Contentment

I've been thinking a lot about contentment over the last 36 hours or so. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians that he has learned to be content in whatever circumstances he is. What does this mean, to be content?

Whenever I wonder about what a word means in any given context I go straight to the dictionary. I figure that I should start with whatever variety of definitions the English language offers me before I go doing any Greek word studies. So I went to dictionary.com (after having no luck with merriam-webster) and they provided me with the following:

satisfied with what one is or has;
not wanting more or anything else.

I immediately thought, "Shoot. Here I am whining about my situation in life, constantly wishing I was somewhere else and often praying to God asking him to do something about it. I am not satisfied with what I have and I definitely want something else."

Then I thought about it some more... If content simply means that I am to be straight up satisfied with all things and circumstances in my life, how am I to ever get anywhere? If I was perfectly content living in my shoebox in Massachusetts with a somewhat meager income, why would I ever move on? If I was perfectly content based on dictionary.com's definition above, then I've already reached the pinnacle of my life, have I not?

Clearly this was not the right conclusion to come to. So I brought the conundrum to my wise and loving husband who had no doubt thought of this before (he's thought of just about everything before! :). He told me that he used to think that to be content in all things was to settle. To have the mindset of, "Well, guess this is it! Nothin' I can do. I suppose I should just be cool with it." It occurred to me that settling is where my English word study had brought me (and I use the term study loosely - I just looked it up in a dictionary... online!!). The idea of settling was what I could sense was not what the true biblical definition of contentment was.

Then Alan said he had learned that being content in whatever circumstances you are is more about trust than it is about settling. I felt such a huge weight lifted off my shoulders! Trust!! Of course! Contentment is being satisfied with who and what you are, with what you have knowing and trusting that God's good and perfect will reigns in our lives.

Warren Wiersbe in the Bible Exposition Commentary (Victor, 1989) goes further, stating, "The word 'content' actually means 'contained.' It is a description of the man whose resources are within him so that he does not have to depend on substitutes without."

So not only can I trust in the God of the universe to lead me when the time is right - and I firmly believe he can and often does use discontentment to do so - I already have all the tools I need within me to survive the trials of this life which at the moment includes but is not limited to living in a stuffy, spidery shoebox.

So here I am at the end of this very brief and far from thorough little "study" and I feel that I can confidently say with the Psalmist,

Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:25-26

Yay God :)