Contentment

“Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. Let your clothes be white all the time, and let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:7-9

Contentment, such a simple word yet such a complex concept. So many strive all their lives, never to find it. How is it at 18 years of age I have found it? I have found it because I have taken the following verses to heart, applied them in my mind, and acted them out with my hands.

Many a suicide has taken place when a person cannot find the answer to why they are here. When lust is spent and contentment lost, all of mankind will come to the same conclusion Solomon came to. All under the sun is vanity... Coming from a man with hundreds of wives and concubines, from the richest, most powerful, most wise man on the face of God's green earth, this statement has to be unsettling to those who have set their hearts on earthly objectives. Yet why am I so content? I am not a king, I am not rich, nor am I wise. How and why have I found contentment?

Two things have instilled this contentment in me. The first is found in the first few verses of this passage in Ecclesiastes. I live my life knowing God has ordained, purposed, and thus approved of my actions. I live in a healthy state, knowing he has predestined my actions, thus nothing which happens worries me. When loss comes around, when fortune leaves, my faith in God arrives, it settles in realer than ever before. This is a joy that many cannot appreciate, and the fear of mistakes separates almost all from contentment.

Secondly, I have followed the recommendation of the wisest man and ruler. I have set my heart on finding and loving a woman who I will protect and serve for all of my fleeting days. At age 14 I set my heart on one young woman, who 4 years later decided she wanted to go to college with her options open. She left me feeling as though I was without purpose, without aim, without contentment. I did not have the full appreciation of God's sovereignty, and had not realized the faithfulness I now rest in. That faith now tells me God has a more wonderful young woman awaiting me in life. I shall patiently wait for her, knowing God intends for me to be preparing for her now.

This preparation is so much more fulfilling knowing she is out there somewhere. As Solomon said, “For this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.” The reward for each and every act of responsibility and integrity that I make to build my character is the knowledge that she will appreciate it one day. I will one day kneel before the beautiful destiny God has in store for me. I shall gaze up and tell her that I have been preparing for this moment all my life. It will be all worth it in that moment.

Many men chase contentment in their career, in their hobbies, in their reputation. My career and reputation will be a means to an end, my wife's protection and provision. My hobbies will be what enables me to relate to her and our children. Yes contentment can be found, but one has to look in the right places. Solomon, whom God endowed with the greatest measure of wisdom ever given to a man, says that contentment is found in the knowledge that we serve God with our actions, and in taking pleasure in our wife who God has given us. I will rest in that knowledge, and take pleasure in the woman God designed me for.

In this I fulfill His direction for me on this earth, and when I bow before the Almighty Creator I shall hear His words, Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into the happiness of thy master...