Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
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 no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:4–13 ESV)
We live in a country where an ethos of continual dissatisfaction has taken root. This dissatisfaction has been noted over the last few decades. Nothing is ever good enough; everything must be improved. Your personal bests need to be surpassed; this year needs to top or outdo last year. The next device needs to be even better; the next app version must surpass the first and answer all the complaints of its previous version; this company and product has to be better than the competition. Add all the political rhetoric telling you how you should be unsatisfied with your current leaders or that the status quo still isn’t good enough and we need more change. Such dissatisfaction can be summed up in a common motivational quote: “If you’re not moving forward, you’re falling back.”1
Not only that, many people have bought into a “victim mentality” that results in discontentment. And I am not speaking about the struggle that victims of crime and violence experience. I am talking about the effect on us and others when hearing about the stories of people who never recover from being a victim or how powerful people are subjugating everyone and it is hopeless. I am talking about the effect on us and others from endlessly hearing stories or accounts of people’s troubles where the responsibility always lies with someone else regardless of one’s own actions. I am talking about the mentality that gives up taking responsibility for your future life and actions and lets the hurt from the past determine your present and future, where you embrace living as a perpetual victim, always angry and hurt but never moving forward. Such loss of control and agency in life is a recipe for being dissatisfied because you get stuck with the idea “nothing will ever change!”
Not only do such stories run on the news and social media create dissatisfaction but so do ads. In fact, ads are built to get you to buy something—to teach you that you don’t have enough already or that your life will be more complete with this product or service. Ads are geared toward raising your desire for something you never knew you needed until it was created. Some of these are practical things like pots or gardening tools while others are purely for entertainment. Whatever the case, you are told that your life isn’t complete without one of these; and the cycle of buying is endless such that you will always need more and nothing is all that satisfying because there is always something more to be had or to obtain or a new innovation that promises to make what you already have even better. It is an ongoing cycle of dissatisfaction!
This dissatisfaction is fed by internet news—world news, national news, community news, and family and friend news. The ongoing, 24 hour news at your fingertips and opinions galore is overstimulating and leaves one hungry and wanting more. It creates a voracious appetite to know more and more and to find out the latest happenings and the latest gossip and rumors. But it leaves one discontent because you never know enough, you always want to know more, and you either worry about the future or you find your own life is not enough because you are missing out and your life doesn’t measure up to others.
Many other factors such as lack of real connections with people and lack of living in the physical world (because one is too caught up in the digital world) result and further feed a dissatisfaction with life and the world. After all, loneliness makes life hard and difficult to bear and instant gratification your way sours a person on waiting and on working through the difficulties of relationships and hardships of life.
All of these make contentment elusive because each one of these focus us inward, toward ourselves, toward our sinful flesh, which is never satisfied. It always wants more. It never has enough because it is never secure and it always sees what is missing and lacking.
Paul directs us away from focusing on ourselves to focusing on the provider of all good things. As long as our eyes are on creation we will always see what we are missing or how insecure our situation is. Even if we count our blessings, which we are encouraged to do at Thanksgiving, we will still come away a little bit uneasy because we know those blessings could be taken away.
But if we look to the Provider of all our blessings and realize how nothing can separate us from His work for us in Christ Jesus, then we will be able to find true contentment even if our flesh is never really satisfied. Notice how Paul points us to prayer when we are anxious. Why? Because anxiety is about our present and future needs and fears. Anxiety is a manifestation of what has gone wrong or could go wrong—a manifestation of all those things outside of our control. It can only be calmed by the One Who has control and oversight over all things. Nothing happens apart from God’s ability to work it for the good of His people (Romans 8:28). Thus, we call upon Him Who is able to address our worries and anxieties and we can then have peace that rests in knowing that God will take care of us no matter what happens—that He will see us through whatever struggles or troubles we face.
But not only do we lift up our anxieties, we lift up our thanks. Just consider how recounting all your blessings, including your redemption at the cross, and remembering that it is the Lord God Who has provided them for you provides you with the comfort that not only has He been taking care of you but that He has plans to continue taking care of you, for He has secured your future beyond your present circumstances. This means no matter what you are presently experiencing, whether plenty or need, whether highs or lows, whether a full stomach or hunger, God will see you through that circumstance until He brings about the eternal, everlasting feast, peace, and home that He has prepared for you and me. This is why Paul can rejoice, be content, and handle any situation. He knows Who has Him. He knows his life is safe and secure with his Mighty Fortress, Jesus.
And this is what we need in a world of dissatisfaction and discontentment—to see how well provided and cared for we are—to see how the Lord is acting for our benefit and blessing. Paul’s source of strength is not coming from himself or his abilities. It comes from the Lord’s care and protection—from the Lord’s provision. And thus, our strength and contentment also comes from the Lord.
But notice how Paul says “I have learned…to be content.” Paul uses the same word used to speak of the disciples as students or learners, only it is the verb form of the word. Such learning points both to knowledge and experience, and context here suggests both. Paul knows of God’s care and protection. He instructs us to call upon Him with our needs and to rest in the knowledge that He will take care of us. He teaches us to think on all the excellent and praiseworthy things that God provides and gives to us and to His creation—to reflect on how God wants us and His whole creation to have these wonderful gifts.
But not only does Paul know about the Lord’s provision and gifts, he has experienced that provision in his times of need, want, and plenty. He has seen that God has helped him through all these times of trial and blessing. He has experienced the Lord’s care and thus learned that God will deliver him through all these times. He learned the secret of contentment is trusting God in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit. After all, the Lord had shown Himself trustworthy and true to His Word and promises. The Lord had kept Paul safe and secure, even when it looked dire.
Just think about what Paul experienced:
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? (2 Corinthians 11:24–29 ESV)
The Lord faithfully delivered Paul through all these. Paul’s life was not secure in his circumstances but in Jesus who said, “‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die’” (John 11:25–26 ESV).
We have the same security in Christ Jesus, for Jesus died for you and me just as He died for Paul. Paul himself reminds us that this same salvation and security are for you and me, and that how the Lord has dealt with him is an example of that:
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:15–16 ESV)
You, too, can learn contentment no matter your circumstances or experiences in this world. Remember and recount all the blessings which the Lord has poured out on you. Open up your catechism and look at the explanations to the Apostle’s Creed and the explanations to the Lord’s Prayer. Consider how God has provided for you in the Ten Commandments, protecting your possessions, family, life, and reputation far more times than the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh have sought to destroy them. Ponder the mercy and forgiveness He poured out in Holy Baptism, Absolution, and His Supper.
Then, give thanks for these and lift up prayers for your needs knowing that the Lord Who has given you such many great gifts will not suddenly turn against you. Don’t be like the Israelites who thought, despite all God’s care and provision, that He was out to kill them and destroy them (Exodus 14:11–12; 16:2–3; 17:3; Numbers 14:3; 20:4; 21:5). God has not sacrificed so much to save you and redeem you to abandon you now. Look at Jesus and His great sacrifice and trust God’s love at the cross for you. You have far more than you or I deserve given our sins against the Lord.
So, when you are tempted to think otherwise, recall His care and provision and especially the salvation He has secured you. Remember the grace and mercy of Christ Jesus shown to Paul, Peter, David, Job, Jonah, Moses, Joseph, and many sinners before you? They are examples to you of how the Lord seeks to bless you, forgive you, provide for you, and deliver you. He saw them through many trials and troubles. He will see you through yours. He is your strength and your true deliverer Who does not want your death but your life for He even has “‘no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live’” (Ezekiel 33:11 ESV). How much more will He take care of you who believe and trust in Him?
Thus, rejoice in His care, compassion, mercy, and love. Rejoice in His provision and His undeserved favor! Rejoice that He has baptized you and claimed you as His own. And then lay your requests and needs before Him knowing all that He has already done and all that He has promised, and trust that He will care for you. Learn from His Word, from His care for those before you, and from the care already given in your own life that He has you safe and secure in and through His death on the cross for you.
Gracious Jesus, thank you for seeking out our redemption from sin and evil according to Your Father’s Will and for sending Your Holy Spirit to abide with us in this world as we wait to see the fullness of that redemption. We know you are at hand to provide and care and to manifest Your salvation. Thank you for all the times you have provided for us and cared for us. Help us in our times of need and teach us to be content with what we have, knowing that what you have in store for us far exceeds what we lose and suffer here and now. Fill us with thankfulness and help us to sing Your praise today and always for You have secured our future and we are safe in Your ark, the Church, for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Articles Referenced include:
The Unhappiness Epidemic: How America Is Creating A Culture Of Discontentment, Anger, And Anxiety By Nicole Dominique as printed in Evie Magazine on January 31, 2024. https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/the-unhappiness-epidemic-america-creating-culture-discontentment-anxiety
How to Navigate the Culture of Perpetual Dissatisfaction: Stoic Reflections on Success by Richard Lowery as printed on Medium.com December 4, 2023. https://medium.com/@richardlowerypm/how-to-navigate-the-culture-of-perpetual-dissatisfaction-3439a33ff572
Unhappy at Work? Pay Attention to the Culture by Allison McWilliams. https://alumni.opcd.wfu.edu/2018/11/unhappy-at-work-pay-attention-to-the-culture/
The culture of dissatisfaction by Seth Godin as printed on his blog. https://seths.blog/2006/02/the_culture_of_/
1 This adage is attributed to Sam Waterston.