The Peace of Contentment

Scripture: Numbers 11:1 (NASB) - Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD; and when the LORD HEARD IT, His anger was kindled,…  

We recently purchased some “Yellow Sticky Traps” for a no-see-ums infestation we experienced around our home toward the end of summer.  Hung strategically in our basement and next to our kitchen window and waste basket, they have trapped about a thousand no-see-ums that used to flit all around when you least expected.  One of them even flew up my nostril one day as I sat at the desk in our home office!  That was the LAST straw!  They had simply become intolerable!  To halt them in their frenetic mobility, we bought the sticky sheets.  Once their tiny gnat feet land on the sheet, their flittin’ days are over; they’re STUCK where they landed!  Does God have to “arrest” us like that?  I’m persuaded that God is not opposed to allowing some circumstances to arrest us, or plant our feet in some situation from which, try as we might, we cannot escape until we learn the principle that He desires to teach us.  James 1:2, anyone??
     
As the title Scripture describes, the people had embraced an “Oh-for-the-good-ol’-days” mentality, and He who made the ear, heard them—just as He hears US when we express discontentment and    forget to daily count our blessings!  Whatever it is that we THINK we deserve, in God’s holy assessment, we do not! In the times in which we live, it is easy to forget the words found in Habakkuk 1:13—“You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.”  (Oh praise my Sin-bearer, Christ Jesus!!) [Matt. 27:46] Understand, dear reader, our holy God regards grumbling and complaining as wickedness! (Jude, v. 16) His greatest gift to us has already been bestowed—forgiveness of all our sins and the promise of heaven—if we are found in Christ at our life’s end, rather than in Adam!  God expects His own to discipline themselves to resist the ever-present tide of discontentment and DAILY practice the virtue of genuine thankfulness!

Prayer:  Dear Father, forgive us when we become so focused upon things, circumstances, or even previous life seasons that we may deem preferable to our present life situation.  Rather, grant us the wisdom to be truly thankful for all of the bountiful blessings You have allowed us to enjoy each day upon wakin!  Thank You, in Jesus’ name; Amen!
   

By Sis. Denise Diggs