September 4 – A Certain Providence (Psalm 16)

“Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”(Psalm 16:5)

IN WORD:
Many foolish decisions have been made out of the emptiness of discontentment. That’s a frightening place from which to guide a life, but we do it often. We want something more, something better, because we’re not quite happy with our lot in life. We forget one unwavering scriptural principle: God is the author of out lot.
There’s nothing wrong with a holy ambition. The key for us is to make sure it’s actually holy. God has placed within us a desire to work and to accomplish things, especially for His glory. But we can deceive ourselves easily, thinking that we’re working for God when in fact we’re working to escape the place He’s put us. Contentment is the fruit of godly wisdom and a wonderful attitude to hold, and it begins with the certain knowledge of this verse: “Lord, you have assigned me my portion.”
We do not live in a content culture. Our society is moved primarily by restlessness. Deep down we know that things aren’t right, and the knee-jerk reaction of a secular world is to try to fix the situation. We who are in Christ know better: He is the Fixer, and only our trust in Him will deliver us from our restlessness. That trust, if cultivated rightly, will give us the contentment that David expresses in this psalm. It will define for us our security.

IN DEED:
Did David write of his peace while he was sitting on a throne or hiding in a cave? Was he dancing in praise or grieving his son Absalom? It doesn’t matter. The key to contentment is to refuse to define your life by your present circumstances. It is to know that you are where you are because God is sovereign. Even when the situation is desperate, we can say that “the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places” (Psalm 16:6). Why? Because we’ve been given a glimpse of the end of the story and the One who guides it. Whatever we’re going through, it will end well if we trust Him. Faith believes that truth, clings to it, and thrives on it. The result is trhe wisdom of contentment.

“If we do not have quiet in our minds, outward comfort will do no more for us than a golden slipper on a gouty foot.”
-John Bunyan-