In today’s reading, the apostle Paul says he has learned the secret of experiencing contentment in all circumstances, good or bad. Does it surprise you that he wrote this when he was in prison, unsure of his future?

We’re often discontent even when all is going well. Consequently, we wonder how it’s possible to be truly content during our most difficult trials, especially when there’s no end in sight. So what is genuine contentment? Paul is speaking of a freedom from worry and frustration about everything in life–even unfulfilled desires.

It’s usually when we cannot control or change our situation that we feel discontentment. As long as our satisfaction depends on whether certain things actually work out, we’ll allow circumstances to cheat us out of peace. I’m not saying there’s some spiritual stage where you will never again experience anxiety or frustration. But what matters is how we respond when those feelings grip us.

This is something that the apostle had to learn. Paul endured amazing suffering, from shipwrecks and hunger to unjust imprisonment and beatings (2 Cor. 11:24-30). He had gone through countless situations that were uncertain, extraordinarily painful, and seemingly hopeless. But he finally discovered that contentment could not be dependent upon his circumstances.

How do you respond when circumstances are out of your control? Do you get angry? Do you try to escape? Does despair make you want to give up? Paul chose to give his anxieties to Jesus in exchange for peace that “surpasses all comprehension” (Phil. 4:7). That same peace is available to you!

 Whether we merely dip into its surface or stretch out our arms attempting to reach its depths, language is a deep well. With words, there is often more than meets the eye. And there is something about the study of words that reminds us that if we dig deep enough, hidden treasures can be found.

 By way of introduction to the word “faith,” the book of Hebrews speaks of men and women, people of history exhibiting faith themselves, following hard after God in trust and obedience. These names are not listed to makes us feel diminutive by comparison, but are presented as something of a definition, a definition which establishes that faith continues to be about seeking one who has been found. Abraham and Moses, Enoch and Noah and Rahab, all are commended for walking in faith and hoping in what was yet unseen. We are given the image of countless spirits who have been moved by God as they moved toward God, seeking in light and shadow the one who is pleased by faith. For “without faith it is impossible to please God for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). 

 Here, further encouragement is set forth even while imagining the magnificent faith of Moses and the sustaining hope of Abraham. For what sets them apart in the eyes of God are hearts that were after God’s own. These men and women sought first the kingdom though in some cases little was seen of this kingdom in their lifetimes. They sought first the God who is faithful though they were not, a firm foundation though they were often indecisive in their certainty. Likewise, we today can seek a God who does not grow weary of pursuing us though we often grow weary of pursuing God.

 Thus the writer imparts that faith in God is more than believing God exists; faith is not mere abstraction, a lifeless notion of fact. Faith is seeking the God who can be found, which is the detail of utmost importance. The Greek word that is usually translated “seek” in this passage is actually a compound word meaning to “seek out.” The word “seek” (zeteo) here is written ekzeteo. Though most English translations denote the two different words identically, the later is deliberately more intense. The added word re-emphasizes the first so that it is understood with all the force and certainty the author intended. It is not merely “seeking;” it is seeking actively something that can be found. It is the difference between seeking something like happiness or world peace and seeking the child who has run off to hide while you are counting to twenty. You will seek the child until you find her, looking under beds and in wardrobes because you know she is out there wanting and waiting to be found.  

 “Faith,” writes Oswald Chambers, “is a tremendously active principle which always puts Jesus Christ first.” The careful words of the writer of Hebrews remind us not only that we are able to seek one who can be found but that we are able to seek one who wants to be found. We can seek the one who came among us, willing that none would be lost. That God is pleased by those who seek the Father’s arms exemplifies his longing to gather his children together, the care with which God seeks each one. Jesus likened it to a hen longing to gather her chicks, a shepherd seeking every last sheep in his flock. 

 God’s desire to seek you is not abstract, and faith’s seeking of God is no abstraction. Consider the depths of these words: “For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out'” (Ezekiel 34:11). Our seeking after the one who can be found might be similarly earnest, believing not only that God exists but that Father, Son, and Spirit are already near those who seek.  

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Morning “Delight thyself also in the Lord.”  Psalm 37:4

 The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers

to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it is only the inculcation of a

recognized truth. The life of the believer is here described as a delight in

God, and we are thus certified of the great fact that true religion overflows

with happiness and joy. Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon

religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never

pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either that they

may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do otherwise. The thought of

delight in religion is so strange to most men, that no two words in

 their language stand further apart than “holiness” and “delight.” But believers

who know Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly united, that

the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them. They who love God with all

their hearts, find that his ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are

peace. Such joys, such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, do the

saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving him from custom, they

would follow him though all the world cast out his name as evil. We fear not God

because of any compulsion; our faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage,

we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No,

 our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.

 Delight and true religion are as allied as root and flower; as indivisible as

truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two precious jewels glittering side by

side in a setting of gold.

 “‘Tis when we taste thy love,

 Our joys divinely grow,

 Unspeakable like those above,

 And heaven begins below.”

 

Evening  “O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face … because we have sinned against

thee.”   Daniel 9:8

 A deep sense and clear sight of sin, its heinousness, and the punishment which

it deserves, should make us lie low before the throne. We have sinned as

Christians. Alas! that it should be so. Favoured as we have been, we have yet

been ungrateful: privileged beyond most, we have not brought forth fruit in

proportion. Who is there, although he may long have been engaged in the

Christian warfare, that will not blush when he looks back upon the past? As for

our days before we were regenerated, may they be forgiven and forgotten; but

since then, though we have not sinned as before, yet we have sinned against

light and against love–light which has really penetrated our minds, and love in

which  we have rejoiced. Oh, the atrocity of the sin of a pardoned soul! An unpardoned

sinner sins cheaply compared with the sin of one of God’s own elect ones, who

has had communion with Christ and leaned his head upon Jesus’ bosom. Look at

David! Many will talk of his sin, but I pray you look at his repentance, and

hear his broken bones, as each one of them moans out its dolorous confession!

Mark his tears, as they fall upon the ground, and the deep sighs with which he

accompanies the softened music of his harp! We have erred: let us, therefore,

seek the spirit of penitence. Look, again, at Peter! We speak much of Peter’s

denying his Master. Remember, it is written, “He wept bitterly.” Have we

 no denials of our Lord to be lamented with tears? Alas! these sins of ours,

before and after conversion, would consign us to the place of inextinguishable

fire if it were not for the sovereign mercy which has made us to differ,

snatching us like brands from the burning. My soul, bow down under a sense of

thy natural sinfulness, and worship thy God. Admire the grace which saves

thee–the mercy which spares thee–the love which pardons thee!

 

Remove far from me falsehood and lying.  Proverbs 30:8 

 Here we have two great lessons—what to deprecate and what to supplicate. The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. Just as there is the most heat nearest to the sun, so there is the most happiness closest to Christ. No Christian enjoys comfort when his eyes are fixed on falsehood—he finds no satisfaction unless his soul is quickened in the ways of God.

The world may find happiness elsewhere, but he cannot. I do not blame ungodly men for rushing to their pleasures. Why should I? Let them have their fill. That is all they have to enjoy. A converted wife who despaired of her husband was always very kind to him, for she said, “I fear that this is the only world in which he will be happy, and therefore I have made up my mind to make him as happy as I can in it.” Christians must seek their delights in a higher sphere than the tasteless trifles or sinful enjoyments of the world. Empty pursuits are dangerous to renewed souls.

We have heard of a philosopher who, while he looked up to the stars, fell into a pit; but how deeply do they fall who look down. Their fall is fatal. No Christian is safe when his soul is lazy, and his God is far from him. Every Christian is always safe as to the great matter of his standing in Christ, but he is not safe as regards his experience in holiness and communion with Jesus in this life.

Satan does not often attack a Christian who is living near to God. It is when the Christian departs from God, becomes spiritually starved, and tries to feed on lies that the devil discovers his moment of advantage. He may sometimes stand foot to foot with the child of God who is active in his Master’s service, but the battle is generally brief. He who slips as he goes down into the Valley of Humiliation will find that with every false step he invites the devil’s attack. O for grace to walk humbly with our God!

Isaiah 45

Revelation 15