Contentment

Does it ever amaze you that God cares about you?! You are part of his creation... in fact he knit you as carefully as he knit me in your mother's womb. Think about that, he fashioned each part to work together perfectly but yet made us as individuals. That's crazy, when I think about it. It's his crazy love that draws us to him and yet he wants to love us with a crazy love even though we don't deserve it. It's a oxy moron for sure but I am not going to deny his love. I desire to love him and know him more... every day.

Last week and even this week, God has really been laying contentment stemming from covetousness on my heart. Not an easy thing to deal with. Last week my verse for my Bible study was... Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 'And you shall know the words that I command you today and you shall talk of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you walk by the way and when you rise and when you lie down.' Something to that degree. I read this passage and the two chapters surrounding it to get a real glimpse of the context of what 'words' the writer is speaking of. In chapter 5, God is telling Moses the ten commandments. One of them is... 'you shall not covet your neighbor's wife (in my case husband). And you shall not desire your neighbor;'s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.' Wow... this shook me.

Then, Saturday night I was sitting at church and knew the message was going to be on something other than Revelation (what we've been studying) because our pastor had a kidney stone. But, during the announcements the pastor announced that we would watch a video of a sermon on covetousness, I almost fell out of my seat laughing (ok, I'm exaggerating but really I almost started laughing audibly).

This sermon led me to really understand my deeper struggles with coveting what other's have. This totally leads to contentment... am I content where God has us right now?

This led me to these verses which have been at the forefront of my mind... " And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you- with great and good cities that you did not build, and house full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant- and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."
... this clearly shows that when we are covetous... we beg and beg and beg until we get what we want and then we forget how much we longed for that 'thing.' How stupid of us! We forget where we have gotten everything that we could possibly need. Now, that's foolish.

Can I say that I've arrived? Certainly NOT! But, I can say that God is shaping me and helping me understand that comparisons and 'looking good' is not where it's at but being that clay and being real in reflecting on the maker and where he has brought me from is where's it's at. That's the paradigm shift today... to actually thank God for where he's brought me and to not always think of the list of wants, to just be content where we're at. Difficult, yes. But, good. Fresh. Perfectly dependent on the maker of heaven and earth... right where he wants us to be. The best part.. his grace is sufficient for me... even today.

Just what he's been teaching me... How bout yourself? What's he teaching you?!