May 31, 2025 -Contentment

PROVERBS 14:1-16:33

Chronological Bible Readings

Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house,

    but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

I read this today while at a women's conference on contentment. Contentment comes when we find it in Christ. We are content with our bodies when we realize we were created in God's image just as He had planned. We find contentment in who we are and what we do in the fact that we are made in God's image for His plan an His purpose. We find contentment in our struggles when we look at our salvation and the fact that even though we will suffer or we are hurt or let down, we have a salvation that will never change. Our salvation is being held and protected for us by Christ and will one day come to completion and be fully experienced in the age to come. And none of those things will be a problem. (1Peter 1:3-5) But when we are foolish, we can tear down our contentment because we are relying on what we think our contentment should come from. Money, power, appearance, possessions, status, achievements.... None of these things bring contentment but when we rely on the things we think we can do to achieve it we are destroying it with our own hands.

Proverbs 16:32 Better a patient person than a warrior,

    one with self-control than one who takes a city.

Contentment is a readiness to joyfully submit to God in everything. One area I have had to rely on God for contentment and His plan, purpose and timing is when things don't happen when and how I think they should. I may even know for sure that God is working in a particular situation but that doesn't mean I know when where and how it is to work out. I have a tendency to want to be the warrior who is ready to go into battle for something I know is right. And sometimes that is exactly what I need to do and the right thing is easily done. Other times it becomes a war. If it is a war, then I am not submitting to Him. God has shown me the importance in contentment so that I am able to be better at being a patient person. It is not always best to go to war and try to take the city. Sometimes it is better to be self-controlled and wait on God's timing.