2011 Daniel Fast Blog Extended Edition_Contentment_Jason&Jackie Golden

 Contentment

 God has been speaking to me throughout this fast about contentment. I am so grateful for the opportunity to write this devotional- it’s made me meditate on contentment more! 

As soon as our new baby gets through feeding, he gets this enormously content look on his face. I can feel his little relaxed body and see his face and hear the warm sigh of perfect fullness come out of his mouth, along with a dribble or two of warm milk. Just the thought of it makes me smile. He knows he has all he needs. And that is the place God is taking me- to where I stay relaxed in His arms, lifting up each thing I need as it crosses my mind, but not dwelling on what I don’t have, or even what I do. Just happy to be where my Father is. What pleasure it must give God when He can feel us trust Him enough to be content with where we are- where He can feel us relax against His chest, trusting Him that what He has given us is truly enough. This is the definition for abiding in the rest- to be there with the Lord as He breathes in…and out…, and again in… and out… With each breath of His life inhaled, we see more of who He is. And with each breath of life exhaled, we give it away. We never stop needing more of either His inhale or His exhale. What is He showing us right now? Where is He going? Whom is He touching? 

But without contentment, without the ability to stay in His arms and feel His inhale and exhale, we miss His blessing. Matthew 5 in the Amplified Version declares these people to be blessed- those who are happy, to be envied, spiritually prosperous, with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation regardless of outward conditions. This definition for blessed is used in each of the beatitudes. One of the beatitudes adds one more thing. The beatitude that promises that the pure in heart will see God says that the word “blessed” also means that blessed people have experienced God’s great grace in a special way. It is impossible to be blessed- to have life-joy in God’s salvation regardless of outward conditions, it is impossible to experience God’s grace in a special way without contentment. 

One example of contentment regardless of outward conditions is this man, Gao Zhisheng. He is a Chinese Christian lawyer who has gone through extreme persecution. You can hear more about his testimony if you like on the website www.freegao.com. This is what he says that about himself. I am optimistic by nature, and I am Christian. Even when I was tortured to near-death, the pain was only in the physical body. A heart that is filled with God has no room to entertain pain and suffering. I and my two children often loudly sing songs together. What a legacy Gao Zhisheng is leaving for his children! 

Again, without contentment, without trusting the Lord to give us our daily bread, we cannot walk in Him. Instead we go scrounging, intensely gazing at the floor for the next crumb to fall as if we, sons of God, clothed in white whom God has seated beside Him in heavenly places, are only orphan-beggars who must find the next meal for themselves. That’s a great mental picture, and it’s easy to say that I would never dream of doing that. But how many times have I gone looking for the next great deal or business opportunity, and wandered off of my Father’s lap because He is just taking too long and I must search for it all by myself? 

Again, without contentment, how can I “do all things through Christ who strengthens me” ? (Phil. 4:13)

Without contentment, I give up all the promises attached to following the Ten Commandments. God has peace and joy and strength to give to us when we follow His ways. One of the Perfect Ten proclaims, “Do not covet.” Of course I don’t covet anybody’s pair of oxen or their maidservant, but what about the time they have available to them, or even the time that used to be available to me? This coveting, this wishing I was in a place that I’m not, robs from the treasure of today, a treasure that God wants to share with me.

How can I walk in the perfect peace of God if I’ve got my eye on somebody else’s shoes? 

So God of peace, I invite you now- come teach me. Come teach me about contentment. 

Jason and Jackie Golden

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