So I had the great pleasure of teaching at our church’s women’s ministry retreat this year. When our women’s ministry director asked if I would pray about speaking at our retreat this year. I was so scared and could not see myself doing it. I am not a public speaker at all. But when she told me the topic would be on contentment. I could tell that if I didn’t say yes, I would be disobeying the Lord. He has grown me so much in contentment this year (all praise to Him alone!)
It was no coincidence that she would ask me to speak on something that I think the Lord has truly been sanctifying me in. So now I would love to share it with you! I will post it in three parts due to its length. I hope you find encouragement and that your trust in Christ in all circumstances grows, sister!
“Contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.” – Jeremiah Burroughs
I reflect on a time in my life when I knew these truths, but I was still so discontent. Because of this inner conflict, I sought wisdom from the Lord by reading my Bible and praying, and, in the Lord’s kind sovereignty, I stumbled upon the Elizabeth Elliott podcast. The truth that Elizabeth shared encouraged me and changed my perspective so much. Not because it was her words, but because she was sharing God’s word. It is from His word that we gain hope, comfort, and strength. Her radio program and story helped take me from feeling all over the place to feeling anchored in Christ. I would love to share part of her story with y’all now.
Operation Auca
Picture it, Eastern Ecuador in 1956. For the past several months, a group of missionaries were dropping off gifts by plane to an unreached people group called the Auca indians. Auca means “savage”. You can only imagine the reputation this tribe had with a name like that. Many groups that had tried to enter Auca territory before were never seen again. After many weeks of patiently air-dropping items. The missionaries carefully set up camp at the edge of the tribes territory in hopes that they would make contact and could share the Gospel with them.
They finally made contact and shared a meal with three of the Indians (A man and two women). As everything seemed to be going well, all five missionaries were dreadfully speared to death two days later by the Aucas. One of the five martyred men among them was Jim Elliott. Devastatingly, leaving Elisabeth and their 10-month-old daughter, Valerie, alone without a Husband and a Father. Can you imagine? The five newly widowed wives could have responded with bitterness like Job’s wife, saying something like “Why should we trust in the Lord? He took our husbands …” But despite their circumstances, they built each other up in the Lord.
Trust in His sovereign will
In fact, they all stayed to continue their missionary work. Praise the Lord! Elisabeth and these women knew that what the enemy meant for evil, the Lord meant for good. Do you really know this truth today? Eventually, the Lord would orchestrate two Auca women to stay with Elizabeth. After a whole year of helping her create the Auca written language, they wanted Elisabeth to come home to their village with them. So Elizabeth and her three-and-a-half-year-old child lived with the Auca indians for two years in the very village that brutally murdered her husband.
During these two years, through the sovereignty of God, she was able to share the Gospel with them and also learned many lessons from the Lord through the Auca people. Elisabeth, of course, had many emotions to work through. Though she was distraught and confused, she still desperately wanted the Auca people to know the God who made the world. Elisabeth, being a woman anchored in who God truly is, was not bitter. Because she had assurance that God is always good, in control, and knows best.
True Contentment
As you can imagine, discontentment was not a stranger to Elisabeth Elliot, nor is it to you and me. We all have situations that I am sure the Lord has brought to your mind over this weekend. That you are unsettled about and having a hard time letting go of your imagined future for what is your true reality. Maybe you are discontent with not having a husband yet, or, on the other hand, retirement with your husband of 50 years is not measuring up to what you have been dreaming of.
Are you a mom having to work, wishing every second you were loving on your little babies at home instead? Versus the scenario of the stay-at-home mom homeschooling your kids, but still feeling like you are longing for something else. The point is, we might be experiencing exactly what someone else is praying and longing for, but we are still somehow discontent.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Colossians 2. Paul says starting in verse 6-7, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” In verses 9 and 10, he continues, “For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority.” And on down, Paul says, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” We could summarize this passage and teaching session by saying …
Main point:
“God is the author of our days. Therefore, we can dwell secure in the wisdom of his sovereign plan. “
We can see that God is sovereign over all in verse 15, how to live as anchored women in verses 6-7, and the assurance we have in God’s steadfast love in verses 9-10. First, God is sovereign over all, verse 15. “He is the head of all rule and authority…He has put rulers and authorities to open shame by triumphing over them.” This is the God we serve.
We see His Sovereignty all throughout the bible…
Psalm 139: 1-6 says, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up: you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”
A couple of verses later, David says in verse 16, “ In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them.”
God is..
Omniscient (all-knowing). He knows what each day holds for you. He knows what situations you will encounter, how you will react, and feel in each circumstance. And He will uphold you with His righteous right hand through it all.
God is omnipresent (all-present), the psalmist says, “If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” As also said in Isaiah 41:10, “ fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
So, why do we not trust in the Lord? Why do we not trust the Lord with every single aspect of our lives? When uncertainties arise, why do our hearts fear when surely our God is in control? The shocks in our lives are not a surprise to Him. He has numbered our days, and He is in control of each and every one of them. Lord, please help my heart to trust and rest in you fully. I pray the very same for my sisters in here today.
Rest in Christ
A major component of contentment is resting in Christ. Now, who knew resting would be such a difficult task? Nonetheless, the Lord calls us to rest in Him. Resting in Him involves trusting in the wisdom of His sovereign plan. We build this trust by going through hardships and suffering, which grows our dependence on him. People can suffer without growing in spiritual maturity. The key factor is going through suffering with our gaze fixed on Christ. Counting it all joy to have the opportunity to grow in our reliance on the Lord.
Knowing He has a purpose and a plan in your pain. Because our God does not do things without purpose. It is for your good, your sanctification, and for His glory! Sanctification can be defined as becoming more like Christ. Our spiritual maturity is not anything of our own doing, so no one can boast. It comes from Christ alone. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us. He is the one faithful to change our hearts, desires, and affections because we never could nor would we want to without Him.
With that, it is not only God’s promise and His sovereignty but also our responsibility to pursue obedience, sacrifice, and discipline in suffering. This will not happen overnight; sanctification is a lifelong process. But we can look at every trial as an opportunity for worship. Like James says in chapter one, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.”
Lacking nothing…
.How could He not be all we need? Romans 5:1-5, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
If we do believe and we know God is in control of every aspect of our life, including making our standing right with Him through Jesus Christ, then we can take courage knowing our sufferings will not end us. They will not destroy us but strengthen us in Him. This is sanctification. Now, remember yesterday when Lydia said that awesome part about how “we dont have a single child more or less, a single dollar more or less, a single hair more or less, That God has not ordained for you to have at this very moment.” Do we believe that is all true?
Do we believe that God is who He says He is? Because if we do, then scripture is great news, and we can take complete assurance in whatever the Bible says. But if we don’t, this all means nothing to us.
He Holds the Future
Growing up, I had the opportunity to go to church with my Nana and Pawpaw at their little Baptist church in the mountains, filled with good people. I swear I did not go a Sunday without receiving a hard candy, stick of gum, or little gift from the sweet ladies sitting near us.
At their church, they had a choir, and anyone who wanted to sing in it could. I loved singing in the choir with Pawpaw. One of my favorite hymns we sang was Because He Lives, and the chorus sings, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living just because He lives.”
Now, I did not know a lot of theology at that time, and I still do not know as much as I wish. But my little heart took peace and clung to that one verse that stood out to me, “Because He lives all fear is gone, because I know He holds the future.” This song meant so much to my Nana and Pawpaw as well. They had seen through their life experiences how the Lord had held their future, too.
He holds our future, and he loves us with an everlasting, undeserving love that we cannot comprehend. He is not going to do harm to us. We can trust in Him and His plan. He will never leave or forsake us. Even when we walk through times that seem like storms, as if we are in a pit and there is no way out, He is with us.
Scripture tells us…
- Q: When you pass through the waters?
- A: He will be with you
- Q: Through the rivers?
- A: They shall not overwhelm you
- Q: Through fire?
- A: You shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
When we listen to Him, we will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster. I don’t know about you, but I believe fear of disaster is where my sinful heart is so quick to go. Worrying about the worst-case scenarios and dreading what may come. But how much is that me insulting my divine sovereign creator? Intentional or not, it is still me doubting Him. Where in your life is God asking you to trust Him?
God has placed us in specific places for allotted times according to His will and plan. You are not where you are right now by chance. Proverbs 16 declares God’s sovereignty…
Verse 1, Man can have plans and desires, but the answer will be from the Lord.
Verse 9, Man can plan, but it is the Lord who establishes his steps.
Verse 33, Chance does not occur because the Lord is in control of everything, including which number the dice will fall on.
WE ( and I do say we because it is a close temptation of mine) can pretend that we have control. Raise of hand, any planners in the building? Me too, it feels secure and safe to have a game plan. So what happens when it all falls apart? What is your response when things do not go your way? We can plan all we want, but it is the Lord who establishes our steps. Do not be mistaken, sister, He is God, and we are not.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for your sovereignty! You have authority over all because you are the creator of all. Please let this truth saturate our anxious and weary hearts. Bringing us hope that you hold our days, therefore we shall not fear. To you be all glory and honor, Lord!
Here is a link to the Elisabeth Elliot podcast. I hope it blesses you as much as it has blessed me 🙂