CHRISTIAN CONTENTMENT DESCRIBED Part 1

CHRISTIAN CONTENTMENT DESCRIBED
'I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.'
- Philippians 4:11
This text contains a very timely cordial to revive the drooping spirits of the saints
in these sad and sinking time. For the 'hour of temptation' has already come
upon all the world to try the inhabitants of the earth. In particular, this is the day
of Jacob's trouble in our own bowels.
Our great Apostle holds forth experimentally in this Gospel-text the very life and
soul of all practical divinity. In it we may plainly read his own proficiency in the
school of Christ, and what lesson every Christian who would prove the power and
growth of godliness in his own soul must necessarily learn from him.
These words are brought in by Paul as a clear argument to persuade the
Philippians that he did not seek after great things in the world, and that he
sought not 'theirs' but 'them'. He did not long for great wealth. His heart was
taken up with better things. 'I do not speak', he says, 'in respect of want, for
whether I have or have not, my heart is fully satisfied, I have enough: I have
learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.' 'I have learned'-
Contentment in every condition is a great art, a spiritual mystery. It is to be
learned, and to be learned as a mystery. And so in verse 12 he affirms: 'I know
how to be abased, and I now how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am
instructed.' The word which is translated 'instructed' is derived from the word
that signifies 'mystery'; it is just as if he had said, 'I have learned the mystery of
this business.' Contentment is to be learned as a great mystery, and those who
are thoroughly trained in this art, which is like Samson's riddle to a natural man,
have learned a deep mystery. 'I have learned it'-I do not have to learn it now,
nor did I have the art at first; I have attained it, though with much ado, and
now, by the grace of God, I have become the master of this art.
'In whatsoever state I am'-The word 'estate' is not in the original, but simply 'in
what I am', that is, in whatever concerns or befalls me, whether I have little or
nothing at all.
'Therewith to be content'-The word rendered 'content' here has great elegance
and fullness of meaning in the original. In the strict sense it is only attributed to
God, who has styled himself 'God all-sufficient', in that he rests fully satisfied in
and with himself alone. But he is pleased freely to communicate his fullness to
the creature, so that from God in Christ the saints receive 'grace for grace' (John
1:16). As a result, there is in them the same grace that is in Christ, according to
their measure. In this sense, Paul says, I have a self-sufficiency, which is what
the word means.
But has Paul got a self-sufficiency? you will say. How are we sufficient of
ourselves! Our Apostle affirms in another case, 'That we are not sufficient of
ourselves to think anything as of ourselves' (2 Corinthians 3:5).
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Therefore his meaning must be, I find a sufficiency of satisfaction in my own
heart, through the grace of Christ that is in me. Though I have not outward
comforts and worldly conveniences to supply my necessities, yet I have a
sufficient portion between Christ and my soul abundantly to satisfy me in every
condition. This interpretation agrees with that place: 'A good man is satisfied
from himself' (Proverbs 14:14) and also with what Paul avers of himself in
another place, that 'though he had nothing yet he possessed all things'. Because
he had a right to the covenant and promise, which virtually contains everything,
and an interest in Christ, the fountain and good of all, it is no marvel that he said
that in whatsoever state he was in, he was content.
Thus you have the true interpretation of the text. I shall not make any division of
the words, because I take them only to promote the one most necessary duty,
viz. quieting and comforting the hearts of God's people under the troubles and
changes they meet with in these heart-shaking times.
The doctrinal conclusion briefly is this: That to be well skilled in the mystery of
Christian contentment is the duty, glory and excellence of a Christian.
This evangelical truth is held forth sufficiently in the Scripture, yet we may take
one or two more parallel places to confirm it. In 1 Timothy 6:6 and 8 you find
expressed both the duty and the glory of it: 'Having food and raiment', he says
in verse 8, 'let us be therewith content'-there is the duty.
'But godliness with contentment is great gain' (v. 6)-there is the glory and
excellence of it; as if to suggest that godliness were not gain except contentment
be with it. The same exhortation you have in Hebrews: 'Let your conversation be
without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have' (Hebrews
13:5).
I do not find any Apostle or writer of Scripture who deals so much with this
spiritual mystery of contentment as this our Apostle has done throughout his
Epistles.
To explain and prove the above conclusion, I shall endeavor to demonstrate four
things:
1. The nature of this Christian contentment: what it is.
2. The art and mystery of it.
3. What lessons must be learned to bring the heart to contentment.
4. Wherein the glorious excellence of this grace chiefly consists.
I offer the following description: Christian 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.
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I shall break open this description, for it is a box of precious ointment, and very
comforting and useful for troubled hearts, in troubled times and conditions.
1. CONTENTMENT IS A SWEET, INWARD HEART-THING. IT IS A WORK OF THE
SPIRIT INDOORS.
It is not only that we do not seek to help ourselves by outward violence, or that
we forbear from discontented and murmuring expressions with perverse words
and bearing against God and others. But it is the inward submission of the heart.
'Truly, my soul waiteth upon God' (Psalm 62:1) and 'My soul, wait thou only
upon God' (verse 5)-so it is in your Bibles, but the words may be translated as
correctly: 'My soul, be thou silent unto God. Holy thy peace, O my soul.' Not only
must the tongue hold its peace; the soul must be silent. Many may sit silently,
refraining from discontented expressions, yet inwardly they are bursting with
discontented expressions, yet inwardly they are bursting with discontent.
This shows a complicated disorder and great perversity in their hearts. And
notwithstanding their outward silence, God hears the peevish, fretful language of
their souls. A shoe may be smooth and neat outside, while inside it pinches the
flesh. Outwardly there may be great calmness and stillness, yet within amazing
confusion, bitterness, disturbance and vexation.
Some people are so weak that they cannot restrain the unrest of their spirits, but
in words and behavior they reveal what woeful disturbances there are within.
Their spirits are like the raging sea, casting forth nothing but mire and dirt, and
are troublesome not only to themselves but also to all with whom they live.
Others, however, are able to restrain such disorders of heart, as Judas did when
he betrayed Christ with a kiss, but even so they boil inwardly and eat away like a
canker. So David speaks of some whose words are sweeter than honey and
butter, and yet have war in their hearts.
In another place, he says, 'While I kept silence my bones waxed old'. In the
same way these people, while there is a serene calm upon their tongues, have
blustering storms upon their spirits, and while they keep silence their hearts are
troubled and even worn away with anguish and vexation. They have peace and
quiet outwardly, but within war from the unruly and turbulent workings of their
heart.
If the attainment of true contentment were as easy as keeping quiet outwardly,
it would not need much learning. It might be had with less strength and skill
than an Apostle possessed, yea, less than an ordinary Christian has or may have.
Therefore, there is certainly more to it than can be attained by common gifts and
the ordinary power of reason, which often bridle nature. It is a business of the
heart.
2. IT IS THE QUIET OF THE HEART.
All is sedate and still there. That you may understand this better, I would add
that this quiet, gracious frame of spirit is not opposed to certain things:
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1. To a due sense of affliction. God gives his people leave to be sensible of what
they suffer. Christ does not say, 'Do not count as a cross what is a cross'; he
says, 'Take up your cross daily'. It is like physical health: if you take medicine
and cannot hold it, but immediately vomit it up, or if you feel nothing and it does
not move you-in either case the medicine does no good, but suggests that you
are greatly disordered and will hardly be cured. So it is with the spirits of men
under afflictions: if they cannot bear God's potions and bring them up again, or if
they are insensitive to them and no more affected by them than the body is by a
draught of small beer, it is a sad symptom that their souls are in a dangerous
and almost incurable condition. So this inward quietness is not in opposition to a
sense of afflictions, for, indeed, there would be no true contentment if you were
not apprehensive and sensible of your afflictions, when God is angry.
2. It is not opposed to making an orderly manner our moan and complaint to
God, and to our friends. Though a Christian ought to be quiet under God's
correcting hand, he may without any breach of Christian contentment complain
to God. As one of the ancients says, Though not with a tumultuous clamor and
shrieking out in a confused passion, yet in a quiet, still, submissive way he may
unbosom his heart to God. Likewise he may communicate his sad condition to his
Christian friends, showing them how God has dealt with him, and how heavy the
affliction is upon him, that they may speak a word in season to his weary soul.
3. It is not opposed to all lawful seeking for help in different circumstances, nor
to endeavoring simply to be delivered out of present afflictions by the use of
lawful means. No, I may lay in provision for my deliverance and use God's
means, waiting on him because I do not know but that it may be his will to alter
my condition. And so far as he leads me I may follow his providence; it is but my
duty, God is thus far mercifully indulgent to our weakness, and he will not take it
ill at our hands if by earnest and importunate prayer we seek him for deliverance
until we know his good pleasure in the matter. Certainly seeking thus for help,
with such submission and holy resignation of spirit, to be delivered when God
wills, and as God wills, and how God wills, so that our wills are melted into the
will of God-this is not opposed to the quietness which God requires in a
contented spirit.
But what, then, it will be asked, is this quietness of spirit opposed to? 1. It is
opposed to murmuring and repining at the hand of God, as the discontented
Israelites often did. If we cannot bear this either in our children or servants,
much less can God bear it in us.
2. To vexing and fretting, which is a degree beyond murmuring. I remember the
saying of a heathen, 'A wise man may grieve for, but not be vexed with his
afflictions'. There is a vast different between a kindly grieving and a disordered
vexation.
3. To tumultuousness of spirit, when the thoughts run distractingly and work in a
confused manner, so that the affections are like the unruly multitude in the Acts,
who did know for what purpose they had come together. The Lord expects you to
be silent under his rod, and, as was said in Acts 19:36, 'Ye ought to be quiet and
to do nothing rashly.'
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4. It is opposed to an unsettled and unstable spirit, whereby the heart is
distracted from the present duty that God requires in our several relationships,
towards God, ourselves and others. We should prize duty more highly than to be
distracted by every trivial occasion. Indeed, a Christian values every service of
God so much that though some may be in the eyes of the world and of natural
reason a slight and empty business, beggarly elements, or foolishness, yet since
God calls for it, the authority of the command so overawes his heart that he is
willing to spend himself and to be spent in discharging it. It is an expression of
Luther's that ordinary works, done in faith and from faith, are more precious
than heaven and earth. And if this is so, and a Christian knows it, he should not
be diverted by small matters, but should answer every distraction, and resist
every temptation, as Nehemiah did Sanballat, Geshem and Tobiah, when they
would have hindered the building of the wall, with this: 'I am doing a great work
so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and
come down to you?' (Nehemiah 6:3).
5. It is opposed to distracting, heart-consuming cares. A gracious heart so
esteems its union with Christ and the work that God sets it about that it will not
willingly suffer anything to come in to choke it or deaden it. A Christian is
desirous that the Word of God should take such full possession as to divide
between soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12), but he would not allow the fear and
noise of evil tidings to take such a hold in his soul as to make a division and
struggling there, like the twins in Rebekah's womb. A great man will permit
common people to stand outside his doors, but he will not let them come in and
make a noise in his closet or bedroom when he deliberately retires from all
worldly business. So a well-tempered spirit may enquire after things outside in
the world, and suffer some ordinary cares and fears to break into the suburbs of
the soul, so as to touch lightly upon the thoughts. Yet it will not on any account
allow an intrusion into the private room, which should be wholly reserved for
Jesus Christ as his inward temple.
6. It is opposed to sinking discouragements. When things do not fall out
according to expectation, when the tide of second causes runs so low that we see
little in outward means to support our hopes and hearts, then the heart begins to
reason as did he in 2 Kings 7:2: 'If the Lord should open the windows of heaven
how should this be?' We never consider that God can open the eyes of the blind
with clay and spittle, he can work above, beyond, and even contrary to means.
He often makes the fairest flowers of man's endeavors to wither and brings
improbable things to pass, in order that the glory of the undertaking may be
given to himself. Indeed, if his people stand in need of miracles to bring about
their deliverance, miracles fall as easily from God's hands as to give his people
daily bread. God's blessing many times is a secret from his servants so that they
do not know from which way it is coming, as 'Ye shall not see wind, neither shall
ye see rain, yet the valley shall be filled with water' (2 Kings 3:17).
God would have us to depend on him though we do not see how the thing may
be brought about; otherwise, we do not show a quiet spirit. Though an affliction
is on you, do not let your heart sink under it. So far as your heart sinks and you
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are discouraged under affliction, so much you need to learn this lesson of
contentment.
7. It is opposed to sinful shiftings and shirkings to get relief and help. We see
this kind of thing in Saul running to the witch of Endor, and offering sacrifice
before Samuel came. Nay, good King Jehoshaphat joins himself with Ahaziah (2
Chronicles 20:35). And Asa goes to Benhadad, King of Syria, for help, 'not
relying upon the Lord' (2 Chronicles 16:7, 8), though the Lord had delivered the
Ethiopian army into his hands consisting of a thousand thousand (2 Chronicles
14:12). And good Jacob joined with his mother in lying to Isaac; not content to
await God's time and use God's means, he made too great a haste and went out
of his way to procure the blessing which God intended for him. Thus do many,
through the corruption of their hearts and the weakness of their faith, because
they are not able to trust God and follow him fully in all things and always. For
this reason, the Lord often follows the saints with many sore temporal crosses,
as we see in the case of Jacob, though they obtain the mercy. It may be that
your carnal heart thinks, I do not care how I am delivered, if only I may be freed
from it. It is not so many times in some of your hearts, when any cross or
affliction befalls you? Do you not experience such workings of spirit as this? 'Oh,
if I could only be delivered from this affliction in any way, I would not care'-your
hearts are far from being quiet. This sinful shifting is the next thing which is in
opposition to the quietness which God requires in a contented spirit.
8. The last thing that quietness of spirit is the opposite of it desperate risings of
the heart against God by way of rebellion. That is the most abominable. I hope
many of you have learned so far to be content as to restrain your hearts from
such disorders. Yet the truth is that not only wicked men, but sometimes the
very saints of God find the beginnings of this, when an affliction remains for a
long time and is very severe and an affliction remains for a long and is very
severe and heavy indeed upon them, and strikes them, as it were, in the master
vein. They find in their hearts something of a rising against God, their thoughts
begin to bubble, and their affections begin to move in rebellion against God
himself.
Especially is this the case with those who besides their corruptions have a large
measure of melancholy. The Devil works both upon the corruptions of their
hearts and the melancholy disease of their bodies, and though much grace may
lie underneath, yet under affliction there may be some risings against God
himself.
Now Christian quietness is opposed to all these things. When affliction comes,
whatever it is, you do not murmur; though you feel it, though you make your cry
to God, though you desire to be delivered, and seek it by all good means, yet
you do not murmur or repine, you do not fret or vex yourself, there is not a
tumultuousness of spirit in you, not an instability, there are not distracting fears
in your hearts, no sinking discouragements, no unworthy shifts, no risings in
rebellion against God in any way: This is quietness of spirit under an affliction,
and that is the second thing, when the soul is so far able to bear an affliction as
to keep quiet under it.
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3. NOW THE NEXT THING I WANT TO EXPLAIN IN THE DESCRIPTION IS THIS, IT
IS AN INWARD, QUIET, GRACIOUS FRAME OF SPIRIT.
It is a frame of spirit and also a gracious frame. Contentment is a soul business.
First, it is inward; Secondly, quiet; Thirdly, it is a quiet frame of spirit. I mean
three things when I say that contentment consists in the quiet frame of the spirit
of a man.
1. That it is a grace that spreads itself through the whole soul. It is in the
judgment, that is, the judgment of the soul of a man or woman tends to quiet
the heart-in my judgment I am satisfied. It is one thing to be satisfied in one's
judgment and understanding, so as to be able to say, 'This is the hand of God,
and is what is suitable to my condition or best for me.
Although I do not see the reason for the thing, yet I am satisfied in my judgment
about it.' Then it is in the thoughts of a man or woman. As my judgment is
satisfied, so my thought are kept in order, so that it goes through the whole
soul.
In some there is a partial contentment. It is not the frame of the soul, but some
part of the soul has some contentment. Many a man may be satisfied in his
judgment about a thing who cannot for his life rule his affections, nor his
thoughts, nor his will. I do not doubt that many of you know this in your own
experience, if you observe the workings of your own hearts. Can you not say
when a certain affliction befalls you, I can bless God that I am satisfied in my
judgment about it? I see the hand of God and I should be content, yea, in my
judgment I am satisfied that mine is a good condition.
But I cannot for my life rule my thoughts and will and my affections.
Methinks I feel my heart heavy and sad and more than it should be; yet my
judgment is satisfied. This seemed to be the position of David in Psalm 42: 'O my
soul, why art thou disquieted?' As far as David's judgment went there was a
contentedness, that is, his judgment was satisfied as to the work of God on him.
He was troubled, but he knew not why: 'O my soul, why art thou cast down
within me?' This is a very good psalm for those who feel a fretting, discontented
sickness in their hearts at any time to read and sing. He says once or twice in
that Psalm: 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul?' and in verse 5, 'And why art
thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the
help of his countenance.' David had enough to quiet him, and what he had,
prevailed with his judgment. But after it had prevailed with his judgment, he
could not get it any further. He could not get this grace of contentment to go
through the whole frame of his soul.
Sometimes, a great deal of disturbance is involved in getting contentment into
people's judgments, that is, to satisfy their judgment about their condition. If
you come to many, whom the hand of God is upon perhaps in a grievous
manner, and seek to satisfy them and tell them they have no cause to be so
disquieted, 'Oh, no cause?' says the troubled spirit, 'then there is no cause for
anyone to be disquieted. There has never been such an affliction as I have.' And
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they have a hundred things with which to evade the force of what is said to
them, so that you cannot so much as get at their judgments to satisfy them. But
there is a great deal of hope of attaining contentment, if once your judgments
are satisfied, if you can sit down and say in your judgment, 'I see good reason to
be contented.' Yet even when you have got so far, you may still have much to do
with your hearts afterwards. There is such unruliness in our thoughts and
affections that our judgments are not always able to rule our thoughts and
affections. That is what makes me say that contentment is an inward, quiet,
gracious frame of spirit-the whole soul, judgment, thoughts, will, affections and
all are satisfied and quiet. I suppose that merely in opening this subject you
begin to see that it is a lesson that you need to learn, and that if contentment is
like this then it is not easily obtained.
2. Spiritual contentment comes from the frame of the soul. The contentment of a
man or woman who is rightly content does not come so much from outward
arguments or from any outward help, as from the disposition of their own hearts.
The disposition of their own hearts causes and brings forth this gracious
contentment rather than any external thing.
Let me explain myself. Someone is disturbed, suppose it to be a child or a man
or a woman. If you come and bring some great thing to please them, perhaps it
will quiet them and they will be contented. It is the thing you bring that quiets
them, not the disposition of their own spirits, not any good temper in their own
hearts, but the external thing you bring them. But when a Christian is content in
the right way, the quiet comes more from the temper and disposition of his own
heart than from any external argument or from the possession of anything in the
world.
I would unfold this further to you with this simile: To be content as a result of
some external thing is like warming a man's clothes by the fire. But to be
content through an inward disposition of the soul is like the warmth that a man's
clothes have from the natural heat of the body. A man who is healthy in body
puts on his clothes, and perhaps at first on a cold morning they feel cold. But
after he has had them on a little while they are warm. Now, how did they get
warm? They were not near the fire? No, this came from the natural heat of his
body. Now when a sickly man, the natural heat of whose body has deteriorated,
puts on his clothes, they do not get hot after a long time. He must warm them
by the fire, and even then they will soon be cold again.
This will illustrate the different contentments of men. Some are very gracious,
and when an affliction comes on them, though at first it seems a little cold, after
they have borne it a while, the very temper of their hearts makes their afflictions
easy. They are quiet under it and do not complain of any discontent. But now
there are others that have an affliction upon them and have not this good
temper in their hearts. Their afflictions are very cold and troublesome to them.
Maybe, if you bring some external arguments to bear upon them like the fire that
warms the clothes, they will be quiet for a while. But, alas, if they lack a gracious
disposition in their own hearts, that warmth will not last long. The warmth of the
fire, that is, a contentment that results merely from external arguments, will not
last long. But that which comes from the gracious temper of one's spirit will last.
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When it comes from the spirit of a man or woman-that is true contentment. We
shall, however, have more to say of this in explaining the mystery of
contentment.
3. It is the frame of spirit that shows the habitual character of this grace of
contentment. Contentment is not merely one act, just a flash in a good mood.
You find many men and women who, if they are in a good mood, will be very
quiet. But this will not hold. It is not a constant course. It is not the constant
tenor of their spirits to be holy and gracious under affliction.
Now I say that contentment is a quiet frame of spirit and by that I mean that you
should find men and women in a good mood not only at this or that time, but as
the constant tenor and temper of their hearts. A Christian who, in the constant
tenor and temper of his heart, can carry himself quietly with constancy has
learned this lesson of contentment. Otherwise his Christianity is worth nothing,
for no one, however furious in his discontent, will not be quiet when he is in a
good mood.
So first, contentment is a heart-business; secondly, it is the quiet of the heart;
and then thirdly, it is the frame of the heart.
4. CONTENTMENT IS THE GRACIOUS FRAME OF THE HEART.
Indeed, in contentment there is a compound of all graces, if the contentment is
spiritual, if it is truly Christian. There is, I say, a compound of a great many
precious ingredients, so it is in this grace of contentment, which we shall say
more of in unfolding its excellence. But now the gracious frame of spirit is in
opposition to three things:
1. In opposition to the natural quietness of many men and women. Some are so
constituted by nature that they are more still and quiet; others are of a violent
and hot constitution and they are more impatient.
2. In opposition to a sturdy resolution. Some men through the strength of a
sturdy resolution do not seem to be troubled, come what may. So they are not
disquieted as much as others.
3. By way of distinction from the strength of natural (though unsanctified)
reason, which may quiet the heart in some degree. But now I say that a gracious
frame of spirit is not merely a stillness of the body which comes from its natural
constitution and temper, nor a sturdy resolution, nor merely through the
strength of reason.
You will ask, In what way is the grace of contentment distinguished from all
these? More will be spoken of this when we come to show the mystery of
contentment and the lessons to be learned. But now we may speak a little by
way of distinction from the natural quietness of spirit and such a bodily
constitution that you seldom find them disquieted. Now, mark these people and
you will see that they are likewise of a very dull spirit in any good matter; they
have no quickness or liveliness of spirit in such matters either.
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But where contentment of heart springs from grace, the heart is very quick and
lively in the service of God. Yea, the more any gracious heart can bring itself to
be in a contented disposition, the more fit it is for any service of God. And just as
a contented heart is very active and busy in the work of God, so he is very active
and busy in sanctifying God's name in the affliction that befalls him.
The difference is very clear: The one whose disposition is quiet is not disquieted
as others are, but neither does he show any activeness of spirit to sanctify the
name of God in his affliction. But, on the other hand, he whose contentment is of
grace is not disquieted and keeps his heart quiet with regard to vexation and
trouble, and at the same time is not dull or heavy but very active to sanctify
God's name in the affliction that he is experiencing.
For if a man is to be free from discontent and worry it is not enough merely not
to murmur but you must be active in sanctifying God's name in the affliction.
Indeed, this will distinguish it from a sturdy resolution not to be troubled.
Though you have a sturdy resolution that you will not be troubled, do you make
it a matter of conscience to sanctify God's name in your affliction and is this
where your resolution comes from? That is the main thing that brings quietness
of heart and helps against discontent in a gracious heart. I say, the desire and
care your soul has to sanctify God's name in an affliction is what quietens the
soul, and this is what others lack.
A quietness which comes form reason only does not do this either. It is said of
Socrates that, though he were only a heathen, he would never so much as
change his countenance whatever befell him, and he got this power over his
spirit merely by the strength of reason and morality. But gracious contentment
comes from principles beyond the strength of reason. I cannot develop that until
we come to unfold the mystery of spiritual contentment.
I will give you just one mark of the difference between a man or woman who is
content in a natural way and one who is contention a spiritual way: Those who
are content in a natural way overcome themselves when outward afflictions
befall them and are content. They are just as content when they commit sin
against God. When they have outward crosses or when God is dishonored, it is
all one to them; whether they themselves are crossed or whether God is crossed.
But a gracious heart that is contented with its own affliction, will rise up strongly
when God is dishonored.
5. THE FIFTH CHARACTERISTIC IS CONTENTMENT IS FREELY SUBMITTING TO
AND TAKING PLEASURE IN GOD'S DISPOSAL.
It is a free work of the spirit. There are four things to be explained in this
freedom of spirit:
1. That the heart is readily brought over. When someone does a thing freely, he
does not need a lot of moving to get him to do it. Many men and women, when
afflictions are heavy upon them, may be brought to a state of contentment with
great ado. At last, perhaps, they may be brought to quiet their hearts in their
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affliction, but only with a great deal of trouble, and not at all freely. If I desire a
thing of someone else and I get it with much ado and a great deal of trouble,
there is no freedom of spirit here. When a man is free in a thing, only mention it
and immediately he does it. So if you have learned this art of contentment you
will not only be content and quiet your hearts after a great ado, but as soon as
you come to see that it is the hand of God your heart acts readily and closes at
once.
2. It is freely, that is, not by constraint. Not, as we say, patience by force.
Thus many will say that you must be content: 'This is the hand of God and you
cannot help it.' Oh, but this is too low an expression for Christians.
Yet when Christians come to visit one another, they say, 'Friend (or neighbor),
you must be content.' Must be content is too low for a Christian.
No, it should be, 'Readily and freely I will be content.' It is suitable to my heart
to yield to God and to be content. I find it a thing that comes naturally that my
soul should be content. Oh, you should answer your friends so who come and tell
you that you must be content: No, I am willing to yield to God, and I am freely
content. That is the second point about freedom of spirit. Now a free act comes
in a rational manner. That is freedom; it does not come through ignorance,
because I know of no better condition or because I do not know why my affliction
is, but it comes through a sanctified judgment. That is why no creature but a
rational creature can do an act of freedom. Liberty of action is only in rational
creatures and comes from hence, for that is only freedom that is done in a
rational way. Natural freedom is when I, by my judgment, see what is to be
done, understand the thing, and my judgment agrees with what I understand:
that is done freely.
But if a man does something, not understanding what he is doing, he cannot be
said to do it freely. Suppose a child was born in prison and never went outside of
it. He is content, but why? Because he never knew anything better. His being
content is not a free act. But for men and women who know better, who know
that the condition they are in is an afflicted and sad condition, and still by a
sanctified judgment can bring their hearts to contentment-this is freedom.
3. This freedom is in opposition to mere stupidity. A man or woman may be
contented merely from lack of sense. This is not free, any more than a man who
is paralysed in a deadly way and does not feel it when you nip him is patient
freely. But if someone should have their flesh pinched and feel it, and yet for all
that can control themselves and do it freely, that is another matter. So it is here:
many are contented out of mere stupidity. They have a dead paralysis upon
them. But a gracious heart has sense enough, and yet is contented, and
therefore is free.
6. CONTENTMENT IS FREELY SUBMITTING TO AND TAKING PLEASURE IN GOD'S
DISPOSAL.
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Submitting to God's disposal-What is that? The word submit signifies nothing
else but 'to send under'. Thus in one who is discontented the heart will be unruly,
and would even get above God so far as discontent prevails.
But now comes the grace of contentment and sends it under, for to submit is to
send under a thing. Now when the soul comes to see its own unruliness-Is the
hand of God bringing an affliction and yet my heart is troubled and discontentedWhat,
it says, will you be above God? Is this not God's hand and must your will
be regarded more than God's? O under, under! get you under, O soul! Keep
under! keep low! keep under God's feet! You are under God's feet, and keep
under his feet! Keep under the authority of God, the majesty of God, the
sovereignty of God, the power that God has over you! To keep under, that is to
submit. The soul can submit to God at the time when it can send itself under the
power and authority and sovereignty and dominion that God has over it. That is
the sixth point, but even that is not enough. You have not attained this grace of
contentment unless the next point is true of you.
7. CONTENTMENT IS TAKING PLEASURE IN GOD'S DISPOSAL.
This is so when I am well pleased in what God does, in so far as I can see God in
it, though, as I said, I may be sensible of the affliction, and may desire that God
in his due time would remove it, and may use means to remove it. Yet I am well
pleased in so far as God's hand is in it. To be well pleased with God's hand is a
higher degree than the previous one. It comes from this: not only do I see that I
should be content in this affliction, but I see that there is good in it. I find there
is honey in this rock, and so I do not only say, I must, or I will submit to God's
hand. No, the hand of God is good, 'it is good that I am afflicted.' To
acknowledge that it is just that I am afflicted is possible in one who is not truly
contented. I may be convinced that God deals justly in this matter, he is
righteous and just and it is right that I should submit to what he has done; O the
Lord has done righteously in all ways! But that is not enough! You must say,
'Good is the hand of the Lord.' It was the expression of old Eli: 'Good is the hand
of the Lord,' when it was a sore and hard word. It was a word that threatened
very grievous things to Eli and his house, and yet Eli says, 'Good is the word of
the Lord.' Perhaps, some of you may say, like David, 'It is good that I was
afflicted', but you must come to this, 'It is good that I am afflicted.' Not just good
when you see the good fruit it has wrought, but to say when you are afflicted, 'It
is good that I am afflicted. Whatever the affliction, yet through the mercy of God
mine is a good condition.' It is, indeed, the top and the height of this art of
contentment to come to this pitch and to be able to say, 'Well, my condition and
afflictions are so and so, and very grievous and sore; yet, through God's mercy, I
am in a good condition, and the hand of God is good upon me notwithstanding.' I
should have given you several Scriptures about this, but I will give you one or
two, which are very striking. You will think it is a hard lesson to come so far as
not only to be quiet but to take pleasure in affliction.
'In the house of the righteous is much treasure, but in the revenues of the
wicked is trouble' (Proverbs 15:6): here is a Scripture to show that a gracious
heart has cause to say that it is in a good condition, whatever it is. In the house
of the righteous is much treasure; his house-what house? It may be a poor
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
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cottage, and perhaps he has scarcely a stool to sit on. Perhaps he is forced to sit
on a stump of wood or part of a block instead of a stool, or perhaps he has
scarcely a bed to lie on, or a dish to eat in. Yet the Holy Ghost says, 'In the
house of the righteous is much treasure.' Let the righteous man be the poorest
man in the world-it may be that someone has come and taken all the goods from
out of his house for debt. Perhaps his house is plundered and all is gone; yet
still, 'In the house of the righteous is much treasure.' The righteous man can
never be made so poor, to have his house so rifled and spoiled, but there will
remain much treasure within. If he has but a dish or a spoon or anything in the
world in his house, there will be much treasure so long as he is there. There is
the presence of God and the blessing of God upon him, and therein is much
treasure. But in the revenues of the wicked there is trouble. There is more
treasure in the poorest body's house, if he is godly, than in the house of the
greatest man in the world, who has his fine hangings and finely-wrought beds
and chairs and couches and cupboards of plate and the like. Whatever he has, he
has not so much treasure in it as there is in the house of the poorest righteous
soul.
It is no marvel, therefore, that Paul was content, for a verse or two after my text
you read: 'But I have all and abound. I am full' (Philippians 4:18). I have all?
Alas, poor man! what did Paul have that could make him say he had all? Where
was there ever a man more afflicted than Paul was? Many times he had not
tatters to hang about his body to cover his nakedness. He had no bread to eat,
he was often in nakedness, and put in the stocks and whipped and cruelly used,
'Yet I have all', says Paul, for all that. Yes, you will find it in 2 Corinthians: He
professes there that he did possess all things: 'As sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing
all things' (2 Corinthians 6:10).
Mark what he says-it is, 'as having nothing' but it is 'possessing all things'. He
does not say: 'As possessing all things', but 'possessing all things'. I have very
little in the world, he says, but yet possessing all things. So you see that a
Christian has cause to take pleasure in God's hand, whatever his hand may be.
8. THE EIGHTH THING IN CONTENTMENT IS, SUBMITTING, AND TAKING
PLEASURE IN GOD'S DISPOSAL.
That is to say, the soul that has learned this lesson of contentment looks up to
God in all things. He does not look down at the instruments and means, so as to
say that such a man did it, that it was the unreasonableness of such and such
instruments, and similar barbarous usage by such and such; but he looks up to
God. A contented heart looks to God's disposal, and submits to God's disposal,
that is, he sees the wisdom of God in everything. In his submission he sees his
sovereignty, but what makes him take pleasure is God's wisdom. The Lord knows
how to order things better than I. The Lord sees further than I do; I only see
things at present but the Lord sees a great while from now. And how do I know
but that had it not been for this affliction, I should have been undone. I know
that the love of God may as well stand with an afflicted condition as with a
prosperous condition. There are reasonings of this kind in a contented spirit,
submitting to the disposal of God