Contented

by Jarvis, A. G. | Category: Contented | Nov 1961

"Satisfied ... and full ... " is the commendation of Moses regarding Napthali. In his final word of blessing to the children of Israel the great prophet said of Napthali,

"0 Napthali, satisfied with favour,

And full with the blessing of the LORD:

Possess thou the west and the south" (Deuteronomy 33.23).

It is wonderful when this can be said of God's people in any dispensation, but it seems vitally important that it be true of His remnant people today, as we seek to serve the Lord Christ in an age of discontent and greed. There is a great need for us to insulate ourselves against the rapidly spreading influence in the world of covetousness, of wanting more, and more, and more; and although men appear to be successful in obtaining their demands they still remain unsatisfied and unthankful. Paul told Timothy that some of the symptoms of the last days would be that "men shall be lovers of money ... unthankful ..." This is so evident in our generation that we cannot help feeling that the coming of the Lord must be drawing near. God desires His people to be free from the love of money and content with such things as they have. (See Hebrews 13.5.) How natural it is to want to insure against future requirements, to become occupied with security and plenty for this life! How much striving takes place to achieve this end, and we forget that "Himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee" (Hebrews 13.5). One rendering of the word "forsake " is "to leave in the lurch."

For God to forsake even one of the weakest of His children would be a denial of Himself. Such is unthinkable. Faith takes a step at a time, and lives a day at a time. God's servant Jacob had to learn this lesson. Always ahead in his plans, Jacob had to be touched by God in the hollow of his thigh, and he became a limping man. Henceforth, halting he took a step at a time. This experience not only made him a changed man who had seen God face to face, but also resulted in His name being changed from Jacob, "the supplanter," to Israel, "the Prince" (Genesis 32. 22-32). At Peniel Jacob "had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him" (Hosea 12.4). Because of Peniel a greatly afraid and distressed Jacob was able to face with courage his brother Esau, who twenty-one years earlier had vowed to murder him. It is interesting to observe in this memorable meeting the contrast in the two men, and where their satisfaction and contentment rested. Jacob presented Esau with a gift, but in refusing it Esau said, "I have enough" (Genesis 33.9), a word indicating an abundance of material things. Jacob, however, pressed him to accept the gift, saying, "I have enough" (verse 11), using a different word indicating "all things in God." The one was content with his material things, but the other was content with a godly contentment like that of the apostle Paul, who said, "I have all things, and abound" (Philippians 4.18).

To be content with the portion God has given us is something to be desired by all God's children. The opposite can result in envyings, jealousy, malice, discontent. It is worthy of note that the word "discontented" in the Old Testament is partly from the word "marah," meaning " bitterness." We recall Israel's experience in the wilderness so soon after the miracle of the Red Sea. "When they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter" (Exodus 15.22-26). What was God's answer to Moses? "And the LORD shewed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet." Let us thank God for Him who is the Tree provided for us at Calvary, to take care of our Marah experiences. But do we resort there? How quickly disappointment, distress, discontent, and bitterness can all vanish with a vision of the blessed Man who hung upon the tree!

"Sweet the moments, rich in blessing

Which before the Cross we spend."

The more we know of Calvary, the sweeter our lives will be.

It is in keeping with our theme to recall what happened to Naomi who said to them who heralded her return to Bethlehem-Judah, "Call me not Naomi (pleasant), call me Mara (bitterness): for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the LORD bath brought me home again empty" (Ruth 1.20, 21). How full had Naomi been when she turned her back upon Bethlehem-judah ("the House of Bread") in time of famine, and went with her husband and sons to Moab! She might have had some material wealth; but she lost it all, and her family, in Moab. If she was discontented with conditions before she left home, she was more so in Moab. Incidentally, there is a timely warning here for God's people today. If at any time there appears to be a famine in God's house let us not become discontented and look to far-away fields as did Elimelech and Naomi, but let us labour faithfully where we are until God visits His people again with bread. On her return Naomi had more cause for rejoicing than sorrow. She had not returned empty, for in Ruth she had a fulness that could not be provided in any other way. Naomi was not only blessed in Ruth, from whose line came the Messiah, but the people of the city said of the child born to Boaz and Ruth, "There, is a son born to Naomi" (Ruth 4.17). How contented Naomi would be as she "took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it"! (verse 16).

One further illustration is to be found in those who gathered themselves unto David in his retreat to the cave of Adullam from the anger of Saul (1 Samuel 22.1). We are told that they were distressed, in debt, and discontented (" bitter of soul " - partly from the same words mar nephesh). Yet, what a change was wrought in these men because of their love for David! Some of them ultimately shared the renown of being David's "mighty men," and on one occasion three of them hazarded their lives fighting through the ranks of the enemy to get for their beloved leader a drink of the waters of Bethlehem, for which he longed. Seeing such love and sacrifice David would not drink, but poured out the water upon the ground, saying, "Be it far from me, 0 LORD, that I should do this: shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? " (2 Samuel 23.15-17). This was indeed a wonderful tribute to the devotion of men who were too busy in loving service to their master to be discontented any longer.

Can we see, beloved, that true contentment is to be found in living lives of loving devotion and sacrifice to satisfy the longing heart of David's Lord, who is the Lord Christ whom we serve? It is not to be found in acquiring wealth and possessions. What importance did the Hebrew Christians attach to earthly treasures ? "Ye ... took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that ye yourselves have a better possession and an abiding one" (Hebrews 10.84). The writer to the Hebrews asks them to call to remembrance the former days when out of love for the Lord Jesus they "endured a great conflict of sufferings; partly, being made a gazingstock both as he received the divine promise of a son, and the memory of his and Sarah's laughter is perpetuated in the name of that son, Isaac (laughter). We also read of the captives in Babylon that "When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion ... then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing" (Psalm 128.1, 2). Their joy was so real and deep that laughter was the spontaneous expression of their hearts, and we may surely connect this with the earlier experiences as recorded in Psalm 137 1.

"By the rivers of Babylon,

There we sat down, yea, we wept,

When we remembered Zion."

Weeping has a far larger place in human experience, and very numerous are the incidents in the Scriptures where sorrow and tears are recorded. Sin, with its sad entail of pain, disease and death, is the root cause of all weeping.

Passing over the many sad scenes of the Old Testament, we come to those simple words, "Jesus wept" (John 11.35). The import of these words is too deep for human thought. Standing in the presence of death, with tears falling fast around Him, He, too, wept, but who shall tell what feelings moved that sinless, loving heart on that occasion? Again, as He drew near to Jerusalem on another occasion, we read, "He wept over it." Its long and guilty history, the impending final act of His rejection, "when guilty man's most guilty deed was done," and the desolation it was soon to suffer under the hands of the Romans, these doubtless were the causes of the sorrow that moved Him to tears on that occasion.

Apart from these times when He wept in public, how many must have been the times when He wept in secret? "Strong crying and tears," "midnight scenes of woe," He often knew. "Despised and rejected of men," He could say," reproach hath broken My heart." But His tears were never for Himself, even as He drew near to Golgotha, followed by many weeping women, He could say, "Weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children" (Luke 23.28).

Paul, too, who so closely followed his beloved Master, was a man of many tears. Think of those years at Ephesus, of which he said, "I ceased not to admonish every one night and day with tears" (Acts 20.31). Again, how he wept as he thought of those worldly ones whom he knew (Philippians 3.18). God has a record of them all. David speaks in Psalm 56.8:

"Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle Are they not in Thy book?

Jarvis, A. G. | Nov 1961
Contented