So I know in my personal walk, I’ve always struggled with being content. And I think as a whole, the body of Christ, that’s something we all struggle in. I remember reading in Philippians 4 where Paul says, “I have found contentment in all circumstances, whether I’m hungry, whether I’m full, whether I’m with the rich, whether I’m with the poor.” He found contentment in all circumstances. And I remember reading that passage and being like, I desire that in my life. I want to be content. But I was so caught up in the “should have” “would haves” and “could haves” that I actually couldn’t find true contentment in my life.
I was like, by now I should be making six figures. By now I should be married, I should have children by now. And I just kept this comparison going and I kept struggling being content that it was causing actually a riff in my life. I didn’t have joy, I was struggling with bitterness, and I just couldn’t find that peace that I desired so much in my day-to-day walk. And the Lord actually came to me in my quiet time and He was like, “Hannah, will you give up all of your ideals? Will you lay them down at my feet and walk as I’ve called you to walk accordingly?” And obviously that was not an easy task to do. I remember just saying, “Of course, God, I’ll always give up anything for you.” And He said, “Would you leave your hands open and just whatever I give, just receive it? And if I take something away, just receive it. Allow it just to fall through.”
And I was reminded of Isaiah 55 where it says, “My ways are higher than your ways.” Right? “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” And so as I started just like keeping my hands open to the Lord and giving Him all my ideals, I realized that God can be so “Jehovah sneaky” sometimes, that He came in and He gave me that contentment. Because I realized as I kept leaving my ideals up to God, that my thoughts and my ideals as I got closer to God’s heart, that actually they became His thoughts and they became His ideals. They became His dreams for my life.
And I now was living this life where I was truly content, because I was living that life with God. And so today, I just really want to encourage you that if you’re struggling with contentment, if you’re struggling with the “should have, could have, would’ve,” that God is asking you right now, He’s saying, “Are you willing to live a life like Paul? Will you give up your ideals? Will you keep everything open handed?” And will you recognize what Isaiah 55 says, that His ways are higher than our ways?
So Jesus, we just ask right now that you would just come and minister to our hearts, God. Lord, would you just right now, take away those ideals, take away the bitterness, the frustration, God, of what we think our lives should be? And God, we just lay it down at your feet and we just say, Lord, whatever you have for us, we say yes. And we come before you open-handed and say, take away anything in our life that is not of you. And Lord, we ask that you would just give us more of the abundance. May it be in Ephesians 3:20, more than we can ever imagine would be our life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.