The Surprising Key to Enjoying Contentment in a Disillusioned Culture
“My life is gooooood….” Kristy playfully had our kids playfully say this when they complained about silly things.
It’s easy to complain. It’s hard to be content. Ha! I’m actually complaining about how hard it is to be content!! How’s that for irony?
Seriously, though. Contentment in life is hard right now. Maybe it’s always been. But it seems like in this cultural moment, uncertainty, disillusionment, and outrage are the only songs being sung.
From my seat in Portland, I regularly hear massive concerns:
Housing Prices
Houselessness
Addiction
Government Funding Cuts
And that’s just the stuff “out there.” That doesn’t even include the constant nagging and taunting many hear in their hearts and heads.
Messages of inadequacy pound our news feeds like an unrelenting hailstorm. Pills, filters, vacations, and experiences are offered to relieve our inherent insufficiency.
Where Can You Find the Hope of Contentment?
You can’t stop hoping for contentment, though, can you? You might feel awful about yourself and try to bury that feeling in business or escape it through excess.
But the desire comes back.
Thank God.
We can’t outrun or outwork our desire for hope. Even if we’ve been duped by false hope. Even when we get betrayed by toxic temptations. Even when we have failed ourselves – and others.
What do we do with this desire? How can we feel okay in our own skin when we know we’re flawed? How can we be confident without being a narcissist?
We can turn to Psalm 139 and find greater hope, love, and contentment than our hearts can contain.
Look at God’s Intentional Care and Intricate Design for Your Life
Check out Psalm 139.
“Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
you understand my thoughts from far away.
3 You observe my travels and my rest;
you are aware of all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue,
you know all about it, Lord.
5 You have encircled me;
you have placed your hand on me.
6 This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.
7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I fly on the wings of the dawn
and settle down on the western horizon,
10 even there your hand will lead me;
your right hand will hold on to me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light around me will be night”—
12 even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night shines like the day;
darkness and light are alike to you.
13 For it was you who created my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise you
because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.
Your works are wondrous,
and I know this very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in your book and planned
before a single one of them began.
17 God, how precious about me are your thoughts;
how vast their sum is!
18 If I counted them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand;
when I wake up, I am still with you.
19 God, if only you would kill the wicked—
you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me—
20 who invoke you deceitfully.
Your enemies swear by you falsely.
21 Lord, don’t I hate those who hate you,
and detest those who rebel against you?
22 I hate them with extreme hatred;
I consider them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me;
lead me in the everlasting way.”
This beloved and comforting Psalm is bursting with goodness. Reading it can make me feel like I did when Kristy took me to a Brazilian steakhouse for my birthday.
Have you ever been to one?
They give you a card that is green on one side and red on the other. If the green side is up, they just keep bringing you AMAZING food!
It’s too much. Too good. But you don’t want to miss any of the goodness, so you dare not flip the card to red.
Of course, this causes all kinds of other issues.
Which makes Psalm 139 and God’s goodness just inconceivable. We never have to raise the red card with God. We can always keep it green. Keep the grace and goodness coming.
There is NO LIMIT to the amount of joy you can have in Jesus! Psalm 139 lays this out extravagantly.
Talk Nerdy to Me
Jewish literature was written differently than what most of us in the West are accustomed to. Psalm 139 is a poem written with an intentional structure. The super duper scholars call it a “ring composition.”
Picture a stone being thrown into a pond. From the center where the stone lands, rings will expand in concentric circles.
Check this out. VS 14 is the center.
“I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.”
Then notice how verses 13 and 15 mirror each other.
VS 13: “For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
VS 15: “My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth.”
You can see the same for the intro and conclusion.
VV 1-2: “Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away. ”
VS 23 - 24: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me;
lead me in the everlasting way.”
Why does this matter? It cues our attention to the high point of this Psalm shamelessly expressing that we are remarkably and wonderfully made.
This is wild. Bonkers. Mindblowing. Life-altering.
I am, you are – WE ARE – remarkably and wonderfully made.
I can feel my being simultaneously resisting this and craving it.
I so, so badly want to believe that I am a masterpiece, intentionally handcrafted by God.
But as soon as I start thinking that way, I resist it. Am I being prideful? Narcissistic? Oblivious? What about all the pain I’ve caused? Mistakes I’ve made?
Know what I mean?
Embrace Contentment by Cutting Ties with Self-Evaluation
When you see positive, self-affirming messages, how do they sound? What do they say? What do you say to yourself to boost your self-esteem?
One way or another, these messages tend to highlight some attributes, characteristics, strengths, or tendencies that we possess, which are healthy, strong, beautiful, helpful, and so forth.
There’s a place for that, to be sure.
But read Psalm 139. Why does the author say that he is remarkably and wonderfully made? Where does his positive self-concept come from?
Do you notice that there isn’t a single word about his skills, strengths, or accomplishments? King David wrote this Psalm. He could have easily said:
I’m ruddy and handsome, ladies
I can kill bears and lions with my hands
I’ve got mad harp skills, just saying
I’m pretty good with a slingshot, boys
He doesn’t mention a single thing about himself. Except this odd bit about hating those who hate God.
His entire ability to be content in his own skin rests entirely on the God who made him.
He is content in himself because he is amazed by God’s work.
Essentially, he’s saying – and we can agree – “God, you’re astounding. Everything you do is wonderful. Everything you make is beautiful. Whatever you put your hand on turns into something immaculate. And you made me. I must be wonderful. What else can I be because you made me?!!?”
Notice as well that he doesn’t DISCREDIT God through self-deprecation or false humility. He’s not saying, “Awe shucks, I’m only decently made, guys, come on.”
Nor does he say, “I would be wonderful if people would just pay attention to me. But everyone in my family constantly overlooks my awesomeness!”
Your Contentment Can be Greater than King David’s
Hard to believe, isn’t it? But it’s true. Because of what God has done in Jesus, we can have even greater confidence than David.
David messed up regularly. When he did, he had to offer sacrifices in the hopes of being forgiven. But we know that Jesus offered Himself as the sacrifice to guarantee that we are forgiven.
·David had confidence that each of his days was written in God’s book. We know that our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
David knew that God knit him together in his mother’s womb, in “the earth.” But we know that we have been chosen from before there was time, born again by the Spirit of God, born of heaven.
David knew that God would meet him externally, wherever he went. But we know that God’s love is with us internally, by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
Goodness gracious! Can you believe this!
I know it can be hard. It might feel like it's too much. Too good to be true. But Jesus isn’t going to let us settle for anything less. You are this loved. This delighted in. All because of God.
Find Contentment by Losing Yourself in God’s Love
Here’s the key that unlocks the chains of disillusionment. When you receive the truth about the God who is love loving how much He loves loving you, you don’t have to worry about yourself anymore.
You are worthy of love because you are created by the God who is love.
You don’t have to prove it or earn it. You can’t lose it. You don’t have to kill yourself to maintain it.
We get to abide in Love. Walk in Love. Dwell in Love. God is love.
And God is infinite. This means we can’t contain the love He gives us. It also means we get to enjoy how He uniquely displays His beauty in and through the lives of others.
There’s no competition! Because Jesus defeated the grave, everyone can win! When our highest ambition and deepest delight are found in enjoying God, then we won’t hesitate to celebrate how He is at work in the lives of others.
In God’s Kingdom, jealousy, rivalry, and fear make no sense. It’s an entirely different way of living. It’s heavenly. And it’s available to you on Earth.
Deal with Disillusionment by Embracing God’s Love for You
Does this perspective make housing prices reasonable? Does it solve the complex relational dynamics we have to navigate? Does it give a home to people living on the streets?
Yes, actually. Even though not fully. Not yet. But it will. We’ve seen it before in history. We can see it again.
“For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need.”
In the fourth century, Emperor Julian was dumbfounded by how the simple, sacrificial, outward-focused love of the church was transforming the empire.
““Why then do we […] not observe how the kindness of Christians to strangers, their care for the burial of their dead, and the sobriety of their lifestyle has done the most to advance their cause? … It is disgraceful when no Jew is a beggar and the impious Galileans support not only their own poor but ours as well…” ”
So….yeah. Being so satisfied in the love of God that you cannot and do not want to contain it actually sends disillusionment packing!
God is a good Father. He’s not going to leave you hanging in the middle of your struggles. Jesus was already left hanging in the middle of our deepest struggles – being separated from the love of God on our cross - so that we could be invited into His eternally loving embrace.
So whatever else happens, whatever imperfections or frustrations we have to deal with, we know that God will be with us in the middle of it.
We can apply His tender love to our fear, because He’s not afraid. He will respond.
He will take what every enemy means for evil and use it for a greater good than if the trials and trauma had never happened.
I’ve seen it in my life. Haven’t you seen it in yours?
Jesus saw it in His. He took the sin of the world with Him to the cross. Doesn’t get any darker or more brutal than that!
He took the worst that all of hell and humanity could throw at Him – and absorbed it all. It was crucified with Him and buried in His grave so that it would never see the light of day again.
But Jesus would.
He was raised from the dead in a glorified, physical body. He ascended into heaven. He’s seated at the right hand of the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell among us.
Because He loves us. He loves being with us.
He loves who He made us to be and redeemed us to become. God loves you like crazy right now – and get this – your best days are ahead of you!
The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us.
He empowers us to be so in awe of God that when we look at everything God’s done, everything He’s made – including us – we can say without apology or pride: “all your works are incredible! YOU are incredible!!”
We get to keep our eyes on Jesus. Not ourselves. Not our circumstances. The Kingdom is here. Our lives are goooooooood!
