Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Psalm 43:5
“Sometimes, a great deal of disturbance is involved in getting contentment into people’s judgments, that is, to satisfy their judgment about their condition. If you come to many, whom the hand of God is upon perhaps in a grievous manner, and seek to satisfy them and tell them they have no cause to be so disquieted, ‘Oh, no cause?’ says the troubled spirit, ‘then there is no cause for anyone to be disquieted. There has never been such an affliction as I have.’
And they have a hundred things with which to evade the force of what is said to them, so that you cannot so much as get at their judgments to satisfy them. But there is a great deal of hope of attaining contentment, if once your judgments are satisfied, if you can sit down and say in your judgment, ‘I see good reason to be contented.’ Yet even when you have got so far, you may still have much to do with your hearts afterwards.
There is such unruliness in our thoughts and affections that our judgments are not always able to rule our thoughts and affections. That is what makes me say that contentment is an inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit-the whole soul, judgment, thoughts, will, affections and all are satisfied and quiet. I suppose that merely in opening this subject you begin to see that it is a lesson that you need to learn, and that if contentment is like this then it is not easily obtained.”
Jeremiah Burroughs (1600-1646) in The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment (Preach the Word) 13-14.
God allows disturbances to get our attention. He loves it when they lead us to contentment.
So often, however, we become disquieted. We may have deep faith, but like Sons of Korah who penned today’s Scripture, become disquieted. Notice how disturbances reveal the times when we have misplaced our hope. We do well to hope in God.
When we put our hope anywhere else, we become disquieted. Take a few minutes to read Psalm 42-43.
And notice, when we put our hope in God, in the midst of the disturbances, we find clarity, peace, light, deliverance, help, and so much more. Because when we have God we have all we need.
Now if we relate this to generosity, notice what comes clearly into view.
Our human tendency is to hold on to money. The world tells us that having lots of money can protect us from difficulty or help us navigate disturbances. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Sons of Korah teach us in Psalm 49, that riches can’t save us, satisfy us, or give us the security that we long for. Only God can. Do you see why finding our contentment in God alone is so important?
Without contentment we live in fear, we have no hope, and we feel disquieted by the disturbances of life.
With contentment, we realize why we are here on earth. God has put us here to serve as conduits of blessing and hope to a disturbed and disquieted world.
And I want to extend the happiest of birthdays to my daughter, Sophie Victoria! She’s a beacon of hope, content with God, rarely disturbed or disquieted, and so generous too! Happy Birthday, Sophie!