The Blazing Center: Remedies For The Discontented Heart

Remedies For The Discontented Heart

Go to God, your exceeding joy. Psalm 43:4 says, "Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy..." God is the source of all joy, deep joy, exceeding joy. When you're tempted to be discontented, run to God, the source of your joy. The temptation in discontentment is to do everything possible to change the circumstances. The single person thinks that being married will satisfy the problem. The person strapped budget thinks that a few extra dollars will fix things. The mom who is weary of caring for her children thinks that a little time off will solve things. But this will never solve the problem. In every circumstance our hearts will find something to be discontent about. The remedy for discontentment is to go to God and find our exceeding joy in Him. Go to God through prayer and plead for the grace of contentment. Go to God through His word and savor the promises of divine joy.

Confess your discontentment to God. As John Piper says, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. When we are discontent, we're not satisfied in God, and thus God is not glorified. God is eager to glorify Himself, which means that He is eager to help you be content in Him. When you feel discontentment rising in your heart, immediately confess it to God as sin and ask Him to freshly satisfy your soul. Pray the prayer of Psalm 119:36, which says, "Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!" Apart from God you will never be satisfied, but by His grace you can experience deep, God-honoring joy.

Fly to the Savior. Friends, discontentment is a serious matter. When I'm discontent, I'm, saying that God is not enough for me. I'm saying that He can't satisfy me, and that the circumstances He has ordained are not good. This is sin of the most wicked kind. But praise be to God, we have a Savior. There is one man who was fully and completely content in God, and that man was Jesus Christ. He was punished in my place, crushed for my discontentment. Christ received the punishment that had my name written on it. How grateful I am for Jesus Christ, the one who secured my pardon and purchased my forgiveness. When you become aware of discontentment, confess it as sin and then fly to Jesus for forgiveness. His blood is powerful enough to make the foulest sinner clean.

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Posted by Stephen Altrogge at 11:16 AM

Thank you, sir.

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