COV LIFE BLOG

James 1:9-11 – The Good Found In Humble Pursuits

Contentment is taking pleasure in God’s disposal. This is so when I am well pleased in what God does, in so far as I can see God in it, though, as I said, I may be sensible of the affliction, and may desire that God in his due time would remove it, and may use means to remove it. Yet I am well pleased in so far as God’s hand is in it. To be well pleased with God’s hand is a higher degree than the previous one. It comes from this: not only do I see that I should be content in this affliction, but I see that there is good in it. I find there is honey in this rock, and so I do not only say, I must, or I will submit to God’s hand. No, the hand of God is good, ‘it is good that I am afflicted.’ To acknowledge that it is just that I am afflicted is possible in one who is not truly contented. I may be convinced that God deals justly in this matter, he is righteous and just and it is right that I should submit to what he has done; O the Lord has done righteously in all ways! But that is not enough! You must say, ‘Good is the hand of the Lord.’ It was the expression of old Eli: ‘Good is the word of the Lord.’ Perhaps, some of you may say, like David, ‘It is good that I was afflicted,’ but you must come to this, ‘It is good that I am afflicted. Whatever the affliction, yet through the mercy of God mine is a good condition.’ It is, indeed, the top and the height of this art of contentment to come to this pitch and to be able to say, ‘Well, my condition and afflictions are so and so, and very grievous and sore; yet, through God’s mercy, I am in good condition, and the hand of God is good upon me notwithstanding.’

Jeremiah Burroughs in “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment”

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SCRIPTURES FOR THIS SUNDAY
Read James 1:9-11 and consider Burrough’s encouragement for how the lowly brother can boast in his low position. Where do you struggle with God’s sovereignty in placing you in a low position? And where do you struggle with pursuits that will fade away like the flower that perishes?

SONG FOR THIS WEEK
My Worth Is Not In What I Own by Keith & Kristyn Getty