I love the Olympics--more than is probably natural or perhaps even healthy. While I’ll watch pretty much any event, gymnastics, and in particular the balance beam, is one one of my favorites. As a kid, I even asked my dad to build me a (very low) balance beam, and I quickly discovered how difficult it really is. One slight misstep and I was flailing wildly or on the ground.
Finding contentment often feels much the same way. It’s easy to get caught in the mentality of “a little more.” We have a job that pays the bills, but what if we got paid a little more? The apartment or house is adequate, but what if we had a little more space? Our car is solid, but what if we had one with a little more class? Contentment seems ever-elusive--we may get close to it, but never fully grasp it.
In Proverbs 30:7-9, the writer is wise enough to realize how easily we can fall off the balance beam of contentment. Verses 7-9 read:
“Two things I ask of you, Lord;
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| Photo Credit: Flickr User margiee329, Creative Commons |
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.”
The writer knows we are prone to forget God when things go well, and prone to resort to drastic measures when things are not going well. So instead, he asks for the kind of life that is lived on a balance beam--never falling into excess on one side or lack on the other. It’s not a life of striving after “a little more,” but taking stock of what we have for each day and seeing the goodness in that.
It’s about realizing that having comes with responsibility, because ultimately it all belongs to God.
With responsibility comes the opportunity to share what we have with others. It seems counterintuitive that by giving away what we have we may come to find contentment, but in the kingdom of God, things don’t always work the way we’re used to. When we give as an expression of gratitude for what we do have, even if what we have doesn’t feel like very much, we place ourselves in a spot to be reminded that we don’t stay on the balance beam of contentment through our own work, but by the grace of God.
If it was just up to us, we’d have a terrible time getting anywhere near contentment. The writer in Proverbs knows this, which is why he asks the Lord for only his daily bread, as a means to learn continued reliance on God. Our own work can’t make us content or willingly generous, but as we seek God and he draws us near to him, he graciously gives us gifts like contentment and generosity. We have to be willing to hear his call to accept these things and then obey, recognizing that a life lived in the middle can be a beautiful one.
[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]
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