Ordinarily I do not ride on the tails of others, however, I felt that this mornings devotional reading by C.H. Spurgeon was worth sharing. How often do we flit here and flit there looking for things to make us happy? Is the insanity of looking for contentment elsewhere a cost worthy investment when we are currently rich with possibilities? When we are afflicted with uncontrollable and unforeseen circumstances, are we willing to sit back and accept God’s will for us at that moment in time? Are we content? If the answer is no, how do we find contentment in our time of great need? It’s not through the ability of our own, it’s through the Lord Jesus Christ, our faith in Him and our trust in His sovereign grace that we can learn how to sow flowers of contentment. From Morning and Evening Daily Reading by C.H. Spurgeon:
“I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.”
Philippians 4:11
These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man. “Ill weeds grow apace.” Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and brambles; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth: and so, we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education. But the precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plough and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the gardener’s care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated; it will not grow in us by nature; it is the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then we must be specially careful and watchful that we maintain and cultivate the grace which God has sown in us. Paul says, “I have learned … to be content;” as much as to say, he did not know how at one time. It cost him some pains to attain to the mystery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down. And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, “I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content,” he was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave–a poor prisoner shut up in Nero’s dungeon at Rome. We might well be willing to endure Paul’s infirmities, and share the cold dungeon with him, if we too might by any means attain unto his good degree. Do not indulge the notion that you can be contented without learning, or learn without discipline. It is not a power that may be exercised naturally, but a science to be acquired gradually. We know this from experience. Brother, hush that murmur, natural though it be, and continue a diligent pupil in the College of Content.
On this sabbath day, my prayer is for all those afflicted with physical challenges and those afflicted with the challenges of life to look beyond their current disabilities and to seek sowing a field of contentment. Even being shut up in a home because of ailments can bring out contentment if you look hard enough. After all, we are warm, we have food, we have clean clothes and we are not sitting in a cold dungeon of persecution. Be blessed in the education and discipline of learning contentment.
