Psalm 107:1—“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!”
How can we practically cultivate thanksgiving in our lives? In what kind of soil does gratitude grow? Our family planted blueberries this past year, and I have learned the hard way that blueberries don’t grow well in alkaline soil. Their yellow leaves and poor growth made plain that they weren’t happy. Blueberries need acidic soil. So also, gratitude grows only in a certain kind of soil: a heart of contentment.
In Philippians 4, we see a snapshot into the life of the Apostle Paul that demonstrates that his gratitude was rooted in his contentment in God.
Philippians 4:10—“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had not opportunity.”
Notice Paul’s gratitude. He is thanking the Philippians by praising God for their concern for him. They had just recently sent a generous financial gift to him by way of one of their members, Epaphroditus (see Philippians 2:25-30). So, Paul is grateful to God for the Philippians’ generosity. What was this gratitude rooted in? A heart of contentment.
Philippians 4:11—“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”
Paul didn’t receive their gift out a heart of discontentment. He didn’t have a covetous heart that was satisfied for only a short while by their gift. No, he has learned in whatever situation to be content—whether having plenty or hunger, abundance or need—in every circumstance he had learned to find his contentment in the Lord.
What does it mean to be content? Let’s answer first what it does not mean. It does not mean that we cannot bring our complaints to God. It does not mean that we cannot share our burdens with others. it’s also does not mean that we cannot try to improve our situation to ease our trials.
What it does mean, however, is that our soul is resting and delighting in God and his sovereign care for us.
True contentment is not putting on a good external front, but inwardly being in turmoil. Contentment is rooted deep within us; it happens in our soul. Psalm 62:1—“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.”
It’s found in our soul resting in God, submitting your way to him. One thinks of Job, who after everything was taken from him, said, ‘The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord’ (Job 1:21). He committed his way to God. But if we are murmuring or complaining or don’t feel that we can trust God in this trial, that is evidence of discontentment.
It’s found in our soul delighting in God, even in and through trials. Psalm 119:71—“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.” A contented heart rejoices in God’s good purposes in our difficulties.
We can rest and delight in God because we can trust in his sovereign care for us. Contentment can’t be found in your circumstances. It can only be found in God and all we have in Christ. If we have Christ, we have everything. We have the treasure hidden in the field. We have the pearl of great price. We have the bread of life! We have the resurrection and the life! So we can say with the psalmist:
Psalm 73:25-26—“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
What kind of soil is in your heart? Is it full of discontentment? If you are grumbling and complaining and murmuring, that is poisonous soil that is going to choke out any kind of gratitude. But if you are content, if you are resting and delighting in God and his sovereign care for you, especially in and through your trials, then that is the kind of soil that will produce abundant thanksgiving.
Christian, give thanks, for the Lord is good!