How did Paul learn the secret of contentment? I suspect he learned it through the times when God said ‘no’ to him.
In 2 Cor 12, Paul tells us he faced great trouble which he describes as a ‘thorn in the flesh.’ He tells us he pleaded with God to remove this from him. We don’t know exactly what this thorn in the flesh was, but clearly Paul wasn’t very happy about it! And then, to top it all, what God said to him wasn’t the answer he was looking for. God said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9) In other words, no. God wasn’t going to do what Paul had wanted. At this point, most of us fail to learn the lesson Paul learned. We get upset with God for saying no to us. We get angry with Him because He doesn’t do what we want. And we allow unhappiness to have the last word. Paul’s reaction was different. Eventually, he learned to say, ‘I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.’ (2 Cor 12:9) He learned that if God’s grace was sufficient for him, then he could live with the thorn in the flesh. He could actually go one step further and boast about his weaknesses, because he realised that it was when he was weak that Christ’s strength could actually be seen. He went on to say, ‘That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’ (2 Cor 12:10) He had moved from being discontented, dissatisfied and unhappy to being delighted, contented and strong.
When things don’t go our way and we face adversity in all its many different guises – illnesses, bereavement, disappointment, loneliness, wrecked expectations, loss of hope, betrayal, opposition, persecution and whatever else may cause us to stumble – we have a choice. We can turn our backs on God, believing Him to be fickle, capricious, mean and unloving, or we can learn to trust Him and lean on Him all the more, even when we don’t understand what is happening and even when our hearts are breaking. ‘What’s true in the light is still true in the dark,’ as Rend Collective sing. (‘Weep With Me’) Contentment is the result of a heart that leans on God and finds, in return, the peace that transends all understanding guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7)
