Joy in Chaosናሙና

I’ve never known true hunger, and compared to most of the world have never experienced the want of basic needs. It’s easy for me to say I know how to be content and find joy in any and every situation.

I’m writing this devotion in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, and discontent has come easily to me. I have plenty of food but I long for some of my favorites. I don’t really need anything but I miss shopping. Not being able to go to the hairdresser feels like a big problem. I struggle with discontentment which robs me of joy.

How did Paul, the author of today’s passage, find this place of contentment, and even joy, despite beatings, imprisonment, hatred, and rejection?

He said, “I have learned” the secret of how to be content in any circumstance. He learned the secret to letting go of striving, grasping, and the crying demands of discontent. The secret to accepting whatever came: sun or storm; fullness or emptiness; nothing or everything.

He told us how in the verse that follows: “I can do all things through Him (Christ) who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

Paul’s focus was on Jesus, not himself. His hope was in Jesus, not this world. He looked forward not behind. As a result, gratitude and praise characterized his life.

In chains and in freedom, he praised God.

In weakness and in strength, he praised God.

When bruised and beaten or when in comfort, he praised God.

Paul viewed this life of turmoil and pain as nothing compared to the future he had living in the presence of Christ with a perfect, glorified body of his own, free from sin and death. (Romans 8:18; Philippians 3:20-21)

To find this contentment, and fully experience the joy it fuels, we keep our eyes on Jesus and the future we have with Him. We praise Him, worshipping Him in good times and bad. We rely on His strength because we can’t do it on our own.

Paul was weak as we are but he depended on Christ. He chose contentment by faith finding lasting joy, and so can we.

~ Susan Aken