“The Secret of Contentment” (Psalm 131:1-3)

Christian Contentment
I always have cold hands. When I pass the peace during a Sunday service, one of the comments most often heard is “Your hands are cold!” So I bought this hand warmer, and I use it during the cold season. It does help to keep my hands warm. But the thing is I often forget to carry it with me. Without the hand warmer, as a result, my hands are still cold most of the time.

Psalm 131 is about Christian contentment. This psalm teaches us about a kind of contentment, that is rooted not in circumstances, but in God. Jeremiah Burrough, in his book Rare Jewell of Christian Contentment, compares contentment that comes from circumstances to the warming of your clothes by the fire.[1]

To be content as a result of some external thing is like warming a man’s clothes by the fire. But to be content through an inward disposition of the soul is like the warmth that a man’s clothes have from the natural heat of his body. A man who is healthy in body puts on his clothes, and perhaps at first on a cold morning they feel cold. But after he has had them on a little while they are warm. Now, how did they get warm? They were not near the fire? No, this came from the natural heat of his body. Now when a sickly man, the natural heat of whose body has deteriorated, puts on his clothes, they do not get hot for a long time. He must warm them by the fire, and even then they will soon be cold again. (28)

So Christian contentment is like the sustaining warmth that comes from the natural heat of our body. Psalm 131 is a short psalm, but a very powerful psalm. When Charles Spurgeon preached this psalm, he said it “is one of the shortest Psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn.” In those three verses, David invites us to a life of contentment in this discontent world.

Beware of Pride
The first key to Christian contentment is to renounce pride. In verse 1 David says, “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” Here David renounces pride at three levels: his heart, his eyes (high view of himself), his action (“I do not occupy myself with…”). At every level he renounces pride.

Pride is having confidence in self. So, another word for pride would be self-reliance, self-exaltation, self-rule. John Piper said, “There are two kinds of pride — the pride of having and the pride of wanting. The pride of having is the pride of those who have superiority, or think they do … The pride of wanting is the pride of those who don’t have superiority but wish they did and continually crave others’ attention and approval.”[2] Different forms but the same root: having confidence in self. Many of us often think, “I don’t have superiority, so I don’t have pride.” We may not have the pride of having, but pride is often seen in those who have nothing to be arrogant about and crave the attention and approval of others. The pride of wanting. “My life would be better if only I had … better health, better job, better family, more vacation time, more money…” More, bigger, better. But trying to find contentment in all this is like keeping our hands warm with a hand warmer. It comes and goes. It’s temporary. So the first step to Christian contentment is to cut off all forms of pride at every level.

Learn Contentment
Here is the second point: contentment is a learned skill. In verse 2 David says, “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.” Verse 2 is David’s very intentional composure of soul. Negatively, David renounces all forms of pride at every level. Positively, he intentionally seeks to find contentment in God.

David does this like a weaned child. There is a clear difference between an unweaned child and a weaned child. Hannah is an unweaned child. She is frantically looking for her mom, craving milk for her stomach. But Esther and Grace are weaned children. They just enjoy the mom’s presence. The other day I asked Grace, “What is your favorite time?” She said, “Snuggle time with mom!” Almost every evening Esther asks me, “Will you read me a story?” Here what she is saying is, “Can I come and sit on your knee, and feel your arms around me, and hear your voice?” For Grace and Esther, for the weaned child, it is not about her stomach. It’s about her heart.

David exhorts us to learn and cultivate the weaned childlike soul. I think one of the best examples of this is the apostle Paul. In Philippians 4 Paul tells us about his contentment in the Lord:

Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Paul says, “I’ve learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” What’s the secret of Paul’s contentment? Christ Jesus is the secret of his contentment. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Paul has learned to depend on the Lord as certain things he had depended on were taken away from him. David has learned the secret of contentment through many trials and tribulations. As pandemic drags on, as American politics gets messy, as days get shorter and darker, we have been affected by all this. We grieve. And it hurts. But still, like a weaned child, with humility, curiosity, trust, we can learn to depend on God, not on circumstances. Contentment is a learned skill.

Tell the World
Christian contentment renounces pride. It is a learned skill. And here’s the third: Christian contentment is contagious. In verse 3 David says, “O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore!” He tells the world to join him in this contentment, satisfaction, joy, peace, hope that he has found in God. When David was running away from Saul and living in the wilderness, some people came to him, and David became their leader. 1 Samuel 22:2 says, “All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him” (1 Sam 22:2). Basically, those 400 men were social misfits, convicts, and troublemakers. But the amazing thing is David did not become like one of them. Instead, those 400 men became like David. At the beginning the 400 men were worthless men and troublemakers, but later, they became founding contributors and leaders. How can it be possible? It is because David spent more time with God than with those 400 men. Every morning David offered his first thoughts, first words, first hour to God. And he was shaped by God’s word and God’s character day after day after day. David has learned to be content in God. And his contentment was just shining out. Through his life David tells the world around him, “Hope in the Lord! Join me in my child-like contentment in him!”

Living with Contentment
Still today, perhaps now more than ever, the message of Psalm 131 is so true, and so need to be heard: O God’s people, renounce pride and humble yourselves before God. Seek to find contentment in God alone. O God’s people, hope in the Lord – not yourself. Hope in the Lord – not health. Hope in the Lord – not family. Hope in the Lord – not politics. Hope in the Lord – not power. Hope in the Lord – not economy, not money.

As I close, I would like to share the prayer of Missy Buchanan. When she wrote this prayer (May 2008), Missy was a caregiver for her 92 years old mother, who continued to seek her contentment in God, but increasing pain and health issues.[3]

I confess there are days when pain suffocates my passion for living. 

There are dark nights when fear chokes out hope. 

Sometimes I wonder why you have left me on this earth. 

I have outlived so many family and friends. 

Why do I linger? 

What purpose could you have for me now? 

Look at my hands. Once strong and sure, they are unsteady and frail. 

My mind, once quick and incisive, now falters under the weight of names and faces. 

What real purpose do I serve knitting away the hours, 

surfing the channels, dozing through the afternoon? 

Then your Spirit stirs my heart and convicts my soul. 

You are not a wasteful God! 

The length of my earthly days is a mystery to me, but one thing I know for sure. 

You have created me with an eternal purpose. 

How can I be more like Christ today? 

Whose life can I touch with kindness? 

Lord, give me an extra measure of grace when I feel that I’m too old to be useful. 

Help me take my limitations in stride as I search for opportunities to serve you. 

My purpose has not withered away with another birthday. 

It is rooted in eternity. 

Amen. 

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[1] Quoted in John Piper, “Join Me in Soul-Satisfaction in God,” Desiring God (September 14, 2014)
[2] Ibid.
[3] Missy Buchanan, Living with Purpose in a Worn–Out Body (p. 7). Upper Room Books. Kindle Edition.