This concept of discontentment is anything but new. It has actually been around since the fall of man. Since Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit. Since sin entered the world. God is not surprised by my discontentment. He is not caught off guard by my discontent heart.
But He does call me to choose Him in those moments. He does expect me to surrender my longings/desires/wishes/plans to Him and Him alone.
In my morning quiet time, I have been reading through the Old Testament specifically in Genesis and Exodus. If you're looking for it, you'd probably be quite surprised by the number of accounts where discontentment jumps off the page.
For starters, there was Leah and Rachel. The story goes like this. Jacob {twin brother of Esau} ran for his life after he stole his brother's blessing from their father, Issac. Just a regular soap opera going on here in the Old Testament. He went to his his mother's {Rebekah: wife of Issac} brother to find a wife.
Cue Days of Our Lives {Bible Times}. Jacob was tricked into marrying the oldest daughter, Leah, when he thought he was marrying the other daughter, Rachel. Drama. Imagine working 7 years to marry this one person only to get to your wedding night and realize it's her sister. I can imagine there was a little anger, turmoil, jealousy, and favoritism going on there between this sordid crew.
Leah was discontent. Jacob didn't love her like he loved her sister. She was the second favorite wife. She was second priority. God gave her multiple children, but she couldn't have the one thing she wanted. The love of her husband.
Rachel was discontent. She was the favorite wife. Jacob loved her, cherished her, favored her, and preferred her over her sister. She couldn't have children. God had closed her womb. She couldn't have the one things she wanted. A child.
Don't you see the pattern here? They were both discontent. They both wanted what the other one had. They both had what the other one wanted.
Moral of the story: We will never be content with earthly things. God created our hearts, and He created them to be content/fulfilled/satisfied by Him alone. When we try to fill/satisfy it with other things is when we usher in discontentment.
Only the Creator of our hearts can satisfy the desires of our hearts.
It's time to stop thinking the next thing will bring me contentment. No husband, life, job, city, home, cellphone, tv show, or food will bring me contentment.
Jesus will. He will bring me contentment if I just stop seeking these other things. And start seeking Him.
But He does call me to choose Him in those moments. He does expect me to surrender my longings/desires/wishes/plans to Him and Him alone.
In my morning quiet time, I have been reading through the Old Testament specifically in Genesis and Exodus. If you're looking for it, you'd probably be quite surprised by the number of accounts where discontentment jumps off the page.
For starters, there was Leah and Rachel. The story goes like this. Jacob {twin brother of Esau} ran for his life after he stole his brother's blessing from their father, Issac. Just a regular soap opera going on here in the Old Testament. He went to his his mother's {Rebekah: wife of Issac} brother to find a wife.
Cue Days of Our Lives {Bible Times}. Jacob was tricked into marrying the oldest daughter, Leah, when he thought he was marrying the other daughter, Rachel. Drama. Imagine working 7 years to marry this one person only to get to your wedding night and realize it's her sister. I can imagine there was a little anger, turmoil, jealousy, and favoritism going on there between this sordid crew.
Leah was discontent. Jacob didn't love her like he loved her sister. She was the second favorite wife. She was second priority. God gave her multiple children, but she couldn't have the one thing she wanted. The love of her husband.
Rachel was discontent. She was the favorite wife. Jacob loved her, cherished her, favored her, and preferred her over her sister. She couldn't have children. God had closed her womb. She couldn't have the one things she wanted. A child.
Don't you see the pattern here? They were both discontent. They both wanted what the other one had. They both had what the other one wanted.
Only the Creator of our hearts can satisfy the desires of our hearts.
It's time to stop thinking the next thing will bring me contentment. No husband, life, job, city, home, cellphone, tv show, or food will bring me contentment.
Jesus will. He will bring me contentment if I just stop seeking these other things. And start seeking Him.
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{This series is a part of a writing challenge given by the nester, Myquillyn Smith, to write for 31 Days. You can check the write31days website out here and
enjoy hundreds of other bloggers joining together for this challenge.
My posts are a part of my personal topic choice of 31 Days of
Contentment, and you can find the link for the entire series here.}