Psalm 17.15

//As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.//

Psalm 17:15

I used to struggle a lot with the concept of contentment. For a long time I thought I could just decide in my mind that I was content in Him. I thought it was just a choice and that if I decided it in my heart then I would be content. This lead to great frustration in my walk with the Lord. I always felt that I just couldn’t nail it down, I could never hit the mark. I would try so hard to be content but I would never taste true contentment. The reason being I was looking to my own religious abilities to produce something only the Spirit of the Living God can. The Lord has exposed this wrong way of living and it has brought me so much freedom in my life. Deciding in my heart that I was content would be like deciding in my heart that I was a tree. I could sit and think about being a tree all day, I could tell others that I was one, I could even convince myself that I was one, but it would not change my state of being. I believe contentment is the same. We can tell ourself and everyone around us that we are content in the Lord, but if it is flowing out of a white knuckled religion rather than rivers of Living Water, it will never last. True contentment comes from communion with Jesus. If i seek contentment, I will be left discontent. If i seek God’s kingdom, it will be added to me. Contentment is the overflow of delighting in Him. Contentment is beholding God’s face everyday, and being satisfied with Him. I can not make myself content, but If I behold His glory and commune with Him, It will surely flow out of my life in ways that I could never imagine.

Thank you Jesus for this. Thank you for the gift of communing with You. Thank you for never leaving or forsaking me. Thank you for being there each and every day, you alone satisfy.

Application: Today I am praising the Lord for how He has delivered me from the state of seeking contentment for contentment's sake. He has taught me that as I seek Him daily, contentment is a natural overflow.