the jar. You may not have the full flesh pots, but you have a promise. I will abundantly bless her provision. With God's blessing a little goes far. Be content if you have even a small portion, if the dew of God's blessing has fallen on it. A dinner of herbs where love is sweet, and even sweeter where the love of God is.

Another may have more than you, more wealth, but also more worry, more income, but more expense, a greater inheritance, but not the ability to enjoy it. He may have dominion over his estate. but not the use of it. He holds more, but enjoys less. And in the end, though you have less gold, perhaps you also have less guilt.

Fourth, you have never prospered so much in your spiritual life as you have since your outward condition became low. Your heart has never been so humble, never so poor in spirit, never so rich in faith. You have never run so swiftly in the ways of God's commandments as you have since some of your golden weights were taken off. You have never traded so well for heaven as now. This is true gain.

You have never trusted the promises of God so boldly as since you let go of your business on the sea. This is the best kind of merchandise. O Christian, you have received greater incomes of the Spirit, greater floods of joy. And what if your estate is weak, if your assurance is strong? Be content. What you have lost in one way, you have gained in another. Fifth, whatever your losses may be, remember this.

In every loss there is only a suffering, but in every discontent there is a sin, and one sin is worse than a thousand sufferings. What? Because some of your income is gone. will you also throw away your righteousness? Will you let your faith and patience go too? Because you no longer possess an estate, will you now fail to possess your own spirit? Oh, learn to be content.

The third excuse, it is sad with me in my relationships. Where I expected comfort, I find the most grief. This excuse branches into two parts, each of which deserves a clear response. First, My child lives in rebellion. I fear I have brought forth a child for the devil. Yes, it is a deep sorrow to think that the way to hell may be paved with the skulls of our own children.

the grief a mother feels over a rebellious child is often worse than the pains of childbirth yet while you should be humbled you must not be discontent first consider what you might learn from your child's rebellion Sometimes a child's sin becomes a sermon to the parent. Let their disobedience remind you of your own former rebellion against God. How long did you resist him? How long did your heart stand like a fortress against his grace? How many times did he plead with you before you yielded?

He walked tenderly with you, yet you walked stubbornly with him, and even now how much of your old sinful nature remains? How often do you grieve his spirit? How many unkindnesses have you shown to Christ? Let your child's rebellion lead you to mourn your own. Let it open a spring of repentance in your heart. Second, while your child's sin is your sorrow, it is not necessarily your sin.

Have you given him not only the milk of the body, but the sincere milk of the word? Have you raised him in the fear of God, taught him the scriptures, and shown him the way to heaven? Then you have done what God requires. Parents can teach knowledge, but only God can give grace. You may lay the wood in order, but only God can send the fire. You may be a guide, but only the Spirit can draw the heart.

Am I in God's stead? Can a parent give grace? If a child, holding in his hand the light of conscience, scripture, and instruction, still runs into sin, this is sad, but not your fault. Weep for your child, pray for him, but do not sin for him through discontent. Third, do not say, I have brought forth a child for the devil. God is able to turn him. He has promised to

turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and to open springs in the desert. Though your child is sailing full speed toward destruction, God can send a contrary wind and change his course. Paul once breathed out threats against the church, heading toward Damascus, but God stopped him and sent him to Ananias. The persecutor became a preacher. So it may be with your child, though now he seems lost.

God may yet reach him, even at the last hour. Monica wept many tears for her son Augustine. In time, God heard her prayers and gave her son back, not only as a believer, but as a mighty instrument in the church. Therefore, mourn, pray, hope, but do not murmur. Be content. Second, but my husband lives wickedly. Where I expected honey, I have found a sting.

It is a great sorrow to be bound in close fellowship with one who walks in sin. To live daily with such grief is like being tied to a dead body. Yet do not let your heart be troubled with discontent. Mourn for his sin.

but do not murmur against God. First, remember that God has placed you in this relationship. If you are discontented with your condition, you are arguing with God's wisdom. Shall we, for every trial that touches us, question the perfect will of god this is a kind of quiet blasphemy in the heart second god can use even your husband's sin for your spiritual gain

Perhaps you would never have grown in grace as you have if he had not fallen so far from it. Fire burns hottest in the coldest places. So too, God may use your husband's sin to stir up your holiness. The more earthly he is, the more heavenly you become. His sins may become a spur to your devotion. His coldness may fuel your spiritual warmth. His deadness may drive you more often to your knees in prayer.

You might never have prayed so much if he had not sinned so much. His hardness may break your heart. His neglect of God may press you nearer to God. The apostle says, The unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believing husband. But here, the believing wife is also sanctified by the unbelieving husband. His sin becomes a whetstone to sharpen her grace and a medicine to cure her spiritual laziness. The next excuse discontent offers is this.

My friends have treated me unkindly and proved false. It is indeed a sorrow when a friend turns out like a dried-up brook in summer. The weary traveller looks for refreshment but finds only dust. Yet still, be content. First, you are not the only one. Many of God's people have been betrayed by friends. When they leaned on them for support, they were like a foot out of joint, painful and unstable.

This was true of David. It was not an enemy that reproached me, but it was you, my companion, my guide, and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together. It was also true of Christ. He was betrayed, not by a stranger, but by a friend. And should we think it strange to receive the same treatment as our Lord, the servant is not above his master.

Second, a Christian should often see his own sin reflected in his suffering. Has not he too been false to God? How many times has he dealt treacherously with the Lord? How often has he grieved the Holy Spirit, broken his vows, and through unbelief taken the side of Satan against God? How often has he abused God's love?

taking the jewels of mercy and making a golden calf out of them, using God's blessings to serve his own lusts. How often has he turned free grace, meant to keep out sin, into a license to open the door to it? These wounds hath the Lord received in the house of his friends. So when you feel the sting of a friend's unkindness, let it lead you to mourn your own unkindness toward God.

Shall a Christian condemn in others what he has been guilty of himself? Be humbled, but be content. Third, has your friend been unfaithful? Perhaps you placed too much trust in him. If you lay more weight on a house than its pillars can support, it must collapse. God says, trust not in a friend. Perhaps you leaned more on him.

than you ever dared to lean on God. Friends are like delicate glass, useful and beautiful, but if leaned on too heavily, they break. Let this be a reason for humility, not for bitterness or discontent. Fourth, you have a friend in heaven who will never fail you. Solomon says there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. That friend is God. He watches over you with constant care.

always planning and working for your good. He is the best and truest friend, and his love should comfort you in the midst of all the unkindness you suffer from others. Consider, first... He is a loving friend. God is love. He says he has engraved you on the palm of his hand, so you are never out of his sight. He carries you in his bosom, close to his heart. His love is without limit like a river that overflows its banks His love goes far beyond what we can imagine and far beyond what we deserve

O the greatness of his love, that he gave his own Son to become flesh for us! That gift is greater than if all the angels had been made worms. In giving Christ, God gave his very heart. Here is love in its highest form, etched as with a diamond. Compared to this, all other love is nothing. Second, he is a caring friend. He cares for you. He takes your needs as his own concerns.

He sees your trials as his business. He provides for you grace now and glory to come. David once said, no man cares for my soul, but the Christian has a friend who truly does. Third. He is a wise friend. An earthly friend may mean well, but through ignorance may hurt more than help, giving poison instead of medicine. But God is wise in heart. He is both faithful and skillful.

He knows your condition and what remedy is best. He knows what helps and what hinders. He knows what kind of wind will carry you safely to heaven. Fourth, he is a faithful friend. He keeps his promises, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised. God's people are called children that will not lie, but God is the God who cannot lie.

He will never deceive the faith of his people. He is called the truth. He can as soon cease to be God as cease to be true. At times, God may change a promise, turning a temporal promise into a spiritual one. but he can never break his promise. Fifth, he is a compassionate friend. Scripture speaks of the yearning of his bowels, his deep inward mercy. God's friendship toward us flows entirely from compassion.

There is nothing in us that could desire his friendship, and nothing in us that could deserve it. The reason lies entirely in himself. When we were covered in sin, he was filled with mercy, while we were still enemies. He sent a message of peace. When our hearts turned away from him, his heart turned toward us. O the tenderness of our friend in heaven! We may feel some natural pity toward others in misery.

but every bit of compassion in us was first planted by God. This is why he is called the Father of mercies. Sixth, he is a constant friend. His compassions fail not. earthly friends often fall away in times of trouble like leaves dropping in autumn such are flatterers not true friends joab was once faithful to david He refused to follow Absalom's rebellion, but later he turned and joined Adonijah's. So it is with many. Friends for a season, then gone. But God is a friend forever.

Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end. What if others despise you? God still loves you. What if friends forsake you? God still loves you. And he loves to the end, and there is no end to that love. This alone, in the face of unkindness and rejection, should be enough to quiet every discontented thought.

Chapter 9. Answering discontent in reproach, evil times, and spiritual trials. The next excuse is this. I am under great reproaches. Don't let this make you discontent. First, it is a sign there is some good in you. Socrates once said, What evil have I done that this bad man praises me? The approval of the wicked often shows something is wrong, and their criticism often shows something good. David said his weeping and fasting became his reproach.

We must pass through suffering to reach heaven and through shame to reach glory. Second, if your reproach is for God, as David said, for your sake I have borne reproach. then it should cause triumph, not sorrow. Christ didn't say, when you are reproached, be upset, but rejoice. Wear your reproach like a crown of honor, for a spirit of glory and of God now rests on you. Count your reproaches as part of your treasure, as Moses did.

A Christian should be eager to wear his Savior's uniform, even if it is stained with blood and disgrace. Third, God brings good through reproach. David said of Shimei's cursing, it may be the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today. Reproach makes us examine our hearts. A child of God tries to see what sin may have brought each insult.

It also gives us a chance to grow in patience and humility. Fourth, Jesus Christ was willing to be reproached for us. He endured the cross and despised the shame. It may astonish us to think that he who was God could endure being spit on, crowned with thorns in mockery, and, as he was about to bow his head in death,

Hear the Jews scornfully shake their heads and say, He saved others, but he cannot save himself. The shame of the cross was as bitter as the pain. His name was crucified before his body. The sharp arrows of reproach that the world hurled at Christ pierced deeper than the spear. His suffering was so full of shame that even the sun seemed to blush and hide its light in a cloud.

as it well might when the sun of righteousness was in eclipse. All this shame and mockery the God of glory endured, or rather despised, for our sake. Then let us be content to have our names darkened for Christ. Let not reproach wound our hearts, but wear it like a crown on our heads. What is reproach, really? It is only small fire. How will people stand when the cannon is fired?

Those who cannot bear a reproach will stumble at a burning stake. Fifth, isn't many a man willing to suffer reproach to protect his sin? And shall we not endure it for defending the truth? Some boast in what should shame them, and shall we be ashamed of what is truly our glory? Don't be troubled by these small things. When a person's heart is truly touched by the Spirit of God,

He sees it as an honor to be dishonored for Christ, and he despises the world's criticism just as much as its praise. Sixth, we live in a time when people dare to reproach God himself. The divinity of the Son of God is blasphemously denied by the Sassinian. The Holy Bible is mocked by the anti-scripturist, as if it were nothing but a book of lies and every man's faith just a fable.

The justice of God is put on trial by the Arminians. The wisdom of God in his providence is criticized by the atheist. The ordinances of God are rejected by the familists. claiming they are too heavy for a free conscience and too low and fleshly for a refined spirit. The ways of God, marked by the beauty of holiness, are slandered by the ungodly.

Men speak against God as if he were a harsh master and the path of religion too strict and severe. If men speak evil even of God, should we be discontent or troubled when they speak evil of us? Those who work to bury the glory of religion, should we be surprised if their throats are open graves to bury our good name too? Let us be content to have our name stained a little while we are in God's cleansing house.

The darker we seem here, the brighter we shall shine when God sets us on his heavenly shelf. The sixth excuse that discontent gives is disrespect in the world. I don't receive the esteem from others that matches my position or grace. Does this trouble you? Consider, first, the world is an unfair judge. As it is full of change, so it is full of partiality.

The world gives honor as it gives out promotions, more by favoritism than by merit. If you have true worth in you, that is what matters most. It is better to deserve honor and not receive it than to receive it. and not deserve it. Second, if you have grace, God honors you, and his judgment is the only one worth valuing. A believer is truly honorable, being born of God.

Since you were precious in my eyes, you have been honorable, and I have loved you. Let the world think what it will of you. In their eyes you may be worthless. In God's eyes you are a dove, a spouse, a jewel. Others may treat you as the scum of the earth, but God says he will give nations as your ransom. Let that satisfy you. It doesn't matter how the world sees you if God thinks well of you.

It is far better for God to approve than for man to applaud. The world may list us among the saints and God reject us, or the world may reject us and God call us his own. What good is it if your fellow prisoners praise you while your judge condemns you? Strive to walk closely with God. Value his love. If others frown, be content, so long as you are favoured by the King of Heaven.

Third, if you are a child of God, you must expect to be disrespected. A believer is in the world, but not of it. We are pilgrims here, living outside our true country. so we should not expect the world's praise or recognition. It is enough that we will have honour in our own country. It is dangerous to be the world's favourite. Fourth, discontent because of disrespect.

shows too much pride. A humble Christian thinks more lowly of himself than others do. One who is deeply aware of his sin and how he has offended God cries out like Agur, I am more brutish than any man. and is content even to be placed among the dogs of my flock. Though he may be low in the eyes of others, he is thankful he has not been cast into the lowest hell.

A proud man puts a high price on himself and is angry when others won't meet it. Beware of pride. If others could look into your heart, as Kreitz once said, or if your heart were placed where your face is, you would be amazed to receive as much respect as you do. The next excuse is this, I suffer greatly for the truth. Consider, first, your sufferings are not as great as your sins.

Weigh them together and see which is heavier. Where sin weighs much, suffering weighs little. A worldly heart makes much of suffering and little of sin. He sees suffering through a magnifying lens and sin. through a shrinking one. The carnal man cries, take away the frogs, but the godly man says, take away the iniquity. One says, no one has suffered like I have, but the other says,

No one has sinned like I have. Second, are you suffering? You now have a chance to show the strength and steadfastness of your faith. Some of God's saints would have counted it a great honor to suffer as a martyr. One even said, I am in prison until I am in prison. You see it as a burden, while others would have worn it as a badge of glory.

Third, even those who lived only by moral principles showed great strength and contentment in suffering. Curtius, fully armed and on horseback, threw himself into a deep gulf so that, as the oracle said, Rome might be delivered from the plague. And we, having a divine promise that Those who kill the body cannot harm the soul. Should we not endure wrongs for the sake of our faith and rather suffer for the truth than let the truth suffer for us?

The Daci, among the Romans, vowed themselves to death so their soldiers might win victory and honor. How much more should we be willing to suffer so that the truth may triumph? Regulus, having sworn to return to Carthage, went back even though he knew a furnace waited for him, because he would not break his oath. We, as Christians, having vowed ourselves to Christ in baptism.

and renewed that vow many times in the Lord's Supper, should be all the more willing to suffer rather than break our holy covenant. Look at the blessed martyrs, how boldly and gladly they gave their souls to God. When the flames consume their bodies, their spirits burned with neither rage nor complaint. Though others may wound the body, don't let them touch your mind through discontent. Show by your courageous spirit.

that you are above those sufferings you cannot avoid. The next excuse is this, the wicked prosper. It often seems like the ungodly enjoy all the good, while the godly suffer all the evil. Even David, a godly man, stumbled at this and nearly fell. Still, be content. Remember, first, these are not the only blessings, nor the best ones. They are outside mercies.

common gifts. These things are like acorns that God throws to feed swine. You, as believers, have better fruit, the olive, the pomegranate, the fruit that grows on the true vine, Jesus Christ. The wicked may have the fat of the earth, but you have the dew of heaven. They may have a rich land, but you have the springs of living water, purified by Christ's blood and sweetened by his love.

To see the wicked flourish should move us to pity, not envy. This is all the heaven they will ever have. Woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. That's why David prayed. These words sound like David's litany. Good Lord, deliver me from men of the world. When the wicked have finished feasting, a bitter reckoning follows. The world begins with music and ends in mourning. If you would see a man burn forever in hell, let him enjoy the riches of earth without God.

For every grain of mercy the wicked receive, God drops a measure of wrath into their cup. Remember what a soldier once said to another who envied his grapes, Do you envy me these? They cost me dear. I must die for them. So I ask, do you envy the wicked? Their prosperity is like Haman's banquet just before his hanging. If a man is on his way to execution, would you envy him walking there through flowered paths, or wearing robes of gold up the ladder to the gallows?

The wicked may shine for a time, but when they flourish like grass, it is only so they may be cut down forever. The proud grass will be mowed. Whatever a sinner enjoys, it comes with a curse. And shall we envy that? What if poisoned bread is thrown to the dogs? The deep wounds on the backs of the godly bear, seeds of blessing, while the wicked's rich table becomes a trap and their honor their noose.

The next excuse that discontent gives is the evil condition of the times. These days are filled with heresy and ungodliness, and this is what troubles me. This excuse has two parts which I will answer in order. First, the times are full of heresy. This is indeed a grievous thing. When the devil cannot destroy the church by open violence he tries to poison it with false doctrine.

When he cannot burn the field with Samson's fox tails, he sows tares among the wheat. Just as he tries to destroy the peace of the church through division, so he attacks the truth of the church through error. We can rightly say that we live in days when the floodgates are open to all kinds of strange opinions, and every man treats his own idea as if it were the word of God. Well then, this may give us reason to mourn, but not to murmur in discontent.

Consider. First, error reveals the true nature of men. It exposes the bad. Heresy uncovers those who are inwardly corrupt. When leprosy showed itself on the forehead, The leper was made known. So it is with false doctrine. Error is a counterfeit offspring, with the devil as its father and pride as its mother. You will never find a heretic who is not a proud man.

It is good that such people are revealed, so that God's just judgment upon them may be clearly seen and honored. Others who are not yet infected may avoid the disease. If someone had the plague... it would be best that it showed itself so others could stay away. I would avoid a heretic as I would the devil, for he is on the devil's mission. Think of it this way.

If there were a tavern in the city where, under the cover of selling wine, many barrels of poison were being offered, wouldn't it be good that people were warned so they wouldn't buy? So it is with those who spread false doctrine. It is good they be known so the people of God stay far from the scent or taste of that poison. Error is a test to reveal the good. It proves who is genuine. There must be heresies.

that those who are approved may be made known. In this way our love for Christ and zeal for the truth are shown. God reveals who the living fish are. Those who swim against the stream, who the healthy sheep are, those who feed in the green pastures of sound doctrine, who the doves are, those who live in the pure air where the spirit breathes.

God crowned such people with honor. These are they who came out of great tribulation. These are the ones who resisted the errors of their day. They kept their consciences pure, their judgment sound. and their hearts soft. God will set a trophy of honor on some of his saints, those who, like the cypress tree, stay green and full of life even in the dead of winter.

Second, do not give in to sinful discontent, for God can use the church's errors to benefit the truth. In fact, such errors have often helped clarify and confirm God's truth. Just as in law, when someone falsely claims a piece of land, the rightful title is more closely examined and firmly established. So too with doctrine.

Some would never have searched the scriptures so diligently to defend the truth if others had not tried to destroy it with deceit. All the mists and fogs of error rising from the bottomless pit have only made the sun of truth shine more clearly. If Arius and Sabelius had not spread their destructive errors, the truth about the Holy Trinity would not have been so carefully studied and strongly defended by men like Athanasius and Augustine.

If the devil had not spread such thick darkness, the defenders of truth would not have run so quickly to Scripture to light their lamps. God, in his wisdom, overrules all this. Third. God increases the value of his truth when error spreads. Even the smallest pieces and fragments of truth become more precious. Just as true gold is prized more when there is much counterfeit in circulation.

So the pure wine of truth is most valued when false doctrines are being poured out everywhere. Fourth, error makes us more thankful to God for the treasure of truth. When you see another infected with the plague, how deeply thankful you are that God has kept you safe. When you see someone with spiritual leprosy in the mind, how you should praise God that he has not handed you over to believe a lie and be damned.

The errors of the times can be turned to good when they lead us to be more humble and more thankful, worshipping the free grace of God that has kept us from drinking that deadly poison. Part 2 The second part of this excuse for discontent is the wickedness of the times. I live and walk among the profane, O that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest.

It is indeed grievous to dwell among the wicked. David saw transgressors and was grieved. Lot, who shined as a bright star in a dark night, was vexed. or rather wearied out by the filthy lives of the people in Sodom, their sins pierced his soul like spears. If we have any spark of God's love in us, we should be deeply moved by the sins of others and feel our hearts ache over them.

Yet we must not sink into discontent, knowing that God in his wise providence has allowed this, and not without good reason. First, God often uses the wicked as a hedge to protect the godly. The all-wise God sometimes turns those who are wicked, yet peaceable, into a shield to guard his people from those who are wicked and violent. The king of Babylon gave strict orders to take care of Jeremiah, making sure he lacked nothing.

So it is. God sometimes turns hardened sinners into strong walls of defense for his people. Second, God mingles the wicked with the godly, so that the godly may be a means of saving the wicked. Such is the beauty of holiness. It has a drawing power, like a magnet, to attract even the ungodly. Sometimes God uses a believing husband to convert an unbelieving wife or the other way around.

What do you know, O wife, whether you shall save your husband? Or how do you know, O man, whether you shall save your wife? When the godly live among the wicked, their wise counsel and godly example have often led others to embrace the faith. Without some godly people living among the ungodly, how, apart from a miracle?

Could we expect the wicked to be converted? Those who now shine as saints in heaven were once slaves to various lusts. Paul was once a persecutor, Augustine a manichae, Luther a monk. Yet... through the serious and holy lives of the godly, they were brought to the truth. The next excuse that discontent offers is low abilities or lack of gifts. I cannot, says the Christian,

Speak with such fluency or pray with such elegance as others. First, grace is greater than gifts. You are comparing your grace to another's gifts, but they are not the same. Grace without gifts is far better than gifts without grace. In true religion, the inner life is best. Gifts are more outward and common workings of the spirit. Even reprobates may have them.

But grace is a special and distinguishing work, a jewel placed only on the elect. If you have the seed of God in you, the holy anointing, be content. You say you cannot speak with the fluency others have. But real experience in religion is worth more than fine words, and deep impressions of truth are better than high expressions. Judas, no doubt, could speak well of Christ.

but the woman who touched his garment felt power come from him. A sanctified heart is better than a silver tongue. The difference between gifts and grace is like that between a tulip painted on a wall and one growing in a garden. You say you cannot pray with elegance but prayer is more a matter of the heart than the head. In prayer it is not fluency that wins but fervency. God is not moved by fine speech.

Second. Second. Do not be discontented, for God usually fits a person's gifts to the place he calls them to. Some are placed in higher roles where greater abilities are needed, but even the lowest member is useful in its place and will be given strength to carry out its duty. God supplies what is needed for the work he appoints. The next excuse that discontent gives is the troubles of the church. My sorrow is not so much for myself, but for the public. God's church is suffering.

I confess it is a sorrowful thing, and we ought indeed to hang our harps upon the willows. Anyone who is not affected by the suffering of Christ's body is a wooden leg in that body. A Christian must be neither proud flesh nor dead flesh. When the church suffers, he must feel it. Jeremiah wept for the virgin daughter of Zion. We must feel our brethren's cords.

even while we lie in soft beds. In music, if one string is struck, all the rest vibrate with it. So when God strikes our brethren, our hearts must sound like a harp. Be deeply moved, but do not give in to discontent. Consider, first, God sits at the helm of his church. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. Sometimes the church is like a ship tossed on the waves, afflicted and tossed. But can't God still bring her safely to harbour, even through the storm?

The ship in the gospel was shaken because sin was aboard, but it wasn't sunk because Christ was with them. So it is with the church. Christ is in the ship. Fear not sinking. The church's anchor is cast in heaven. Do we not believe God loves his church and cares for it more than we ever could? The names of the twelve tribes were written on Aaron's breastplate.

showing how close God holds his people to his heart. They are his portion. Shall that be lost? They are his glory. Shall that be permanently eclipsed? No. God can deliver his church not only from opposition, but by it. Her sufferings are often her birth pangs. Second, God has always advanced his truth through suffering. The church has been built on blood, and these bloody showers have made it more fruitful. Cain slew Abel, and since then the church has bled, but like the vine.

She grows by bleeding, like the palm tree, the more she is pressed down, the higher she rises. The holiness and patience of the saints under trial has helped both the growth of truth and the glory of the Church. basil and tertullian note that many heathens seeing the zeal and constancy of early martyrs turned to christ religion is that phoenix which always revives from the ashes of holy men

Isaiah was sawn in two. Peter was crucified upside down at Rome. Cyprian of Carthage and Polycarp of Smyrna were both martyred for the faith. Yet the truth was sealed in blood and spread all the more. So much so that Julian the Apostate stopped persecuting the Church, not out of mercy, but envy, because, as Nazianzen says, it grew and multiplied through every blow.

The twelfth excuse that discontent gives is this. It is not my trouble that burdens me, but my sins. They are what disquiet and discontent me. Make sure this is truly the case. Do not deceive God or your own soul. In genuine sorrow for sin, even when outward suffering is removed, the grief remains. But suppose this excuse is sincere.

that your sin is the true cause of your discontent. Still, I answer, sorrow over sin can go beyond its proper limits in three ways. First, when it becomes disheartening, when it puts sin above mercy. If Israel had only looked at their wounds from the serpents and had not looked up to the brazen serpent, they would never have been healed. Sorrow for sin that drives us away from God is itself sinful.

for it contains more despair than repentance. The soul becomes so full of tears that it cannot see Christ. Sorrow by itself does not save. That would be to make a savior of our tears. Rather, it is useful only as it prepares the soul, making sin bitter and Christ sweet. O look up to the true brazen serpent, the Lord Jesus. A glimpse of his blood will restore you.

The healing balm of his merit is wider than your wound. It is Satan's strategy, either to blind us to our sin, or if we do see it, to drown us in it, that we may be swallowed up with sorrow. He either numbs us to sin or terrifies us with it. Either he hides the mirror of the law from our eyes, or he paints our sins in such scarlet colors that we sink into despair.

Sorrow for sin becomes excessive when it disposes the heart wrongly, when it untunes the soul for prayer, meditation and spiritual conversation. Instead of softening the heart, it closes it in. This is not true godly sorrow, but rather a kind of spiritual gloominess. It does not make a person more repentant, but more bitter and withdrawn, less like a humble penitent and more like a cynic. Third,

Sorrow is out of bounds when it is out of season. God calls us to rejoice and we hang our harps on the willows. He commands us to trust and we cast ourselves down into the pit of despair. If Satan cannot stop us from mourning over sin, he will tempt us to do it when it is least fitting, when God especially calls us to thankfulness and to put on garments of praise.

Satan will try to dress us in a spirit of heaviness. So, God is robbed of the praise due to him for his mercy, and we are robbed of the comfort of that mercy. If your sorrow has brought you to Christ. If it has caused you to value Him highly, long for Him deeply, and delight in Him sweetly, this is all God requires. To go further.

And torment yourself with excessive grief is not piety, but a kind of unbelief. A Christian sins by stretching himself further on the rack of discontent than God ever called him to. And thus. I trust I have answered the main objections and excuses which the sin of discontent makes for itself. Truly, I see no cause why a Christian should be discontent, unless it be for his discontent itself.

Let me now set before you something that may serve both as a magnet to draw your heart toward contentment and as a whetstone to sharpen your spirit in the practice of it. Chapter 10

Divine Motives to Contentment The first reason we should seek contentment is because of its surpassing worth. Think about how excellent contentment is. It's like a rare flower that doesn't grow in every garden. It teaches a person how to thrive, even in the middle of poverty. You might think it would be excellent if I gave you a cure or protection against being poor, but look here, contentment is even better.

It allows a person to be in need and still feel as if they have enough. Contentment is a remedy for all our troubles. It lightens every burden. It is the cure for worry. Though contentment isn't exactly a grace, It's more of a mindset. Still within it is a beautiful balance of all the graces. It's a valuable mixture made up of faith, patience, gentleness, humility, and more.

These are the ingredients blended into it. Now, there are seven rare excellencies found in contentment. First excellence, a contented Christian carries a sense of heaven within. What is heaven, after all, but the deep peace and full satisfaction the soul finds in God? In contentment, we taste the first fruits of heaven.

There are two things in a contented heart that make it like heaven. First, God is there. You can see something of God in that heart. A discontented Christian is like a stormy sea. When the water is rough... You can't see anything in it. But when the sea is calm and clear, you can see your reflection in it. In the same way, when the heart is stirred up with discontent, it's like a raging sea.

Nothing can be seen there except frustration and complaining. Nothing of God, nothing of heaven. But when the heart is content, it becomes like calm waters. A reflection appears. Something of Christ can be seen in that heart, showing the presence of all the graces. Second, rest is found there. Oh, what a Sabbath is kept in a contented heart! What a taste of heaven! A contented Christian is like Noah in the ark. Though the ark was tossed by the waves, Noah could sit and sing inside it.

So the soul that has entered the arc of contentment sits quietly and rises above all the waves of trouble. It can sing in that spiritual arc. The wheels of a chariot turn, but the axle stays still. The heavens revolve, but the earth stays fixed at its center. In the same way, while everything around us is changing, a contented spirit remains unmoved.

The sails of a windmill spin with the wind, but the base of the mill stands still. This is a picture of contentment. Our outward condition may change with the winds of providence, but the heart stays steady. While others are like quicksilver, shaking and unstable, the contented heart can say with David, O God, my heart is fixed. What is this if not a glimpse of heaven? Second Excellence

Contentment supplies what outward circumstances lack. A Christian might not have the comforts others enjoy, land, wealth, or possessions, but God has poured contentment into his heart. which is far better. In this way what Jesus said becomes true. He shall receive a hundredfold. Someone who gives up everything for Christ may never get back his house or land, but God gives him a contented spirit, and this contentment brings such joy to the soul that it is sweeter than all the things he gave up.

David was in a hard situation, likely driven from his kingdom. Yet, because of the deep contentment he found in God, he said he had more joy than people usually have at harvest time or during the grape harvest. One man may live off houses and land. Another may have only a small trade, but that trade provides for him. In the same way, a Christian may have little in this world, but he works the trade of contentment.

And this teaches him how to go without, just as well as how to abound. Oh, the rare skill, or rather, miracle of contentment. Wicked people are often troubled even while they enjoy everything. But the contented Christian is at peace even when he has nothing. How can a Christian be content without outward comforts? Because he draws contentment from the promises of God. He may be poor in wealth, but he is rich in promises.

One promise alone brings deep contentment to the heart. Those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. If what we desire is truly good for us, God will give it. then not having it is actually best. Being satisfied with God's promise, that is true contentment. Third excellence. Contentment tunes the heart for serving God. It oils the wheels of the heart and makes it quick and ready. It settles the soul and prepares it for prayer, meditation, and other spiritual duties.

How can someone filled with grief or discontent attend to the Lord without distraction? Contentment prepares and tunes the heart. Before you play a piece of music, you first tune the instrument. In the same way, when a Christian's heart is tuned by contentment, it becomes ready for service. A discontented Christian is like Saul when the evil spirit came upon him. There's only noise and disorder in his prayers.

Just as an army in confusion isn't ready for battle, a distracted heart isn't ready for devotion. Discontent pulls the heart away from God and fixes it on the trouble, so the mind isn't on prayer, but on the pain. Discontent unhinges the soul. It becomes impossible to serve God steadily and cheerfully. Devotion becomes weak and lifeless. The discontented person gives God only half of what he is due.

His religion becomes mere outward exercise, lacking a soul to give it life. David said he would not offer God something that cost him nothing. Where there is too much care for the world, there is too little spiritual investment in worship. The discontented person does his duties halfway. He is like Ephraim, a cake not turned. He gives God the outside, but not the inside. His heart is not in it. One side is baked, but the other is still dough. What good is such raw, half-done service?

The one who gives God only the surface of worship should not expect more than the surface of comfort. But contentment brings the heart into the right frame. Then, and only then, do we give God the best part of our worship. the very life and strength of it. The soul becomes focused and serious. There are certain duties we cannot truly perform without contentment. First, rejoicing in God.

How can someone rejoice when their heart is filled with discontent? They are more ready to complain than to rejoice. Second, being thankful for mercy. Truly give thanks. It may grumble, but it cannot be grateful. Third, justifying God in all his ways. But how can someone do this while being unhappy with their condition? They will more likely question God's wisdom than defend his justice. So how excellent is contentment which prepares and tunes the heart for duty.

Contentment not only makes our duties easier, but also makes them pleasing to God. It gives them beauty and weight. When milk is constantly stirred, you can do nothing with it, but if you let it settle... It turns to cream. In the same way, when the heart is always stirred with discontent, our duties become thin and weak. But when the heart is settled by holy contentment, our worship gains substance.

It turns to cream. Fourth excellence. Contentment is the strong pillar that upholds the soul in every condition. It strengthens a person to bear burdens. Someone whose heart would collapse under the weight of even a small sin becomes, through contentment, unshakable in suffering. A contented Christian is like the chamomile plant. The more it is walked on, the more it grows.

Just as medicine drives out disease from the body, contentment drives trouble out of the heart. It reasons this way. If I'm slandered, God can defend me. If I'm in need, God can provide. You will see no wind or rain, yet the valley will be filled with water. So contentment keeps the heart from giving up. In autumn, when fruit and leaves fall, there's still life in the root.

In the same way, when all our outward comforts fall away, the sap of contentment still remains in the heart. A Christian still has life on the inside even when nothing blooms on the outside. The contented heart is never discouraged. Contentment is like a golden shield. It blocks discouragement. Humility is like a lead weight on a fishing net. It holds the soul down when pride or anger would lift it up. Contentment is like the cork. It lifts the soul up when discouragement would drag it down.

It is the great support beam of the soul, holding up everything laid on it. It's like a rock that shatters the waves crashing against it. It's amazing how two people can face the same suffering and respond so differently. The contented Christian is like Samson. He lifts the heavy gates and walks off with them. He carries his cross cheerfully, as if it were light. The discontented person is like Issachar, crouched down under his burden.

The difference is this. One has contentment, the other does not. Discontent magnifies sorrow, and sorrow crushes the heart. When the sacred muscle of contentment weakens, we limp under every trial. We don't know what burdens may come, so we must guard and preserve contentment. As our contentment is, so will our courage be. David faced Goliath with just five stones and a sling.

and one. So take contentment and place it in the sling of your heart. With this holy stone you can not only defy the world, but conquer it. You can break through afflictions that otherwise would break you. Fifth Excellence. Contentment keeps the heart from falling into many sins. First, it prevents many sins. Where contentment is missing, sin is not.

Discontent with one's condition is not only a sin itself. It's like the first link in a chain that pulls all the other sins along with it. Contentment helps guard us against two particular sins. First, Impatience. Discontent and impatience are like twins. When trouble comes, we may say, This hardship is from the Lord. Why should I wait on him any longer?

as if God owed it to us to act on our timeline and meet our desires exactly when we demand. Impatience is no small sin. Consider where it comes from. It comes from a lack of faith. Faith sees God rightly. It is a clear-sighted grace. It believes that God's wisdom mixes and his love sweetens every part of our affliction. This understanding produces patience.

Shall I not drink the cup which my father has given me? Impatience is the child of unbelief. If a patient thinks badly of his doctor, believing he wants to poison him, he won't take the medicine. In the same way... If we view God wrongly, imagining he is trying to harm us, we resist his will. It's like the foolish man in Chrysostom's comparison who rips off the healing plaster because it stings, not realizing it's part of his cure.

Isn't it better that the plaster hurt a little than that the wound rot and spread? Impatience also comes from a lack of love for God. When we love someone, we accept their rebukes not only with patience but with thankfulness. Love thinks no evil. Love puts the best and kindest interpretation on a friend's actions. If it were even possible for God to make a mistake which is impossible, love would overlook it. Love always takes things in the best way. It endures all things.

If we truly loved God we would endure patiently. Impatience also comes from a lack of humility. An impatient person has never truly been humbled under the weight of his sin. When someone seriously reflects on the number and weight of his sins, how deeply they are intertwined and how serious they are, he becomes patient. He says, I will bear the Lord's anger because I have sinned against him.

the louder noise drowns the softer one when the sea roars the rivers are quiet in the same way the serious thought of sin silences other complaints when someone truly considers the guilt of his sin He is not only silent, he is amazed. He wonders that things aren't worse than they are. How great then is the sin of impatience, and how excellent is contentment which protects us from it.

The contented Christian believes that everything God does is done in love. So he remains patient. He has nothing to say except to praise and justify God. This is the kind of sin that contentment keeps us from, grumbling against God and doubting his care. Second, contentment prevents murmuring, a sin even greater than impatience.

Murmuring is open complaint against God. It is speaking against him. They spoke against God. The one who murmurs is, in effect, saying that God has not dealt well with him, that he deserved better. Murmuring accuses God of foolishness. This is the message or rather the blasphemy of a murmuring heart. God could have acted more wisely, more kindly. A murmurer is a rebel.

The Israelites were called both murmurers and rebels. And what is rebellion if not like the sin of witchcraft? You who murmur are, in God's eyes, like a sorcerer, someone who deals with the devil. That's how serious this sin is. Murmuring often leads to cursing. Micah's mother began to curse when her silver was stolen. In the same way, murmurers curse when part of their wealth or comfort is taken.

murmuring as music to the devil's ears. This is the sin that God cannot bear. How long will I put up with this evil congregation who murmur against me? It is the sin that sharpens God's sword against a people. It brings judgment on a land. Do not murmur, as some of them did, and they were destroyed by the Destroyer. Murmuring ripens a nation for destruction.

If not stopped by mercy, it will speed a people to their grave. How excellent, then, is contentment, which stops this sin at the root. To be content and still murmur is a contradiction. A contented Christian accepts his present condition with peace. He does not murmur, he marvels. This is the beauty of contentment. It is a spiritual antidote against sin.

Secondly, contentment prevents many temptations. Discontent is a constant tempter. First, it pushes a person toward wrong and sinful methods. A poor and discontented man will try anything. He may even seek riches from the devil. A proud and discontented man may take his own life, as Ahithophel did when his advice was rejected. Satan gains great advantage through discontent.

He loves to fish in troubled waters Discontent clouds the mind and weakens faith This is exactly how Satan works He breaks in at the weakest point of the soul Discontent creates a gap in the heart and at that gap the devil enters with temptation and storms the soul. How easily can the devil, by his arguments, persuade a discontented Christian to sin? He builds a temptation like this.

He who is in need must take care of himself, but you are in need. Therefore, you should do whatever it takes to take care of yourself. To support his argument, Satan tempts the soul with forbidden fruit, without distinguishing between what is necessary and what is right. What, he says, do you lack a living? Don't be foolish enough to starve. Take the easier side, whether it's right or wrong. Eat the bread of deceit. Drink the wine of violence. And so...

The discontented person becomes an easy target for the temptation to steal or to take God's name in vain. But contentment is a shield against such temptations. The contented person knows how to go without, just as well as how to prosper. He will not sin to survive. Even when his provisions are low, he remains content.

He lives like the birds of the air, trusting God's providence, and has no doubt that he will have enough to carry him all the way to heaven. Second, discontent tempts a person toward atheism and apostasy. The discontented soul begins to say, Surely there is no God watching over things on earth. How else could those who have walked humbly before him still be left in need? Then it adds, Why keep following God at all?

give up your faith, walk away from Christ. This was the temptation Job's wife gave him. Discontented with their suffering, she said, do you still hold fast to your integrity? In other words, Job, look at what your religion has done for you. You fear God, you turn from evil, yet look at your life now. God has struck you in your body, your wealth, your family.

And you're still clinging to faith? Still praying? Still trusting? Foolishness. Let go of religion. Become an atheist. This was a fierce temptation. The devil passed it through Job's own wife. But Job, protected by grace like a golden shield, deflected the blow. You speak as one of the foolish women. The discontented heart often cries, What good is it to serve God? Those who ignore him prosper while I suffer. Why keep following religion if this is my reward? It is a sharp...

temptation and one that often wins. Atheism is the fruit that grows from the flower of discontent. How excellent then is contentment which drives back this temptation. The contented heart says If God is mine, that is enough. Even if I have no land or property, his smile is my heaven. His love is better than wine, better the gleaning of Ephraim than the full harvest of Abiezah.

I may have little now, but I have much in hope. My income is small, but his promise is eternal life. I may suffer from others' hatred, but persecuted godliness is better than comfortable wickedness. In this way, divine contentment acts as a spiritual antidote, protecting both against sin and temptation. Sixth excellence. Contentment adds sweetness to every circumstance.

Just as Christ turned water into wine, contentment turns the bitter waters of Mara into spiritual sweetness. Do I have little? Even so, it is more than I deserve or could claim. This small portion comes in mercy. It is the fruit of Christ's blood, the gift of free grace. A small gift from a king is highly valued, so this little I have is precious. It comes with a clean conscience.

It is not stolen water. There is no guilt to sour it. It flows pure. This little is a pledge of more. This small piece of bread is a foretaste of the bread I shall eat in the kingdom of God. This little water in the jar is a promise of that heavenly wine that flows from the true vine. Do I meet with trials? My comfort is this. If the cross is heavy, the road is short.

I will carry my cross only as far as Golgotha, and there I will lay it down. My cross is light compared to the weight of glory. Has God taken away my earthly comforts? It is well. the comforter still remains. So contentment, like a honeycomb, drips sweetness into every condition. Discontent, by contrast, is like leaven that sours everything. It adds bitterness to every comfort.

putting wormwood and gall on every blessing. It shrinks every mercy and magnifies every trial. But the contented heart draws sweetness from every flower of providence. It can make healing out of poison. Contentment is full of consolation. Seventh Excellence. Contentment gives the kindest and wisest reading of all God's dealings.

No matter how dark or severe God's providence may appear, contentment always reads it in the best light. We may say of contentment what the apostle says of love. It thinks no evil. Sickness. Contentment says, this is God's furnace to refine his gold and make it shine brighter. Prison, this is a house of prayer, a sacred retreat. Has God taken away some earthly blessing?

Contentment replies, perhaps my heart was becoming too attached to it. Had I stayed longer in that rich pasture, I might have grown proud or spiritually dull. The better my outward condition, the worse my soul may have become. God is wise. If he removes something, it is either to keep me from sin or to strengthen some grace. What a blessed heart this is.

one that speaks well of God under every circumstance. The contented Christian becomes God's advocate, arguing against unbelief and impatience, but discontent sees every act of God in the worst light. It accuses God. It says, this trouble I feel is just a sign of worse to come. God means to destroy me. The Lord has brought us into the wilderness to kill us. But the contented soul takes everything well. Even in the worst of times it says, Truly, God is good. Chapter 11

Christ and grace, the treasure you already possess. A Christian already has enough to make him content. First, has not God given you Christ? In him are unsearchable riches. He is a gold mine of wisdom and grace, so deep that neither saints nor angels can reach the bottom. As Seneca once said to his friend Polybius, Never complain of your bad fortune while Caesar is your friend.

So I say to the believer, never complain while Christ is your friend. He is a treasure beyond measure, a pearl of great price, a radiant diamond. His merits shine so brightly that they make us shine in God's sight. In Christ there is both fullness and sweetness. He is unspeakably good. Let your thoughts climb as high as they can. Let your mind stretch as far as possible. Imagine all you can, but you will still fall infinitely short of the treasures hidden in Christ.

Is this not enough to satisfy the soul? Even if a Christian lacks the necessities of life, covetousness, this is a row. Having Christ, he still has the one thing needful. Second, your soul is adorned with the graces of the Spirit. Is that not enough to give you contentment? Grace is born from above. It is heaven's planting, the flower of paradise.

the Spirit's embroidery. It is the seed of God, the holy anointing, the image of Christ in the soul. It is the foundation on which glory is built. How valuable is grace! What a precious jewel is faith! It is rightly called precious faith. What is love but a spark of the divine nature in the soul? A soul beautified with grace is like a room richly decorated with tapestry or like the sky filled with stars. These are the true riches which cannot belong to those who are lost.

And is that not enough to satisfy the soul? What are all other things in comparison? They are like butterfly wings. Beautiful to look at, but they stain the fingers. Earthly riches. said Augustine, are full of poverty, and truly they are, for they cannot enrich the soul. Many wear silk on the outside while their souls are threadbare within. Earthly wealth is corruptible.

Riches are not forever, says the wise man. Heaven is a place where gold and silver are worthless. But the believer is rich toward God, so why be discontent? Hasn't God given you something far better than the world? What if he doesn't give you the box as long as he gives you the jewel? What if he withholds pennies while paying you in better coin? He has given you gold, spiritual riches.

What if the water in the bottle runs out? You still have the fountain. Why complain of the world's emptiness when you possess the fullness of God? The Lord is my portion, says David. Then no matter where the lines of your life fall, even on a sickbed or in a prison, you can still say, The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Are you not heir to all the promises? Do you not have a guaranteed inheritance in heaven? When your natural life ends, are you not certain of eternal life? Has not God already given you the down payment and first fruits of glory? Is that not enough to bring the heart to contentment? Chapter 12

Contentment and your prayers. The third argument for contentment. Be content, otherwise you contradict your own prayers. We pray your will be done. But it is God's will that we should be in this very condition. He has ordained it and sees that it is best for us. So why do we complain and grow discontent with what we have asked for? Either we are not sincere in our prayers, which shows hypocrisy, or we are contradicting ourselves, which shows folly. The fourth argument for contentment.

Be content, because in doing so, God achieves his purpose and Satan fails in his. First, God has his end. In all His providences, God's goal is to bring our hearts to humble submission and contentment. This pleases Him greatly. God delights to see His children satisfied with the portion He has chosen for them. It honors him when we quietly accept his will. So let us rest in his providence. Now God has his end. Second, Satan misses his end.

Why did the devil, with God's permission, strike Job in his body and possessions? His goal was not merely to wound Job physically, but to trouble his mind. He wanted to stir up discontent in Job so that, in frustration, he would speak against God. But Job, full of holy contentment, instead blessed the Lord, thus defeating Satan's scheme.

The devil will cast some of you into prison. Why? Not only to hurt the body, but to torment the mind. His goal is to imprison your contentment, to disturb the peaceful working of your soul. He wants not just to lock you in a cell but to stir you into a storm. But through holy contentment, Satan loses his prey. He misses his goal. The devil has often deceived us.

The best way to deceive him in return is by contentment in the midst of trial. Our contentment frustrates and grieves him. Let us not please our enemy. Discontent is the devil's delight. When we burn with passion and disquiet, he warms himself at our fire. Repentance brings joy to the angels, discontent brings joy to the devils. Just as Satan rejoices in division,

So he sings when we are discontent. The fire of our inward turmoil becomes a bonfire for him. It is a kind of heaven to see us tormenting ourselves with our own troubles. but by holy contentment we spoil his plans and in a sense put him to shame section five the fifth argument for contentment By contentment, a Christian gains victory over himself. To rule your own spirit, this is the noblest conquest of all. To lose control in passion is weakness. Discontent belongs to flesh and blood.

but to remain content in every condition, reproached yet content, imprisoned yet content, this is beyond nature. It is a holy courage, a spiritual strength. which only the grace of God can give. To stay calm in the face of insult, to remain steady through life's changes, this is a victory worthy of a crown. Look at Job.

stripped of everything, turned out of comfort, left in the dust. Yet he had learned contentment. He fell to the ground, not to curse, but to worship. He honored God's justice and holiness. Behold the strength of grace. In deep humility, Job gained a noble victory. He conquered himself. To give in to your passions is easy and weak, but to deny yourself. and still be content, that is sacred strength. Chapter 13 All Things Work for Good in Affliction

Consider that all of God's providences, no matter how painful or harsh, will work together for the believer's good. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God. Not just good things, but even evil things work for good. So why should we be discontent with what is working for our benefit? Even if our trials come all at once, sickness, poverty...

Slander, lawsuits, rising up together like an army against us, still all of it will work for good. Our troubles will become our cures, so shall we complain about what will surely help us. To the upright, light arises in darkness. Affliction may be called Mara, bitter, but it is medicinal. Because this truth holds such strong comfort and is a powerful remedy against discontent.

it is worth opening more fully. Let us now ask, how do the evils of affliction work for good? In several ways. First, afflictions are disciplinary. They teach us. The psalmist, in describing the deep troubles of the Church, gave this heading to the psalm. Maskil, meaning a psalm of instruction. That which teaches and seals in truth works for our good.

God sometimes places us under the black rod, not to destroy, but to instruct. Hear the rod, and who has appointed it? God makes adversity our university. Affliction becomes our preacher. Blow the trumpet into Koa. The trumpet was used to call people to attention, to awaken them to the voice of instruction. Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem.

Sometimes God calls on ministers to lift up their voices like trumpets. Other times he makes the trumpet itself preach to us through affliction. Afflictions teach us humility. In prosperity we often grow proud, but correction acts like a holy corrosive, eating away the proud flesh. Christ is called the lily of the valleys. He lives in low, humble hearts.

So God brings us into the valley of tears to bring us into the valley of humility. Remembering my affliction and misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul remembers them and is humbled in me. When people grow too high in spirit, God has no better cure than to brew them a cup of wormwood. Afflictions are like thorns. God uses them to prick the swelling of pride. Imagine a man running at someone with a sword.

intending harm, but in the process he opens an infected wound and lets out the poison. The man is actually helped, not harmed. So, too, when God uses affliction, it may cut deep. but it releases the infection of pride. And shall we be discontented with what makes us humble? Afflictions teach us repentance. You chastised me, and I was chastised. I repented.

After I was instructed, I struck my thigh. Repentance is the precious fruit that grows on the tree of the cross. When fire is placed under the still, the water distills from the rose. So... fiery afflictions cause the waters of repentance to fall from the eyes. And is that a cause for discontent? Afflictions teach us to pray better. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was upon them. Before.

They would merely say a prayer. Now they pour it out. Jonah was asleep in the ship, but awake and praying in the belly of the fish. When God places the fire of affliction beneath us. our hearts begin to boil with prayer. God delights in his children having a spirit of prayer. David, the sweet singer of Israel, never played his harp more sweetly.

never prayed more fervently than when he was in deep waters. So then, if affliction teaches us humility, repentance, and true prayer, shall we be discontented with what is clearly for our good. Second, afflictions test us. Gold isn't harmed by being tried, and wheat isn't ruined by being sifted. Affliction shows what we're truly made of. It's God's way of revealing our sincerity.

Some people serve God only for what they can get out of it. They're like fishermen who use a net just to catch fish. They use religion only to gain position or favor. But affliction exposes this. When trouble comes... Pretenders fall away, just like the Donatists who sided with the Goths when the Aryans gained power. Hypocrites won't stand in a storm, but true grace endures even in the hardest seasons.

Real faith is like stars. It shines brightest in the darkest night. It's good for our faith to be tested. That brings us comfort and brings honor to the gospel. So why be discontented? Third, afflictions help cleanse us. These troubles work for our good because they help remove sin. So why should we be discontented with that? What if we face more trouble?

if it means we have less sin. Even the brightest day has clouds, the purest gold still has some dross, and the most refined soul still has some corruption. But in the furnace, the saints lose nothing but what they can afford to lose. Their sin, isn't that for our good? Then why complain? Christ said he came to send fire on the earth. Some understand this as the fire of affliction.

God uses it like the fire that surrounded the three children in Babylon. It burned only their ropes and set them free. In the same way, affliction burns away the ropes of our sin. When a wicked person faces affliction or death, it takes away their soul, but when a godly person faces it, it only takes away their sin. Is that a reason to be discontent?

God washes us in the salty waters of affliction to take out our stains. We are his field. Just as ploughing the ground kills weeds and harrowing breaks up the hard soil, So God's plowing through affliction kills sin, and his breaking up our hearts makes us ready to receive the seeds of grace. And if that's the purpose, why should we be discontented? Fourth.

Afflictions both exercise and strengthen our grace. They put our grace to work. Every good thing shows its best when it is being used. Grace may not die, but it can fall asleep and needs to be stirred. Fire hidden in ashes doesn't burn brightly, and the sun behind a cloud doesn't shine clearly. A sick man is alive, but not full of life. In the same way, afflictions awaken and stir up our grace.

God doesn't want to see our grace hidden or dim. Faith shines with its purest and strongest acts in times of trouble. God turns the falling of the leaf into the springtime of our grace. And if we become more passive in affliction, yet our graces become more active, isn't that gain? Afflictions increase grace just as wind feeds a flame. The strong winds of affliction stir up and strengthen our graces. Grace doesn't run out in the furnace. It grows.

like the widow's oil that increased as it was poured out. A torch burns brighter when beaten, so grace shines more when tested by suffering. Cold frosts help good grain grow and sharp afflictions help grace grow. Some plants thrive more in shade than in sunlight, like the bay and the cypress. In the same way, the shade of adversity is better for some than the sunshine of prosperity. It's been noted that cold water grows better when watered with salt water than fresh.

Likewise, some people grow more in the salty waters of affliction. So should we be discontented with what helps us grow and bear more fruit. Fifth, afflictions bring more of God's direct presence into the soul. When we are most attacked, we receive the most help. God says, I will be with him in trouble. It cannot go badly for the one who has God with him. God's power to support.

and his grace to comfort, are present in the trial. God is not just near to watch us in trouble, but to hold us up, just as he was with Daniel in the lion's den and with the three in the fiery furnace. What if we have more trouble than others, if we also have more of God's presence than others do? We never experience God's sweet nearness more than when the world grows cold to us. His word becomes our song.

not when we sit on a throne, but when we are in the house of our pilgrimage. We read that the Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in a spiritual sense. When the wind of affliction blows on a believer, God is in the wind. When the fire of affliction burns, God is in the fire, to make it holy, to strengthen us, to bring sweetness in the midst of sorrow.

If God is with us, the furnace becomes a feast, the prison becomes a paradise, the earthquake becomes a dance of joy. So why should I be discontented when affliction brings me more of God's presence? Sixth, afflictions are for our good because they come as signs of God's love and proof of his special favor. Affliction is the uniform of the saints, a badge of honor.

That the glorious God would look upon a mere worm and care enough to afflict him rather than let him go is a high act of mercy. God's rod is a royal scepter. Job called God's afflicting of him God's way of magnifying him. Some have been shamed by their prosperity, while others have been crowned by their afflictions. Seventh, afflictions work for our good because they prepare for us a far greater weight of glory.

That which leads to glory in heaven must be for our good. Scripture never says that riches or honor work for a weight of glory, but afflictions do. So should we be discontented with what leads to eternal glory? The heavier the affliction, the greater the glory, not because suffering earns it, as some wrongly teach, but because suffering is the path to it. Our trials do not cause the crown, but they lead us toward it.

God makes us just as he made our captain, perfect through sufferings. Should this not make us content, don't focus on the pain of affliction, but on the good it brings. In Scripture, afflictions are called Visitations. The Hebrew word for visit can mean something good. God's afflictions are his friendly visits. His rod is like Aaron's, blossoming. Like Jonathan's, it has honey at the end.

Poverty weakens our sins. Sickness of the body can heal the sickness of the soul. So instead of murmuring or being discontented, bless the Lord. Had you not stumbled on this rough place? you might have walked straight to hell without stopping. Chapter 14 The Evil and Folly of Discontent

Discontent is a mix of grief and anger, and both stir up storms in the soul. Have you ever watched a sick man? He sits up in bed, then lies down. When he's down, he can't rest. He turns from one side to the other, always uneasy. That's a picture of a discontented heart. He's not sick, yet he never feels well. At one moment, he wants one kind of life. Soon after...

he grows tired of it. Then he longs for something else, and even when he gets it, he still isn't satisfied. This is a sad evil under the sun. Now, the evil of discontent shows itself in three ways. First, discontent is shameful and unworthy of a Christian. It goes against what you profess. Even a heathen once said, Endure your condition quietly. Remember you are a man.

But I say, endure your condition contentedly. Remember, you are a Christian. You claim to live by faith, yet you are not content. Faith is the grace that holds on to what is not seen. It looks beyond visible things and feeds on God's promises. Faith does not live by bread alone. When the bottle runs dry... Faith knows where to turn. So when a Christian becomes downcast because he lacks visible help, where is his faith? My wealth is gone, someone says. But worse, your faith is gone.

Will you not be content unless God lowers a basket from heaven, as he did for Peter, filled with all kinds of food? Must you always have both first and second courses? That's like Thomas saying, unless I see and touch. I will not believe. So you, unless you feel outward comforts, you will not be content. True faith trusts God even when it can't trace Him and relies on God's promise even when nothing can be seen.

If you are discontent because you lack what you want, then your faith is either not real or it is still in its infancy. A weak faith needs crutches to stand. Discontent is not only below faith, it is even below reason. Why are you discontent? Is it because you've lost some comforts? Then let reason speak. Aren't you just a tenant at will?

Can't the landlord remove you when he pleases? You don't hold your comforts by legal right, but by God's kindness and grace. Discontent is unworthy of your relationship to God. As a Christian, you are a child of God. adopted into his family. You are an heir of his promises. Think of the riches of grace that have been poured out on you. You are joined to Christ. You belong to the royal family of heaven.

You are raised, in one sense, above the angels. So why, being the king's son, do you go around pale and discontented? Why do you fret as if you were poor and forsaken? This is unworthy, like a prince grieving because he's not allowed to pick a flower. Second, discontent is sinful. This shows itself in three ways, its causes, its companions.

and its consequences. Discontent is sinful in its causes. Pride. A proud person thinks highly of himself and lowly of his condition. He believes he deserves more than he has. So he finds fault with God's wisdom for not putting him above others. This is like the thing formed saying to the one who formed it, Why have you made me like this? Discontent is simply pride boiling over.

Envy. Augustine called envy the devil's sin. Satan envied Adam's place in paradise and his robe of innocence. A person who envies what others have will never be content with what God gives him. Envy stirs up strife and breeds discontent. The envious man stares so much at others' blessings that he overlooks his own, and so he torments himself. Cain

envied that God accepted Abel's offering and not his. That envy made him discontent, and that discontent quickly turned into murderous thoughts. Covetousness. This is a root sin. Many lawsuits come from discontent, and much discontent comes from covetousness. Greed and contentment cannot live together. A covetous heart is like a glutton, always craving more. Like behemoth.

He would drink up a river and think he could swallow the whole Jordan. Solomon said there are four things that never say it is enough. You may add a fifth, the covetous heart. It is always wanting. and so never content. Covetousness is like a wolf inside, always feeding and never full. Jealousy. Sometimes caused by a gloomy spirit, and sometimes by misunderstanding, but jealousy stirs real discontent. Jealousy is the rage of a man.

Often it is only suspicion and imagination, but it still creates real unrest. Distrust. This is a deep form of unbelief. A discontented person always doubts. My supplies are running out. I'm in great need. Can God help me? Can he really set a table in the wilderness? My money is gone. Can he provide? My friends have left. Can he raise up new ones?

Surely his arm is no longer strong. Like a dry fleece, he wonders, can any water come here? Like the man who said, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? When hope is gone and faith is cast away, the soul wanders in sorrow. Discontent is the voice of unbelief. And remember, distrust is worse than distress. Discontent is evil in its companions, what it brings with it. There are two main ones. 1. Discontent brings a gloomy, sullen spirit.

A true Christian should have a cheerful heart in God. Serve the Lord with gladness. When the oil of grace is in the heart, the oil of joy shines on the face. A joyful spirit honors the faith. But how can a discontented person be joyful? Discontent is a bitter, stubborn attitude. Because we don't get what we want, we act as if God doesn't deserve a word of praise or a thankful look from us.

Like a bird trapped in a cage, because it cannot fly freely, it beats itself against the bars and nearly destroys itself. This was the spirit of that sulking prophet Jonah. I do well to be angry. even unto death. That is the heart of discontent. Two. Discontent is joined with unthankfulness. When we don't get all we want,

We forget the many mercies we already have. We act toward God like the widow of Zarephath did toward Elijah. He had kept her alive in a time of famine. Her jar of meal and her oil never ran out because of him. Yet, when her son died, she lashed out, What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to call my sin to remembrance and kill my son? So do we. We gladly receive God's mercies.

But if he denies us even one thing, we grow bitter and impatient and lash out at God. In our discontent, we forget all his kindness. Scripture speaks of thank offerings. The discontented person robs God of these. Even in the midst of blessings, he grumbles, just as Adam sinned in the midst of paradise.

Discontent is like a spider that draws poison out of the sweetest flowers of God's goodness. It is a dark art that turns gold into dross. The discontented soul sees everything he does for God as too much. and everything God does for him is too little. What a sin unthankfulness is. It gathers many sins into one. Just as Cicero said parasite is a bundle of crimes, so is ingratitude.

a thick and layered wickedness, and discontent is full of it. Because he doesn't have the whole world, the discontented man dishonors God with what he does have. God gave Adam a wife from his own rib. to be a helper, but the devil used that same rib to pierce Adam's heart. So discontent takes God's mercy and uses it as a weapon against him.

Even blessings like wealth and freedom are turned into tools of rebellion See how discontent and unthankfulness are woven together This is how discontent is sinful in its companions 3. Discontent is sinful in its consequences. It makes a person unlike the Spirit of God. God's Spirit is gentle. The Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove, a symbol of meekness.

But a discontented heart is not meek. Discontent makes a person like the devil. The devil, full of envy and malice, is never content. So it is with the discontented soul. The devil is restless. He walks about, constantly. That is his way of finding rest, by always moving. In the same way, the discontented person is always unsettled, going here and there, tormenting himself, seeking rest and finding none.

He becomes the very image of the devil. Discontent unhinges the soul and makes it unfit for duty. Scripture says, Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. But what if someone is discontented? How can he pray rightly? Paul commands us to lift up holy hands without wrath. But discontent is full of wrath and turmoil. The discontented man lifts up not pure hands, but defiled ones. His prayers are poisoned. Will God accept such a sacrifice? Chrysostom compared prayer to a beautiful garland.

Those who make it must have clean hands. So must the heart be clean when it weaves prayer. But discontent throws poison into the fountain. It stirs rebellion in the soul and turns the heart into confusion. Such a person cannot serve the Lord without distraction. 4. Discontent can rob a man of reason. Jonah, in a fit of discontent, spoke madness and near blasphemy. I do well to be angry.

even unto death. Angry with God, and ready to die from it? Surely he didn't know what he was saying. Discontent sweeps a man away until, like Moses, he speaks rashly and foolishly. It suspends the very act of reason. 5. Discontent disturbs not only the one who has it, but also everyone around him. This evil spirit spreads unrest to families.

communities, and beyond. One sour note ruins the harmony of a whole song, so one discontented spirit creates discord among many. Discontent breeds quarrels and lawsuits. Why do we fight with each other? Because we lack contentment. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your lusts? Especially the lust of discontent.

Why did Absalom rise up against his own father and seek to take both his crown and his life? Because he was discontent. He wanted the throne. Why did Ahab have Naboth stoned? Because he was discontent over a vineyard. Oh, this devil of discontent! So you see the great sinfulness of it. Third, consider the foolishness of discontent.

As the psalmist said, surely every man goes about like a phantom, surely he bustles in vain. This is clear in several ways. 1. It is foolish to grieve over what is perishing and changeable. Everything in this world is unstable. God has built change into creation. The world is always shifting. People lose friends, possessions, and peace. This is as natural as flowers withering or leaves falling in autumn.

Every comfort has its own autumn, its own end. So how foolish it is to be discontent when we lose what was never meant to last. As Solomon said of riches, They take wings and fly away. Noah's dove brought back an olive branch, but soon flew away and never returned. In the same way, earthly comforts may bring us sweetness for a time, but they too have wings.

And since we cannot fly after them, why trouble ourselves? 2. Discontent breaks the heart and drains the joy from life. Sorrow of heart breaks the spirit. Discontent ruins the enjoyment of the mercies we do have. Every one of us has reason to give thanks if we have eyes to see. But because we don't have everything we want, we lose the comfort of everything we already have.

Jonah, when his gourd withered, forgot the great mercy of being saved from the belly of the fish. Instead, he became so discontented that he asked to die. How foolish! We act like children who throw away the food on their plate because they don't get the largest portion. Discontent eats away at life's blessings. Worse still, it harms the body. It tortures the mind and wears down the body.

Like a moth eating away at fabric, discontent eats away its strength and health. It drains the spirit and weakens the body, even bringing it to ruin. Is this not folly? Discontent does not lighten the burden, it makes it heavier. A contented spirit walks steadily under affliction, but discontent makes suffering unbearable. A healthy leg can carry a chain without much trouble.

but a sore leg feels every scrape of the metal. So discontent makes affliction sharper and more painful. It adds bitterness to sorrow, like gall and vinegar offered to Christ on the cross. Discontent does the same. It offers gall and vinegar in the midst of suffering, making the pain worse than it is. What folly to poison our own cup!

Discontent makes our troubles last longer. Often we are in want because we are discontent and we stay in want because we remain discontent. We murmur because we suffer and we suffer longer. because we murmur. Discontent delays mercy. God deals with us as we do with children. When they are calm and obedient, we give them what they ask, but if they cry and throw fits, we hold back. From God discontent gains nothing but more correction. The more we resist, the more he disciplines.

Israel was only eleven days from the Promised Land, but when they began to murmur, God led them through the wilderness for forty years. Their discontent postponed their blessing. Is it not great folly to delay our own mercy? Thus you see how discontent is not only sinful, but foolish. Chapter 15 Why More Will Never Satisfy

Lessons in Godly Contentment The eighth reason for contentment is this. A man may be unhappy with what he has, but if he were given more, it might only make him even less content. Covetousness is like a dry drunkenness. It never satisfies. The world is such that the more we gain, the more we want. It cannot fill the heart. When a fire is burning, how do you put it out?

Not by pouring on oil or adding more wood, but by removing the fuel. In the same way, when a man's desire for riches is burning, how can he be satisfied? Not by giving him everything he wants. that only inflames his craving, but by taking away the fuel, by calming and reducing his desires. The one who is content has enough. A man with a fever or dropsy feels constant thirst.

How do you help him? Not by giving him more to drink, which only makes it worse, but by treating the disease that causes the thirst. So it is with the discontented soul. The way to become content is not by increasing what you have, but by lowering and humbling your heart. Contentment grows not when our wealth rises, but when our desires fall. The ninth reason for contentment is this, the shortness of life. Life, James says, is but a vapor. It is like a wheel always turning.

The poets pictured time with wings to show how swiftly it passes. Job compared life to a swift messenger. Our life runs post, not like a long journey, but like a single day. Infancy is like daybreak. Youth is the sunrise, adulthood is noon, old age is the sunset, sickness is the evening, and then comes the night of death. How quickly this day of life is gone.

Sometimes the sun of life sets at noon. Many do not live to see old age. Some die shortly after infancy. Oh, how brief is life. Let this teach us contentment. You are only here for a little while. Why seek so much for such a short journey? If a traveller only has a day's walk ahead, he doesn't need to carry great supplies, just enough to reach the end.

So it is with us. Perhaps we are already in the final hour of life's day. If God gives us just enough to carry us to nightfall, let us be content. If a man held a house or field for just two or three days, and spent those days building, planting, and expanding, would he not be thought foolish? So when we have only a short time on earth, and death is near.

to crave the world, to tire the soul in building an estate. Is that not great folly? Esau once said in a worldly way, I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me? Let the Christian say in a holy way, I am at the point of death. My grave is being prepared. What good will all the world do for me? If I have enough until the sun sets, I am content.

The tenth reason for contentment is this. Consider carefully the nature of a prosperous condition. There are three things often found in prosperity. One. More trouble. Many who have abundance of all things do not enjoy as much peace or sweetness in life as those who labor hard with little. A prosperous life is often filled with anxious thoughts. Care.

is like an evil spirit that haunts the rich man. Even when his chest is full of gold, his heart is full of worry. How to manage it, how to increase it, or how to protect it. Oh, the burdens that follow prosperity. The world's high places are not easy seats. Sunshine is pleasant, but it can burn. The bee gives honey, but it also has a sting. So too prosperity offers sweetness.

but it also wounds. Enough with contentment is far better than abundance with anxiety. Jacob slept more peacefully with the sky as his blanket and a stone as his pillow than many do in their softest beds. A great estate is like a long, trailing robe, more trouble to carry than it is worth. 2. A prosperous condition brings more danger, especially to the soul.

First, there is danger to the person himself. The rich man's table is often his trap. He easily sinks too deep into the sweet waters of prosperity. In this sense, it is hard to know how to abound. Just as it takes a strong head to handle strong wine, it takes great wisdom and grace to handle a high position. Some ruin themselves with constant care. Others spoil themselves with excessive pleasures.

Oh, the dangers of honor and the harm of high status. Pride, complacency, and rebellion are the three worms that grow out of abundance. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. The rich pastures of prosperity are thick and heavy. They choke the soul. How easily we are undone by ease. Prosperity often cause a retreat from the life of godliness. The bright sun of prosperity...

dims and even extinguishes the fire of spiritual zeal. How many souls has the sickness of abundance destroyed? They that will be rich fall into snares. A prosperous life may seem safe, but it often leads straight into spiritual traps. The world is like birdlime at our feet, full of golden sand, yet it hides deadly quicksand. Prosperity, like smooth-speaking Jacob.

can deceive and betray. A greater state without constant watchfulness becomes a thief that robs us of heaven. Those who stand highest in honor are in the greatest danger of falling. A lower condition is safer. The small boat near the shore rides steady, while the grand ship with tall mast and full sails is often dashed and lost. Adam fell in paradise, but Job conquered on the dung hill.

Samson fell asleep in Delilah's lap. So have many fallen into such a deep sleep in ease and plenty that they never awoke until they found themselves in hell. The world's flattery is worse than its fury. Its smiles are more dangerous than its storms. Prosperity is compared in scripture to a candle. His candle shined upon my head. But how many have burned their wings at that flame?

When corn becomes overripe, it sheds. When fruit mellows too far, it begins to rot. So when men grow soft and ripe with the sun of prosperity, their souls often begin to rot in sin. How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God. His golden weights hold him down, keeping him from climbing the hill of God. So...

Shall we not be content, even if we live in a lower place in life? What if we don't have the riches and splendor others enjoy? We also don't have their dangers. As we lack the world's honor, so we escape its temptations. Oh, the many dangers that come with abundance. We see it clearly. Lunatics, when the moon is fading, are calm, but when it is full, they grow wild. So it is with men.

When their estates are low, they are serious, humble and mindful of their souls. But when wealth is full, their hearts swell with it, and they are no longer themselves. Writers tell us that those from colder northern climates when moved to hot southern lands lose strength and appetite and often die. But those from hot regions when brought to the north grow stronger and live longer.

Let this be applied spiritually. Take a man from the cold, lean climate of poverty and place him in the warm, rich climate of prosperity. He begins to lose his hunger for spiritual things. He weakens, and it is highly likely that his religion dies. But bring a Christian from the heat of wealth into the cold, hungry air of a low condition. His spiritual appetite returns.

He hungers more for Christ, thirsts more for grace, and eats more eagerly the bread of life in one meal than he did in six before. That man is now fit to live and endure in faith. Be content then with a little. If you have enough to pay for your passage to heaven, it is enough. Secondly, a prosperous condition is dangerous in regard to others.

A great estate often draws envy, while a humble condition enjoys more peace. David, as a shepherd, was left in peace, but once he became a courtier, he was hunted by enemies. Envy cannot bear to see anyone above it. The envious man thrives only by tearing others down. He raises himself by lowering his neighbor.

Prosperity becomes a target. Those who have the most wool are the first to be shorn. A barren tree stands untouched. No one troubles the ash or willow, but the apple tree and the plum draw many greedy hands. So be content to carry a smaller sale. He who has less wealth has less envy. Those who make the greatest show in the world are the chief targets for envy and malice. Third.

a prosperous condition brings a greater reckoning. Every person must give account for the talents entrusted to him. You who have great possessions, are you using your estate for God's glory? Are you rich in good works? True grace makes even a private life a blessing to many. Are you using your wealth for the good of others? In this sense, it is right to put your money to use.

to spend it for God's purposes. Remember, your estate is a depositum, a trust. You are only a steward. Soon your master will say, give an account of your stewardship. The more God has given you, the more he will require of you. Greater wealth means greater responsibility. More income means more accountability. You who have only a small portion in the world, be content.

God will expect less where he has given less. Where he sows sparingly, he will reap accordingly. The eleventh reason for contentment is this. The example of those who have shown great contentment. Examples often move us more than commands. Look at Abraham. He was called to hard service. something that deeply opposed both natural affection and human reason. Yet he was content. God commanded him to offer up Isaac. This was no small task.

Isaac was his son in old age, the son he loved, the son of promise. Through Isaac the Messiah was to come. In Isaac shall your seed be called. So to kill Isaac seemed to destroy both reason and faith. If Isaac died, would the world be left without a mediator? And must Abraham himself be the one to do it? Could no one else take that role?

Must the father become the executioner? The same hands that gave Isaac life must now take it away. Still, Abraham did not argue. He did not delay. He believed against hope. and submitted to God's command with contentment. Again, when God called him to leave his country, he was content. Others might have said, What? Leave my family, my homeland, my comforts.

and become a wanderer. But Abraham obeyed, and he went without knowing where. He walked by faith, not by sight. This is true contentment. God kept Abraham in suspense. He was told to leave, but not where he was going, and when he did arrive at the place God had chosen, he didn't know what trials he would face there. The world rarely shows kindness to strangers, yet Abraham was content and obeyed.

He sojourned in the land of promise. Look at the course of his journey. First he went to Sharon in Mesopotamia. After staying there a while, his father died. Then he moved to Sikkim. then to Bethlehem in Canaan. There a famine arose. So he went down to Egypt. Afterward he returned to Canaan. Though he had God's promise, nothing met his expectations.

He did not possess a foot of land, but lived as an exile. During his sojourning he buried his wife. He had no grand houses, but lived in poor cottages. All this could have broken any man's heart. Abraham might have said, Is this the land I must inherit? There is no sign of good here. Everything is against me. Yet was he discontent? No. God said,

Abraham, go. And that word alone was enough to carry him through the world. He marched forward. Here was a man who had learned contentment. Now look lower still to a heathen, Zeno. whom Seneca speaks of. He had once been wealthy, but when he heard his goods were lost in a shipwreck, he said in the language of a heathen, Fortune would have me now study philosophy.

So he left off trading and became a philosopher. If a heathen could say this, shall not a Christian say much more when the world is taken from him? God would have me follow the world less and study Christ more. Learn how to get to heaven. Shall a heathen be content and a Christian be troubled? How strange it is that those who didn't know the true God or eternal happiness

could still speak so highly of the divine and of life after death, like Aristotle and Plato. Though their view was only imagined, they still looked down on earthly things. They taught their students to be content with little. They were willing to trade gold for wisdom. And shall not we be content to have less of the world if it means we gain more of Christ? Should not Christians blush to see heathens content with just a little, enough to sustain nature?

while they themselves are so taken with earthly things that if their supply lessens even slightly, they murmur. They cry out like Micah, have you taken away my gods, and do you ask what ails me? Have heathens reached such heights of contentment? And shall we, who profess to be heirs of heaven, fall short? Look at the heroes of their age, how willingly they embraced death.

Socrates died in prison. Hercules was burned alive. Cato, whom Seneca called the living image of virtue, fell upon his own sword, yet how calmly, how contentedly, they died. Seneca said, Shall I weep for Cato, Regulus, or the others who died with such courage and composure? Cross-providence did not change their expression. Death did not terrify them.

and shall it confuse and shake a Christian? If the strength of nature rose so high in them, shall not grace rise higher like the waters of the sanctuary that grew deeper and deeper? We claim to live by faith. Yet must we go and learn from those who had only reason as their guide. Let us go even lower, to the creatures without reason. Every creature is content with its portion. The beasts are satisfied with their food.

The birds are content with their nests. They live only on God's daily provision. Shall we make ourselves lower than they? Let the Christian go learn contentment from the ox and the donkey. We think we never have enough and are always storing more. But the birds do not store. They do not reap nor gather into barns. Yet they are fed and content.

This is Christ's own argument to stir us to contentment. The birds do not store up wealth, yet God provides for them. Are you not much better than they? But if you are discontented, are you not much worse? Let these examples stir our hearts. The 12th reason for contentment is this. Whatever troubles a child of God faces in this life, this is all the hell he shall ever have.

Whatever loss or hardship comes, whether to name, body, or estate, it is, as Athanasius said of his exile, only a little cloud that soon passes. Once it is gone, his deepest sorrow is over. His hell is past. For the wicked, death begins their hell. But for the godly, death ends it. Say to yourself, what if I endure this trial? It is only a temporary hell. And if this is all the hell we must ever suffer, then it is a very light one. What is the cup of affliction compared to the cup of wrath?

Lazarus had no crumbs to eat, his body was covered in sores, and dogs came to lick his wounds as if they were his only physicians. But this was only an easy hell. The angels soon carried him out of it. If all our hell is here, then even in the midst of it we may still enjoy the love of God, and that turns our hell into paradise. Earthly suffering is only skin deep. It cannot touch the soul, and it has an end.

After the dark night of affliction, the bright morning of resurrection will rise. If life is short, our troubles must be shorter. As riches fly away, so do sufferings. Let us then be content. The thirteenth reason for contentment is this. To have enough, yet still lack contentment, is a great judgment from God. If a man has a constant hunger that no food can satisfy, you say,

That's a serious affliction. Likewise, if you are always consuming wealth and still crying, more, more, this is a judgment on the soul. Scripture says, they shall eat and not have enough. The heart of the covetous is like an open grave, always taking in, never filled. Covetousness is not only a sin, it is also the punishment of sin. It is a secret curse. The more he gets...

the more he wants. He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver. And is that not a curse? Look at Judah's punishment. You eat, but you have not enough. You drink, but you are not filled. What a dreadful condition to have much and enjoy little. Beware this plague of discontent. Even Esau, a worldly man, said to Jacob, I have enough, my brother. And shall not a Christian who has heaven before him say even more?

It is a sad thing when our hearts are cold toward God, but wide open to the world, dead to grace, but greedy for gain. Yet even after all these reasons, many hearts remain unmoved and discontented.

Chapter 16. The three places a Christian must never be content. Next, I want to lay down some necessary cautions. Though I say a person should be content in every condition, Yet there are three conditions in which we must not be content. First, we must not be content in a natural condition. This is where we must learn not to be content. A sinner in his natural state

is under the wrath of God. Should he be content while that dreadful judgment is about to be poured out? Is it a small thing to be under the burning anger of God? Who can dwell with everlasting burnings? A sinner? is under the power of Satan, should he be content in such a condition? Who would choose to remain in the enemy's camp? While we lie asleep in the lap of sin, the devil does to us as the Philistines did to Samson.

He cuts off the lock of our strength and blinds our eyes. Do not be content, O sinner, in this condition. Imagine someone deep in debt, both body and soul. always at risk of being seized and dragged off to prison. Should he be content? In this case, I preach against contentment. Oh, get out of this condition. I would hurry you out of it like the angel hurried Lot out of Sodom.

There is the smell of fire and brimstone upon you. The longer a person stays in sin, the stronger sin becomes. It is hard to break free when the heart, like a fortress, has been supplied and strengthened. a young plant is easy to pull up but once a tree is rooted it cannot be moved you who are rooted in pride unbelief and a hard heart

It will take many painful efforts before you are pulled out of your natural state. It is a hard thing to have a brazen face and a broken heart. The sinner is in labor with iniquity. Be sure of this. The longer you carry your sin, the more painful and difficult the birth of new life will be. Oh, do not be content with your natural condition, David once asked. Why are you cast down, O my soul?

But a sinner should ask, Why are you not cast down, O my soul? Why do you grieve so much over your troubles, but not over your sins? It's a mercy when sin troubles you. It's better to feel the pain of setting a broken bone than to stay crippled and hurting for life. Blessed is the sorrow that leads the soul to Christ. One of the worst things is a quiet, undisturbed, guilty conscience.

Between the two, a fever is better than a coma. I'm amazed that anyone in their natural state can be content. Content to go to hell. Though in outward things a person should be content in every condition, yet he must not be content in a condition where God is clearly dishonored. If a man's job is such that he can hardly do it without breaking God's commands, so that his work becomes a trade of sin, he must not be content to stay in it. God never called anyone to a calling that is sinful.

In such a case, it is better to quit and change direction. It is better to lose some profit than to increase guilt. The same applies to servants who live in a profane household, a place like the suburbs of hell where God's name is never honoured, except when it is taken in vain. They must not be content to remain in such a place. They should leave the tents of such sinners. There is a double danger in living among the openly wicked. First,

Staying among the openly wicked is dangerous because we may be infected by the poison of their bad example. Joseph, living in Pharaoh's court, learned to swear by the life of Pharaoh. We are quick to imitate what we see. People are more deeply influenced by what they observe than by what they hear. The rich man in the story of Lazarus was a bad example, and he had five brothers who followed in his sinful steps.

That's why he pleaded, I pray you, send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment. He knew exactly where they were headed. It is easy to catch a disease from another person, but not easy to catch health. The bad will more easily corrupt the good than the good will convert the bad, if you mix equal parts of sweet wine and sour vinegar.

The vinegar will sour the wine faster than the wine will sweeten the vinegar. Sin is like a plague, and like leaven, it spreads quickly. A bad master often leads to a bad servant. Jacob's cattle, by looking at the speckled and striped rods, produced offspring that look the same. In the same way, we tend to do as others do, especially those in authority. If the head is sick...

The rest of the body will suffer. If the sun doesn't shine on the mountains, the valleys will remain in shadow. We pray, lead us not into temptation. Lot was a rare miracle. He stayed pure while living in the salt waters of Sodom. Second, by living in a wicked household, we put ourselves in danger of sharing in its punishment. The Bible says,

Pour out your wrath upon the families that do not call on your name. Because they failed to pour out prayer, God's wrath was ready to be poured out. It is dangerous to live in the tents of Kedar among those who do not fear God. When God sends out his flying scroll, covered inside and out with curses, it enters the house of the thief and the liar, and it consumes the very timber and stones.

What a fearful thing it is to live in a profane, lying household, where the sins of the one in charge bring destruction on all under the roof. If even the wood and stones are destroyed, how will the servant escape? And even if God does not send visible judgment or outward curses on the house, there is a spiritual curse, and that is even worse. We must not be content to live in a place where religion is dead. The scripture says,

Greet the brothers and Nymphus and the church that is in his house. The home of the godly is like a small church, but the home of the wicked is like a little hell. Oh, join yourselves to a godly household. The house of a righteous man is filled with blessing. When the holy oil of grace is poured on the head, its sweet fragrance spreads and the blessing flows down upon the whole family.

Godly examples are powerful and persuasive. Seneca once said to his sister, Though I do not leave you riches, I leave you a good example. Let us plant ourselves among the godly. When we live often among the spices we begin to carry their scent. Third, though we must be content in every outward condition, we must not be content with having only a little grace.

Grace is the greatest blessing we can have. While we should be satisfied with having just enough in terms of possessions, we should never be satisfied with just enough grace. Christ ascended into heaven to give gifts to his people, and the purpose of those gifts is that we might grow up into him in all things, who is the head, Christ.

The apostle makes a distinction between being in Christ and growing in Christ, between being planted in him and flourishing in him. Do not be content with only a small portion of grace or a low level of spiritual life. Be eager to grow, to mature, and to flourish in your walk with God. Be not content with just a little religion. It is not enough simply to have spiritual life. There must also be fruit.

In the law, barrenness was counted as a curse. The farther we are from bearing fruit, the closer we are to being cursed. It is a sad condition when people are only fruitful in the unfruitful works of darkness. Do not be content with just a small measure of grace. Next to being spiritually stillborn, it is worse to be a spiritual starveling in Christ. Oh, desire more grace.

Never think you have enough. We are commanded to desire the best gifts. This is a holy ambition, to long to be high in God's favor. It is a blessed kind of striving when the only competition is over who will be the most holy. The Apostle Paul was content with little of this world, but never with a little grace. He stretched forward and pressed toward the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. A true Christian is a marvel. He is the most contented and yet the least satisfied.

He is content with a crust of bread and a little water, yet he never has enough grace. He pants and thirsts for more. His constant prayer is, Lord, give me more conformity to Christ. more communion with Christ. He longs to have Christ's image more clearly and fully formed in his soul. True grace is always growing.

The saints are called lamps and stars for their light, and trees of righteousness for their growth. They are like the tree of life, bearing many kinds of fruit. A true Christian grows in beauty. Grace is the best complexion of the soul. At first planting, it is like Rachel, fair to look upon. But the longer it lives, the more it shines and sends out rays of beauty.

Abraham's faith was beautiful from the beginning, but in time it shone with even greater glory. It became so bright that God himself delighted in it and set it up as a pattern for all believers to follow. A true Christian also grows in sweetness. A poisonous weed may grow just as much as the hyssop or rosemary. The poppy in the field may grow as tall as the corn.

The wild crabapple grows as the sweet pear does, but their taste reveals the difference. One stays harsh and sour, the other becomes sweet as it ripens. An hypocrite may grow in outward form just as much as a true child of God. He may pray often, speak well, and show much religion, but he only grows in appearance. He brings forth sour fruit.

His duties are full of pride, but the true believer ripens as he grows. He grows in love, in humility, in faith. These are the graces that sweeten his life and make his service to God pleasant. and acceptable. The true Christian grows like a flower, spreading fragrance and perfume wherever he is. A true Christian grows in strength. He becomes more rooted and established.

Just as a tree spreads its roots deeper into the earth as it grows, so the believer, being a plant of the heavenly Jerusalem, grows by drawing more life, strength, and nourishment from Christ. He is small in his own eyes when it comes to humility, but he is a giant in spiritual strength, strong to perform duties, strong to carry burdens, and strong to resist temptations.

He also grows in the exercise of his grace. He does not only have oil in his lamp, but his lamp is burning and giving light. Grace in the soul is active and skillful. The vine of Christ flourishes. This is why Scripture speaks of a lively hope and a fervent love, showing the movement and energy of grace. At times, grace may seem like it is asleep, like sap resting in the vine, not showing its strength.

This can happen through spiritual laziness or after falling into some sin, but this is only for a season. The spring of grace will return, the flowers will appear, and the fig tree will put forth her green figs. The fresh winds of the Spirit will come and gently revive and stir grace again. The Church, whose heart is like a garden and whose graces are like precious spices,

prays for the holy breathings of the Spirit, so that her graces may flow out with renewed life and fragrance. A true Christian grows both in the kind and in the degree of grace. With spiritual life comes increase. He adds to faith, virtue, to virtue, knowledge, to knowledge, temperance, and so on. This is grace growing in kind.

And he goes from faith to faith, that is grace growing in degree. Paul said, We are bound to thank God always for you, brothers, because your faith grows exceedingly. It increases beyond measure. He also speaks of spiritual plants filled with the fruits of righteousness. A Christian is compared to the vine, a symbol of fruitfulness. He must bear full clusters.

We are urged to perfect what is lacking in our faith. A true believer is never too old to bear fruit. He brings forth fruit even in old age. A soul born from heaven is always growing. He never feels he has grown enough. He is not content unless he adds daily to his spiritual height. We must not be satisfied with just enough grace to survive. A small measure will not do.

We must keep increasing with the increase that comes from God. Just as we need to renew our strength like the eagle, so we must renew our grace. Our sins are renewed, our needs are renewed, our temptations are renewed. Shall not our strength also be renewed? Do not be content with the first spark of grace, or grace in its infant form.

You expect degrees of glory, then be Christians of degrees. Though a believer should be content with a small portion of earthly things, he must never be content with a small portion of grace. A true Christian of the right kind always strives to rise higher, to go beyond his past, to draw nearer to the holiness of God, who is the pattern and source of all holiness.

Chapter 17 How to Tell if You Have Learned Christian Contentment Having laid down these three cautions, I now come to a practical use of trial. How may a Christian know whether he has learned the lesson of contentment? I will give some marks by which this can be known. First, a contented spirit is a silent spirit. He does not speak a single word against God. I was dumb and silent because you did it. Contentment quiets all murmuring and argument. He sits alone and keeps silence.

There is such a thing as sinful silence. When God is dishonored, his truth wounded, and men say nothing. That silence is a loud sin, but there is also a holy silence. when the soul calmly accepts the condition God has placed it in. When Samuel gave Eli the heavy message from God, that judgment would come upon his house and that his family's sin would never be forgiven, did Eli argue?

or complain? No. He answered, It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him. A discontented spirit speaks like Pharaoh, Who is the Lord? Why should I suffer this? Why should I be brought so low? Who is the Lord? But a godly heart says, Like Eli, it is the Lord. Let him do with me as he pleases. When Nadab and Abihu

Aaron's sons offered unauthorized fire and were consumed by fire from the Lord, did Aaron burst out in grief or protest? No. Aaron held his peace. A contented spirit is never angry. except with itself, forever having had hard thoughts of God. When Jonah said, I do well to be angry, he did not speak with a contented heart. That kind of talk did not suit a prophet. Second.

A contented spirit is a cheerful spirit. The Greeks called it euthema, meaning a good or cheerful mind. Contentment is more than just patience. Patience means simply to endure. but contentment adds cheerfulness to endurance. A contented Christian is more than passive. He does not just bear the cross, he takes up the cross. He sees God as wise, and whatever God does,

though it may be painful, it is done in love to bring about healing. For this reason, the contented Christian is cheerful. Like the Apostle Paul, he can take pleasure in infirmities, in distresses. He does not only accept what God sends, but rejoices in it. He does not only say, The Lord is just in all that has happened to me, but also, The Lord is good. That is true contentment.

A sour, gloomy spirit does not please God. Scripture says that he loves a cheerful giver, and he also loves those who live cheerfully. We are told not to be anxious, but we are never told to stop being cheerful. The person who is truly content does not lose his spiritual joy. In fact, he has something within him that is the very root of joy. He carries in his heart the assurance of pardon.

And that is reason enough to be cheerful in any condition. Third, a contented spirit is a thankful spirit. This is a step beyond cheerfulness. Scripture says, in everything give thanks. A gracious heart can see mercy in every condition, and so it is tuned to thankfulness. While others bless God only in times of prosperity, the contented soul blesses him even in affliction.

He reasons like this. Am I in want? Then God sees it better for me to lack than to abound. He is putting me on a spiritual diet, knowing it is better for my soul to fast at times. So he is not only submissive, he is thankful. The discontented heart is always murmuring. The contented heart is always giving thanks. Oh, what a high level of grace this is.

A contented heart is like a temple where the praises of God are always sung, not a tomb where they are buried. Even in great need, the contented Christian finds his heart enlarged in thankfulness. He often reflects on God's love in choosing him and sees himself as a monument of mercy, so he longs to be a pattern of praise. There is always thankful music in the soul of one who is truly content.

The spirit of grace in him is like new wine. Even under sorrow it cannot help but overflow in thankfulness. This is the mark of a contented spirit. Fourth A contented spirit is one for whom no circumstance is unsuitable. As Paul said, in whatever state I am, a contented Christian can adapt himself to anything, whether he has much or little.

The people of Israel knew neither how to abound nor how to want. When they lacked, they murmured, saying, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? And when they were full, they grew proud and rebellious. But Paul had learned how to live in every situation. He could go either higher or lower. He was, in this sense, an all-around Christian. He could do whatever God called him to do. In prosperity...

He knew how to be thankful, in adversity, how to be patient. He was not lifted up by one, nor cast down by the other. He could carry a full sail or a short one. So the contented Christian knows how to adapt himself to every condition. There are many who can be content in some situations, but not in all. They are content when they are wealthy, when milk and honey flow, and God's light shines on them. But when the wind changes,

they become discontent. While they have a silver crutch to lean on, they are content, but when God takes away the crutch, they complain. Paul, however, had learned to carry himself with calmness in every condition. Some people say they could bear certain crosses, if only they could choose which one. They think they could endure sickness better than poverty, or the loss of property better than the loss of children.

They are content so long as they get to pick their trial. But the contented Christian does not choose his cross. He lets God choose for him. He is content with both the kind of affliction and how long it lasts. He says, let God apply whatever medicine he pleases, and let it stay on me as long as he wills. When it has done its work, when it has drawn out the poison of sin, God will remove it in his time.

In a word, a contented Christian, being sweetly brought under the authority of God's word, desires to be entirely at God's disposal. He is willing to live in the place and position where God has set him. And if... At any time, he has been used to do noble and honorable work in public life. He still understands that he is only a rational instrument, an obedient servant under authority. He is content to return to a quieter, more ordinary life when God calls him to it.

Cincinnati, after gaining great honor and fame through his leadership as a Roman dictator, willingly went back to plow and tend his small plot of land. So it should be with Christians, living out godliness with contentment. Having served boldly in times of duty, they should not be so proud as to think they cannot now walk humbly. Otherwise they show only a kind of wild courage, brave in battle, yet unable to govern themselves.

And what good is it to conquer others if they cannot rule their own spirit? Fifth, the person who is truly content with his condition will not escape trouble by running into sin. It is not wrong for a Christian to seek a change in his condition so long as he follows the lead of God's providence. But when someone refuses to wait for God and instead rushes ahead, like the one who said,

This evil is of the Lord. Why should I wait any longer? Such a person is not content, but driven by unbelief that has turned into rebellion. When God does not open a door, they force one open, trying to escape affliction through sinful means only to bring more trouble upon their own souls. This is far from true contentment. A contented Christian is willing to wait for God's timing. He does not move until God clearly makes a way. Like Paul, who said, they have beaten us openly, being Romans.

And now do they thrust us out secretly? No, let them come themselves and fetch us out. So the contented believer says with reverence, God has placed me in this condition, though it is hard. I will not leave it until he, by clear providence, brings me out. So it was with those courageous saints who accepted not deliverance, meaning they would not accept freedom on dishonorable terms.

They would rather stay in prison than be released through worldly compromise. A commentator notes that they could not only have gained freedom but even positions of honor, yet they chose the honor of God over liberty or promotion. A contented Christian will not move unless, like the Israelites, he sees the pillar of cloud and fire leading the way. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

It is best to wait for God's timing and not to pull ourselves out of trouble until the Star of Providence clearly shows the path. Chapter 18 The Practice of Contentment

a Christian step-by-step guide. I now come to a practical use of direction to show believers how they may learn this holy art of contentment. Certainly, it is possible. Others among God's people have attained it. Paul had it, as he testifies here. And what shall we say of those described in that brief record of martyrs in Hebrews chapter 11? Those who endured cruel mockings and beatings, who wandered in deserts and lived in caves, yet remained content. So then, contentment is within reach.

Here, then, are some rules for cultivating true Christian contentment. Rule 1. Strengthen your faith. All our unrest and inner turmoil flow from unbelief. It is unbelief that stirs the storm of discontent in the heart. Set faith to work. Faith calms our doubts, scatters our fears and settles the heart when emotions rise. Faith brings the soul into quiet peace.

It is not food and clothing alone that make us content, but faith. Faith quiets down anxiety. When reason begins to sink, let faith rise and keep you afloat. How does faith produce contentment? First, faith shows the soul that, whatever trials it faces, they come from the hand of a loving father. The cup may be bitter, but the heart says,

Shall I not drink the cup my Father has given me? It is poured out in love, the same hand that crowns also corrects. God is preparing me for heaven. He is shaping and refining me into a polished arrow. These afflictions produce patience, humility, and the peaceful fruit of righteousness. If God can bring such good fruit from this rough wood, then let him graft me where he will.

in this way faith leads the heart into holy contentment second faith draws the sweetness of contentment from the promises of god Christ is the vine. The promises are the clusters of grapes growing on that vine, and faith presses out the rich wine of contentment from them. Take just one cluster. The Lord will give grace and glory.

Here is enough to sustain the soul. The promises are flowers, and faith extracts from them the fragrance and strength of divine contentment. In short, faith lifts the heart and causes it to reach after higher... nobler joys than the world can offer. It teaches the soul to live above the things of earth. Would you live a contented life? Then live by faith and live up to the strength of your faith.

Rule 2. Strive for assurance. Oh, seek to make sure of your relationship with God. Let the bond between your soul and the Lord be clear and firm. Interest is a word people love. interest in powerful friends, interest in wealth or investments. But if there is any interest worth pursuing, it is this, to have a true and saving interest in God. Labour to be able to say,

my God. To lack money, to lack friends, and above all, to lack God, this is misery indeed. But the one whose faith has matured into assurance, who can say, I know whom I have believed. That person has all he needs for contentment. Just as a man who has paid his debts can walk freely without fear of arrest, so the believer who knows his sins are forgiven walks in peace.

Oh, make sure of your title to Christ. If God is yours, whatever you lack in the world is more than made up in him. Do I lack bread? Christ is the bread of life. Am I defiled? His blood is both nourishment and healing, like the trees of the sanctuary, which bear fruit and leaves for medicine. If anything is worth your greatest effort, it is this, to gain clear, solid evidence that God is yours.

Once this is settled, what can disturb your peace? No storm matters if you know where the safe harbor is. The one who has God as his God is so content that he does not overly concern himself with what else he has. But to rest in any condition without being able to say, God is mine, is fearful. And to be able to say it truly, yet remain discontent, is shameful. When David's city was burned, his wives taken,

his possessions lost, and even his men spoke of stoning him. Still, he found comfort in this. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. This assurance was his anchor. Whoever knows that God is his and that all God is and has will work for his good, if that does not satisfy the heart, nothing will. Rule 3. Cultivate a humble spirit.

The humble person is the one who learns true contentment. If his condition in life is low, his heart is lower still. So he is content. If the world holds him in little esteem, He is not troubled because he already thinks little of himself. He has a lower opinion of himself than others possibly could. The humble person reflects on his own unworthiness. He sees himself as less than the least of God's mercies.

and so even a small blessing satisfies him. Like Paul, he sees himself as the chief of sinners, and so, instead of complaining, he marvels. He does not say his comforts are too few, but that his sins are too many. He believes it is pure mercy that he is not in hell, and for that reason he is content. He does not imagine or demand a better condition for himself. He knows that even the hardest portion God gives is still better than he deserves.

But the proud person is never content. He thinks highly of himself, and so he looks down on small blessings with scorn and cannot endure even small trials with patience. The humble heart is the contented heart. If his cross is light, he counts it among his mercies. If it is heavy, he bows under it, trusting that God intends to make him better through it. Where humility is laid as the foundation, contentment will surely rise as the building upon it. Rule 4. Keep a clear conscience.

Contentment is like mana, stored in the arc of a good conscience. Oh, take care not to indulge in any sin. Guilt naturally breeds unrest, just as decaying matter breeds worms. Sin is like Jonah in the ship. It brings a storm with it. If dust gets into the eye, it causes watering and pain. But when the eye is clear, it is at peace. So it is with the conscience.

which is the eye of the soul. When sin enters, it causes grief and trouble. But when the conscience is clear, the soul is calm. What Solomon says of the stomach, we may say of the conscience. To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. In the same way, to a good conscience, every affliction can be received sweetly. It can draw contentment even from the cross.

A good conscience turns the bitter waters of Mara into sweet wine. Do you want a quiet heart? Then seek a smiling conscience. No wonder Paul could say he was content in every condition. He could also say... I have lived in all good conscience to this day. When a person's accounts are settled and the conscience is clear, it floods the heart with contentment. A good conscience can draw comfort even from the bitterest experiences.

Under slander, it says, our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience. When imprisoned, Paul sang his prison songs. With his feet in the stocks, His heart was free to play the music of contentment. Augustine called it the paradise of a good conscience, and if that is so, then even in a prison cell one may live in paradise.

When times are troubled a good conscience brings calm. If the conscience is clear, what does it matter if the days are dark? Is it not a comfort to have a friend always near to speak a kind word on our behalf? That is what conscience is. A good conscience like David's harp drives away the evil spirit of discontent. When anxious thoughts begin to rise and the heart grows restless,

conscience speaks as the king did to Nehemiah. Why is your countenance sad? So conscience says, do you not have the seed of God in you? Are you not an heir of the promise? Do you not possess a treasure that can never be taken from you? Why then is your countenance sad? Oh, keep your conscience clear, and you will never lack contentment.

Just as keeping the body's veins and arteries clear of blockages is key to good health, so keeping the conscience free from guilt is the key to spiritual peace. First, the conscience must be pure. Then it will be peaceable. Rule 5. Learn to deny yourself. Guard your heart. Watch over your affections and keep them under control. Do two things. 1. Mortify your desires. Do not be like the dragon, of which it is said that no amount of water can quench its thirst. Put to death.

your inordinate affections. The Greek calls them evil affections, showing that when desires become excessive, they become sinful. Put your desires on the cross. Be like a dead man who has no appetite. How can a Christian mortify his desires? 1. Get a right understanding of earthly things. They are low, empty, and fleeting. Will you set your eyes on that which is not?

Let reason rule your appetite. The affections are the feet of the soul. They should follow judgment, not lead it. 2. Meditate often on your mortality. Death will soon cut down the flowers you now delight in. It will tear down the body you now decorate and prize. As you lock up your gold in a chest, remember, soon you will be locked up in a coffin.

2. Moderate your delights. Do not set your heart too strongly on any created thing. Lift up a standard for the people, not your heart, when you enjoy a blessing. What we love too much, we grieve too much when it is gone. Rachel set her heart too much on her children. When they were taken from her, her heart broke with them. She refused to be comforted. This is discontent.

When we let any comfort rest too near our hearts, then when God removes it, part of our heart is torn away with it. Excessive love leads to excessive sorrow. If you would be content in the loss of mercies, You must be moderate in the enjoyment of them. Jonathan dipped his rod in the honey. He did not thrust it in. So, too, let us be cautious with pleasure. Better to eat sparingly than to be overfilled and sick.

Rule 6. Get much of heaven into your heart. Spiritual things alone can truly satisfy. The more of heaven that lives within us, the less of earth we will crave. He who has tasted the love of God finds his thirst for worldly things greatly diminished. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness.

The joys of the Holy Spirit are both heart-filling and heart- cheering. Whoever possesses them has already begun to taste heaven on earth. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And if heaven has begun in the soul, shall we not be content? O, seek a heavenly mind, set your affection on things above. Let your desires rise, long for the graces and comforts that come from the Spirit.

The eagle, flying high in the sky, is safe from the serpent's sting. The serpent crawls on the earth and can only strike those who remain near the ground. So too, the soul that soars in heavenly affections will not be wounded by the poisonous bite of earthly disappointments. Rule 7. Look more on the light side of your condition than the dark. God mixes his providences, some bright, some dark, like the pillar of cloud that had both a shining and a shadowed side. Learn to look on the bright side.

who studies only the back of a beautiful painting. Perhaps you have lost a lawsuit. There is the dark side, but you still have land remaining. There is the light side. You suffer in your body. This is dark. but you have grace in your soul. This is light. You have lost a child. There is sorrow, but your husband still lives. There is mercy.

God's providence in this life is like the speckled horses seen among the myrtle trees, red and white. Affliction and mercy are woven together. God speckles his work. You may say, I lack this comfort. But weigh all your remaining blessings, and your heart will find rest. If a man has lost a finger, should he be so discontented that he forgets to thank God for all his other limbs?

Look on the light side and your discontent will melt away. Do not fix your eyes on what you've lost. Consider what you still have. Would you really wish to have no cross at all? Why should anyone expect only good in life, when he himself is only partly good? Would you have no trouble around you, though there is still so much sin within you? You are not yet fully sanctified.

How then can you expect to be fully satisfied? Never look for perfect contentment in this life until there is perfect grace in you. Rule 8. Consider the condition in which we live in this world. First we are in a military condition. We are soldiers. Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. A soldier is content with anything. He does not expect a fine house, rich furniture, a soft bed or a full table. He is satisfied to lie on straw as well as on the bare ground.

He does not fix his mind on comfort, but on the battle, the victory, and the crown of honour before him. For that hope, he is willing to face danger and endure hardship. Would it not seem foolish to hear a soldier complain about poor food or rough lodging when he is in the middle of a campaign? So, too, the Christian is a spiritual soldier, fighting the battles of the Lord, bearing Christ's banner.

Though trials come and dangers surround him, he fights for a crown and therefore must be content. Second, we are in a pilgrim condition. We are strangers and travelers here. A man journeying through a foreign land is content with what he finds. Though he may not have the comforts or recognition he would enjoy at home, he is not troubled. He knows that once he returns to his own country...

He has lands to inherit and honor awaiting him. So it is with the believer. He says, I am a stranger with you and a sojourner as all my fathers were. He belongs to the world to come. He is a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore, though he may hunger, thirst, and have no settled home, yet he must be content. It will be far better when he reaches his own country.

Third, we are in a beggar's condition. We are spiritual beggars, depending daily on heaven's mercy. We come to God and pray, Give us this day our daily bread. We live on His alms. on the provisions of his free grace. And what beggar complains if he is given food from the refuse basket? He must not pick and choose. He is grateful for whatever is given.

Oh, why do you murmur when you are a beggar being fed from the hand of God? Let this humble your heart and teach you contentment. Rule 9. Let not your hope rest on outward things. Do not build your contentment on shaky ground. Lean not on sandy pillars. Often we place our joy on some friend or some portion of wealth, and when that support is removed, our happiness collapses.

Her hearts either faint or grow bitter. A lame man leans on crutches, but if they break, he falls. Don't let your contentment lean on crutches that may snap at any time. True contentment must be rooted within. The Greek word for contentment carries the sense of self-sufficiency, not in the proud sense of the world but in the spiritual sense. A Christian has an inward strength supplied by God.

He has faith and hope through grace, which hold him up even when outward comforts are gone. Even the old philosophers, when stripped of their possessions, took comfort in the virtues of the mind, such as learning and character. How much more should a believer find satisfaction in the graces of the spirit, the true riches, the inner beauty of the soul? Say in your heart, if my friends forsake me, if my riches vanish.

Yet I have something greater within, an eternal treasure. Even if the blossoms of my outward life fall away, the sap of contentment still runs deep in the root. I have an interest in God, and that can never be lost. Oh, never place your happiness in these fading, worthless things below. Rule 10. Let us often compare our condition. Make this a five-fold comparison.

beginning here. Comparison 1. Compare your condition with what you deserve. If we do not have all that we desire, we still have far more than we deserve. First, consider this regarding our mercies. We deserve less. What can we mere creatures claim as owed from God? Can man be profitable to the Almighty? We live entirely on free grace.

When Alexander the Great gave a large gift to a subject, the man humbly said, This is more than I am worthy of. Alexander replied, I do not give it because you are worthy, but because I give like Alexander. So it is with God. What he gives us is not based on our worth, but on his generosity. Even the smallest mercy, a crumb of bread, is more than he owes us.

We can gather wood for our own judgment, but we cannot bring a single flower for the crown of our salvation. The one who receives the least mercy will still die in God's debt. Second, consider this regarding our afflictions. We deserve more. You have punished us less than our iniquities deserve. Is your condition difficult? You have deserved far worse.

Has God taken away your estate? He might have taken away Christ. Has he placed you in prison? He might have cast you into hell. He might as justly have damned you, as disciplined you. This should make us content. 2. Compare your condition with others. This also will help you to be content. We often look at those who are above us.

Let us also look at those who are below us. You may see one dressed in silk, but look also at another clothed in sackcloth. One may drink from a full cup, while another mixes his drink with tears. How many faces do we see, pale not from sickness, but from hunger and need? Let this sober your heart. Many have it far worse. Some who may even be more faithful than we and more favored by God. Are you in prison? Daniel was in a worse place. The lion's den. Do you live in a poor cottage?

Think of those who have been driven from their homes. The early saints, we are told, wandered in sheep's skins and goat's skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. Do you have a mild illness? Others suffer daily with painful diseases, the stone, the gout, and worse. Many of God's people have endured heavier burdens and carried them more patiently than we do.

Daniel, though he ate only pulse and drank water, was healthier and fairer than those who ate from the king's table. So it is with some believers. They have lived on little, yet shown greater peace and beauty of soul than those who have had plenty. Shall others rejoice in affliction while we complain? Can they carry their cross with cheerfulness while we stumble under a lighter one and murmur? Let this comparison quiet your heart. Comparison

3. Compare your condition with Christ's on earth. Consider how low and poor a condition Christ willingly entered for our sake, and how content he was in it. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. He could have come down with a house from heaven or claimed the high places of the earth.

but he chose the low place. He was content to be pressed in the wine press so that we might drink from the wine cellar of grace. He lived in poverty that we might be made spiritually rich. The manger was his cradle, cobwebs his canopy. He who is now preparing mansions for us in heaven had not even a place on earth to lay his head. He came in the form of a poor man.

Though he was in the form of God, he took upon himself the form of a servant. We read of no money in his possession. When he needed to pay tribute, he worked a miracle to provide it. His whole earthly life was lowly. He was never lifted up, except on the cross. That was his exaltation in suffering and his humility. He lived poor. He died cursed. Oh, compare your condition with Christ's.

Can you complain of hardship when he endured so much more for you? Comparison 4. Compare your condition with what it once was. This will help your heart to be content. Compare your spiritual condition with what it once was. What were you when God first looked on you in mercy? You lay in your blood without hope, without Christ, heirs of wrath.

with no right to even pluck a single leaf from the tree of promise. You were in a Christless, hopeless condition, but now God has broken off the chain that bound you to hell. He has taken you out of the wild olive tree of your sinful nature and grafted you into Christ, making you a living branch of the living vine. He has not only caused the light of the gospel to shine upon you, but into you.

He has made you a child of God and brought you into all the privileges of sonship. Is this not enough to make the soul content? Second, compare your temporal condition with what it once was. what did you have when you came into the world we brought nothing into this world if you don't have all you desire still you have more than you came with you entered life with nothing but sin

Even animals come into the world with something, the lamb with its wool, the silkworm with its silk. But man brings nothing. So what if your current condition is low? It is better than it was when you began. You came with nothing. Do you not have food and clothing now? Then be content. Whatever you now possess, it is God's providence that has provided it. And if you lose it all, remember.

you still have as much as when you arrived in the world. This was Job's reasoning behind his contentment in the midst of such a horrendous trial. Naked came I out of my mother's womb. As if to say, Though I have lost everything, why should I complain? I am no poorer now than when I began. I have nothing, but I brought nothing with me. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Comparison 5. Compare your condition with what it shall be shortly. A time is coming, and not far off, when, even if we possessed all the riches of the world, they would do us no good. We must die. and we can carry nothing with us. As the Apostle says, it is certain we can carry nothing out of the world. Therefore, he adds, having food and raiment, let us be content.

Open the grave of a wealthy man, and what do you find? His bones may remain, but not his riches. So said Bede. The miser's bones are there, but not his gold. If we were to live forever here, or could carry our possessions into the next world, then perhaps discontentment over our lack would make some sense. But that is not our case.

Even now God may issue the command for death to take us, and when we die, none of our wealth or honor will follow us. Riches and reputation descend not into the grave. Why then should we be troubled at our outward condition? Why should we wear the face of discontent? Instead, store up a better treasure. Lay up a stock of grace. Be rich in faith and good works.

For these are the riches that follow us into eternity. Their works follow them. No other currency will be accepted in heaven. Silver and gold will not pass there. Labor to be rich towards God, and for all other things. Be at peace. You will carry none of them with you. Rule 11. Do not try to bring your condition to your mind, but bring your mind to your condition.

The way for a Christian to be content is not by lifting his estate higher, but by lowering his spirit, not by enlarging his bonds, but by narrowing his heart. One man is not satisfied with an entire estate. He must have more and still more. Another is content with just a small portion. What makes the difference? The one is striving to feed his curiosity, the other only to supply his necessity.

The one is always thinking what more he can gain. The other considers what he can live without. Rule 12. Study the vanity of the creature. Whether we have more or less of this world's goods, It matters little, for vanity is written across all of them. The world is like a shadow that declines, pleasing to look at, but empty to hold. It promises more than it ever gives, and fails us when we most need it.

The world constantly changes and is only reliable in its disappointments. What then if we have less of that which is, at best, unstable and fleeting? The world is full of movement. and even fuller of change. If God cuts us short in earthly things, why should we be troubled? The more a person handles the world, the more he handles vanity. The world is like ice, smooth.

but slippery, or like the Egyptian temples, beautiful on the outside but within, nothing but the image of an ape. Every creature says about true satisfaction, it is not in me. The world does not fill, it only flies. It is like a game of tennis. Providence striking its golden ball, now to one player, then to another. Why are we discontented when we lose these things?

It is only because we expect from them what they cannot give, and place in them what should be placed in God alone. Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd, but what vanity! Is it strange to see a gourd wither? or the moon change its shape? Why should we be shaken when what is by nature changeable is simply being itself? Rule 13. Bring your imagination under control.

It is often the fancy, the imagination, that raises the value of things far above their true worth. Why is one tulip priced at five pounds while another is worth only a shilling? The difference is not in the substance but in how people fancy them. So it is with wealth. Why should it seem better to have thousands than hundreds? Simply because we imagine it so.

But if we could learn to value a lower condition, seeing it as bringing less care, less responsibility, it would be far more desirable. Water from the rock is just as sweet as water from a golden cup. Things are what they are, but they seem better or worse according to how we imagine them. Ever since the fall, our fancy has been disordered. God saw that the imagination of the thoughts of his heart.

was only evil continually. Fancy sees through distorted lenses. Pray that God would sanctify your imagination. If your mind and fancy were rightly set, even a low condition would satisfy you. Diogenes preferred his simple, philosophical life to all the royalty of Alexander. He fancied his humble dwelling best. Fabricius, though poor, despised the gold of King Pyrrhus.

If we could cure the sickly imagination, we would soon conquer the discontented heart. Rule 14. Consider how little will satisfy nature. The body is but a small vessel and easily provided for. Christ taught us to pray for daily bread, not for excess. Nature itself is content with little. Gregory Natsianzen said, Not to thirst. not to starve, that is enough. Saint Jerome called food and drink the Christian's riches, and the Apostle plainly tells us, having food and raiment, let us be content.

The stomach is filled far sooner than the eye. How quickly a person would learn contentment if he aimed to satisfy hunger rather than humor. That is, real need rather than restless desire. Rule 15. Believe that your present condition is best for you. Flesh and blood is not a wise judge. A sick stomach may crave sweet desserts, while a healthy man prefers solid, nourishing food.

In the same way, vain and worldly men think the best condition is the one that allows them to flourish outwardly. But the wise Christian has his will melted into God's will and believes it best to be at God's choosing. God is infinitely wise. He knows whether we need comfort or correction, feasting or medicine. If we could rest quietly in his providence, our inner struggles would quickly end.

Oh, what a strange and miserable creature man would be if he always got what he wished. Be content to live on God's portion. He knows best where to place his sheep. Sometimes lean pasture is safer, while rich ground may bring harm. Do you encounter a cross? God is showing you what the world really is. He is weaning you from it, perhaps through harsh treatment, like a stepmother.

Is your allowance small? God is dieting you for your health. Do you suffer loss? It may be to keep you from being lost. Every storm, every rough wind will at last blow you to the right harbor. If we truly believe that the condition God gives us is the best, we would accept it gladly and say with joy, The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Rule 16. Do not indulge the flesh.

At baptism we vowed to renounce the flesh, yet it remains our greatest enemy. It is worse than the devil, for it is a traitor within. If there were no devil to tempt us, Our own flesh would still be a second eve, drawing us to the forbidden fruit. Take great care not to give it room. Where does discontent begin? In the flesh. It drives us to chase the world too eagerly.

to seek ease and luxury, and when it doesn't get what it wants, discontent arises. Do not let it rule. Crucify the flesh. In spiritual matters, it is a sluggard. In worldly things, it is like a greedy leech crying, give, give. The flesh resists suffering. It would rather make us flatterers in courts than faithful martyrs. Keep it under control.

Bow its neck under Christ's yoke. Stretch it out and nail it to his cross. Until the flesh is subdued, do not expect peace in the spirit. There can be no contentment in the soul while the flesh is left unrestrained. Rule 17. Meditate much on the glory that shall be revealed. There are eternal treasures laid up in heaven. Though your present condition may be hard, let this bring you contentment.

It will soon be better. It is but a little while, and we shall be with Christ, bathing in the fountain of his love. Then there will be no more want, no more injury, no more sorrow. Your cross may be heavy now, but one sight of Christ in glory will make you forget all your past afflictions. Let this future hope quiet your heart. There are two thoughts in particular that should bring contentment.

1. God will give strength to bear whatever we suffer. He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able. God, said Chrysostom, is like a skillful musician who tunes his instrument with care. He does not let the strings go slack, lest the music of prayer and repentance be lost. But neither does he stretch the strings too tight, lest they snap.

In the same way, God will not allow your adversity to be too much, lest the spirit should fail before me and the souls that I have made. He measures every burden with wisdom and compassion. 2. After we have suffered a while, we shall be perfected in glory. The cross is but the ladder by which we climb to heaven. Be content now, for the scene will soon change.

God will in time turn our water into wine. The hope of what is coming is enough to calm every unrest of the heart. Blessed be God. It will be better. We have no continuing city here. so our afflictions cannot continue either. A wise man always looks to the end, mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.

The sweetness of the end should reconcile us to the roughness of the way. Oh, eternity, eternity. Think often of the kingdom prepared for God's people. David once held a shepherd's staff. Then he took up the royal scepter, first the field, then the throne. So it is with the saints. Though now they may labor and suffer in lowly conditions.

Yet God has chosen them to reign, to sit with Christ upon his throne. Weigh this in the scales of faith, and your heart will learn contentment. Rule 18. Be much in prayer. The final rule for contentment is this. Be much in prayer. Ask God to work your heart into this blessed frame. Is any man afflicted? Let him pray. So also, is any man discontented? Let him pray.

Prayer gives the soul relief. Just as the opening of a vein lets out bad blood, so prayer lets out the disquiet and sorrow that trouble the heart. The key of prayer when it is oiled with tears unlocks and empties the heart of all its unrest. Prayer is a holy charm to drive away trouble. It is the unburdening of the soul casting all our cares into God's bosom.

and this brings in quietness and rest. When we carry a burden and open our heart to a trusted friend, we often feel relieved. How much more when we open our heart to God. It is not our strong resolutions but our strong petitions that bring peace. Through prayer the strength of Christ flows into the soul and with that strength we can endure anything.

Paul was content in every condition, but not in his own strength. He said, I can do all things, but added, Through Christ who strengthens me. It is like the child who writes, but the hand is guided by the Master. So too the Christian prays, and God gives strength to be content. Chapter 19 Encouragement for the Christian who walks in contentment

This final use is one of comfort, a word of encouragement to the contented believer. O Christian, if there is any heaven to be found on earth, you have it. You may rise above your troubles and, like the mighty Leviathan, laugh at the shaking of a spear. What shall I say of you? You are an ornament to your profession. You prove to the world that there is power in true religion, power to bring peace and satisfaction to the soul.

You display the highest evidence of grace. When grace is crowning, it is no great thing to be content, but when grace is conflicting, when it meets with crosses, temptations and agonies, and yet the heart remains content, this. is truly glorious. To the contented Christian I leave two final words of comfort. 1. God is greatly pleased with such a heart. God delights in the contented soul.

As David once said of Goliath's sword, There is none like that, give it me, so God says of the contented spirit. If you would please the Lord and be a person after his own heart, be content. God hates a froward, murmuring spirit, but he treasures a quiet and trusting heart. 2. The contented Christian will not lose by it. What did Job lose by his patience? Nothing.

God gave him twice as much as he had before. What did Abraham lose by his contentment? He left his country at God's call, and in return, God made a covenant with him. I will be your God. He changed his name from Abram to Abraham, father of many nations. He multiplied his seed as the stars of heaven. He honored him with the title, father of the faithful.

He shared his secrets with him. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do? He gave him the land of promise, a type of heaven, and then took him to the true paradise. God will surely reward the contented believer. As Christ said to Nathanael, Because I said I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these. So I say to you, Are you content, O Christian, with a little?

You shall see greater things than these. God will pour the sweet influences of his love into your soul. He will provide, sustain, and bless you. He will raise up favor and preserve your portion. And when this life is over, he will crown you with the eternal enjoyment of himself. He will give you heaven where your soul shall be filled with contentment as much as it can possibly desire. The End

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