Content During Crisis

Last week, for the first time in 84 days, Tara and I sat down and ate in a restaurant.  It was a great feeling.  It was a sense of freedom and normalcy.  We are always on the go and eating out has been part of our lifestyle.  It was nice to slow down for a few weeks, but it wasn’t long before the nice slow down felt as imprisonment.  Even those who spend much of their time at home have mentioned that it felt different when there was no other choice.  For us, when we were running, we longed for quiet and when we had to slow down, we longed for excitement.  It showed me a lot about the struggle to be content.

The struggle to be content was real for Paul during the missionary journeys. Paul says in Philippians 4:11-12, “… 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.”  It is difficult to be content no matter the circumstances.  I struggle with being content in the middle of a pandemic or waking up in the middle of the night with a kid.  Yet, I continue to learn how to be.  Paul says he learned it.  By going through the difficult times, we too can learn to be content.

I pray that you learned to be content during the “Safer at Home” orders.  I pray that you are learning to be content during a new normal as we slowly move out of our homes into the world we left behind.  Things may be different for a while.  That does not mean that we must like every change.  That does not mean we must forget the way things used to be.  But we need to find contentment in the current situation.  We can be content because we trust God.  We can be content because when we focus on God and spend time fellowshipping with Him in prayer, we find peace.  “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment.” (1 Timothy 6:6).