Discontentment Doesn’t Fit God’s Plan
Its fair season people! Big county fairs to small community fairs, I love them ALL! I won’t get into the multitude of reasons why I love fairs so much right now, but I will say one of them is because of the parades. One of my hometown fairs is the Ephrata Fair, which was held last week and this year was the 100th anniversary so everything was a huge deal! But the weather was not so great. In fact, they had to cancel the parade because of the storms! This made many many people very very unhappy. When the fair board made that call, it was a less than ideal situation and we were not content with it. http://www.ephratareview.com/news/a-tough-call-for-parade-directors/ Pretty soon though (like Wednesday night when it was pouring at the time the parade should have been starting) we came to realize that that it was for the best. We still weren’t happy about it, but we were content.
Now this was a relatively small example discontentment, but the feeling is the same. When we’re content, we have that feeling of ‘I’m happy where I’m at and I never want to change.’ The problem is, most of us can’t keep that feeling for very long and we don’t have to look very deeply into our lives to find a situation that we’d like to change. The glaring one in my life? Singleness. This is not an easy stage to be in, especially not at “Lancaster Bridal College” and at times (especially recently), I find myself feeling very discontent over this.
Well wouldn’t you know it, chapter 9 of Jerry Bridges book ‘Respectable Sins’ is about discontentment. As I was reading over this chapter the other day, I almost started to get a little salty about it because (duh) discontentment is a sin! Bridges explains that “We are so used to responding to difficult circumstances with anxiety, frustration, or discontentment that we consider them normal reactions to the varying vicissitudes of life…When we fail to recognize these responses to our circumstances as sin, we are responding no differently from unbelievers who never factor God into their situations” (page 73). I don’t like being told that I’m acting like an unbeliever (hence the saltiness) but it’s the truth! When we respond to a situation, no matter what it may be, with discontentment, it’s like telling God that we don’t trust Him and we aren’t thankful for what He’s doing for us.
Now this is something that I’ve thought about a lot so let me explain through a little Story Time with Natalie. This story ties in so well with this chapter that once again I can’t help but see God’s hand in lining it up.
Remember that whole single girl at “Lancaster Bridal College” thing? Yeah that’s been going on for all of college so I’ve had 3 ½ years to think about this (actually more if you count high school) and fighting for contentment is a constant battle. For awhile, my prayer was simply ‘God give me contentment.’ The problem was, I didn’t know how to get there. Maybe you’re stuck in the same boat. You want to be content where you are but you just don’t know how to get there. Over the years, I started to figure it out on my own but lucky for you, Bridges explains it!
I wish I could remember exactly what made the connection for me, what or who turned the light switch on so that I understood my situation and could finally be content with it. But I can’t. I will say though that the book I talked about in an earlier post, ‘Not Yet Married’ by Marshall Segal definitely helped with this! https://www.desiringgod.org/books/not-yet-married At some point in my discontent journey through the single life, I realized that God has me here for a reason. If His plan for me included graduating with my MRS degree (another LBC joke) I would be! Now here’s a neat thing He lined up to fit in with is. During the summer I volunteer as a camp counselor and one of my favorite things to tell my girls is that God is writing the movie of our lives. We’ve only seen the 10 second trailer but He wrote, directed, and produced the ENTIRE THING! He knows what’s coming, what the ending will be, and what the best way is for us to get there. Do you see the connection here? No matter what situation we are in, what scene of the movie we’re currently living in, it is all a part of something greater that God has designed! One of my favorite things Bridges says in this chapter is this: “Whatever your circumstances and however difficult they may be, the truth is that they are ordained by God for you as part of His overall plan for your life. God does nothing, or allows nothing, without a purpose. And His purposes, however mysterious and inscrutable they may be to us, are always for His glory and our ultimate good” (page 74). (That last sentence got a double underline and a star!)
No matter what our circumstances may be, from singleness to unemployment to cancer, when we think about them that way, it becomes much harder to be discontent! Think about Romans 8:28 29 and 38–39. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8&version=NIV We have assurance that no matter what may be going on in our lives, it’s ok! God is in control! He designed it and lined it up for our good, the good of knowing Him, because He loves us.
And to tie this into my favorite theme of worship (because, why not? It fits.) When we are content with our circumstances, we have the ability to be like Job, praising and thanking God for everything! A life like that is some pretty serious worship! If we are truly seeking to live a life that brings honor and glory to God, we must be content in the circumstances He has put us in!
For more on contentment, check out this video/Bible study by John Piper! https://www.desiringgod.org/labs/the-secret-of-contentment
For more on contentment, check out this video/Bible study by John Piper! https://www.desiringgod.org/labs/the-secret-of-contentment
