Defending Your Family - Lesson 8 - Discontentment

DISCONTENT

Some synonyms for this word:
dissatisfaction, unhappiness, restlessness, displeasure and disgruntlement.

Discontent is the source of all trouble,
but also of all progress in individuals and in nations.
–Auerbach


DISCONTENTMENT

"Content makes poor men rich;
discontent makes rich men poor."
Benjamin Franklin.


DISCONTENT

One of Satan's favorite lies is to tell people
that things will be better if they go elsewhere:
For example, if they:
change marriage partners
change churches


Some people are always complaining.
What does God’s word say?


Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

Are you content with all that you have?







I Timothy 6:6-8, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.”

We think we know how Job felt, but we really have no idea.
Can you give us any advice in this area?





Philippians 4:11, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”

Are you always content?





We are discontent about material things.
Some people may say, f I only had more hair,
or more money,
or a nicer car would make me happier,
or a better job would make things all better.

Not that we always say these things,
but we feel them deeply;
and in many case we do not think it a sin to speak this way
even among the brethren.

While this is "natural", it is not something encouraged by God.

Luke 3:14, “And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.”

Have you ever been guilty of this?





There is no doubt that we should bring our real needs to God in prayer.
But how much of our discontentment has to do with real needs?

On the other hand,
we tend to be spiritually satisfied
and think we have "made it"
at our stage of spiritual maturity.


Here is a test:
In prayer meetings,
what are we asking for?
For more of God...
or for more of the temporary stuff
of the here and now?

While this materialism is "natural" enough,
and to be expected,
I suspect that God wants to provoke us
to a certain spiritual discontent
and passion for more of what is eternal.


I Corinthians 12:31, “But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”

Are we earnestly working toward the best gifts?





Isaiah 55:6, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:”

Do we go to God first?





Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

Do you thirst after righteousness or stuff?





Psalm 84:2, “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.”

Do you plead with God some times like you are a lawyer, and He may not see all the evidence?





Psalm 63:1, “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;”

Early, do you think that means first thing in the morning,
Or when the problem first arises?





Psalm 42:1, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.”

We have heard this song many times before.
What does this verse say to you?





Anyone speaking like David in today's Christian culture
would likely be pulled aside and rebuked for being "negative"
and given a book on being spiritually content where he was.

And yet I think we have it exactly backwards.
We should be content with the insignificant and brief material things we have,
and thankful to God for them.

We should hunger and thirst and seek and zealously strive
in every way for more of God and his grace,
even if few will encourage us in this direction
outside of the holy saints of old.

My advice would be to look for a group—
or start one in your home—
with such a purpose:
to seek God and find him.

Not to be content with mere talk about him,
but to be motivated to have him in truth.
Look for those who have "tasted and seen that He is good",
and who are ruined for anything else.


Short of this, go to the church you must,
but never give in to the tendency to lower God's standard of holiness.
Never sell out to the half-way or the watered down.

Hold out for the real and permanent,
even if you are not there yet.
For if you hold on to your hope,
you will not be disappointed if your hope is in God.

Romans 8:24, “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?”

What do you hope for?





Galatians 5:5, “For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”

How patient are you in waiting for the hope?





Let the Holy Spirit help you cultivate a heart
content in the physical
and that has permission to pout for God
in the spiritual till it is fully satisfied.

Ephesians 1:16-20, “Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,”

Can you give us any advice that would help our prayer life in this area?





We can pray that God will give us spiritual wisdom
and the insight to know more of Him:
that we may receive that inner clarification of the spirit
which will make us realize how great is the hope
to which He is calling us—
the magnificence and splendor of the inheritance
promised to Christians—

and how tremendous the power is available to us
who believe in God.
That power is the same divine energy
which was demonstrated in Christ
when he raised him from the dead...


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