I have a busy schedule today and I wasn't going to post anything too "heavy", but after prayer this morning, I felt a real urge to take a few extra minutes and talk about what God has on my heart. The topic of being "discontent" has surfaced several times this weekend as friends have been asking about /sharing prayer requests. I noticed the "theme" right away and I am confident that there are many of you out there experiencing the same feeling!
What are they discontent about? Marriages, relationships, our spiritual walk, churches, leaders, work, financial situations, politics, the behavior of their kids (and then feeling inept in their ability to parent) , direction (or lack thereof) in life, and the list goes on and on.
What causes us to be discontent? After asking myself that question, I have come to conclude that there are times where the enemy or our own flesh (eg. wanting our own way or perhaps sin we allow in our lives) causes us to be discontent, but we need to also realize that we can become "discontent" because the hand of God allows it in our lives for a greater purpose.
Godly examples of being discontent can include an urging from the Holy Spirit in order to get us to move into His will. Sometimes we become unhappy of where we are in life, what we are doing, or because we know we need to grow. We interpret this as being"discontent", but God is actually allowing us to experience that uncomfortable feeling so that we will seek Him and His will and then move in it.
When the enemy or our flesh is the source of our discontent, I still maintain that we are discontent because we're away (or perhaps someone or something we are discontent with is away) from the perimeters of God's will or personal plan for our lives. For example, when sin is the cause and you're unhappy... the joy does not return unless you cease the sin and turn to God (return to His plan or will).
Therefore, it's imperative that we learn how to walk in discernment and realize the source of our discontent as well as gain a godly perspective on the consequence/outcome of our situations. In other words, we need to have a clear understanding of cause and effect. It's asking. "Why am I going through this and how will this situation work for the good and bring God glory?"
As I said before, if you are discontent and the cause is a godly discontentment, the effect will be one that brings you more in line with righteousness and God's perfect will for your life. Even if the cause is our own flesh or the enemy; God still has a way of bringing good out of every situation.
One of the big dangers I am seeing, however, is that people don't know what to do when they hit this phase of discontentment! They know they don't like what's going on, but they sit and spin their wheels in frustration.
I see it in the Spirit as a "detour". We went through a few of those on our trip to Ohio! No one likes a detour because we want to plug along on the road and not have to go out of our way to get back to where we need to be. But, keep in mind, you don't know the dangers that you may have averted by being on that short detour. In the Spirit, you may not know or fully understand why you are in the detour of discontentment, but you need to get through it and get back on the path.
You must:
1.) Acknowledge that you are discontent. Just like when you hit the detour in the road, you need to realize where you are at.. you're on the detour and you're going to have to watch where you're going.
2.) Ask God to show you why you are discontent and then trust Him to lead you to the outcome that lines up with His perfect will. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. That's like watching for the detour signs of where to follow. Usually you have to watch pretty closely to stay on the right track.
3.) Quit grumbling, murmuring, and complaining. That doesn't get you anywhere and it makes the detour even worse. It pulls you against the grain and keeps you from being focused on where you need to be headed.
4.) Keep praying. Prayer keeps us in constant communication with God and you need Him to get you through the situation. Prayer also shows our dependence on Him. It's not up to you to fix things; leave it up to God.
It's important that we've discussed this today because I know many of us are discontent with one thing or another in our lives right now. Simply complaining or failure to look at discontentment with a godly perspective can lead to roots of bitterness, not to mention make you a sower of discord or fruits of unrighteousness. We must take these things to prayer and realize that God will work all things together for good to those who love Him, trust, and rely upon Him.
