Moses: From Contentment To Calling

Let me ask you a simple question, “Are you content?” I saw a self-help based article on the Internet that suggested contentment can be found by catching yourself thinking “life sucks,” and stopping such thinking. It continued that contentment is found by cultivating a thankfulness for “little things and simples joys,” by focusing on “things about yourself that you’re happy with,” and that we should “assume that you, others, and life are perfect.” I don’t know about you, but I learned early in life not to assume anything. This “self-help” article points people to ourselves as the source that we should seek to find contentment. I can tell you one place that isn’t the source of contentment – and that’s a heart with original sin in it. There’s a lot of gobbledygook New Agey stuff out there that points people to look within or look at themselves for contentment. Those self-help books that teach you how to be the source of contentment. And this may be a little nitpicky of me, but I want to fill you in on something. If you’re reading a book by someone else to learn about self-help – that’s not self-help. That’s someone else helping you – or - just “help.” And I don’t think it’s any wonder that the self-help genre of books has exploded in the last few years – another article I read called happiness the ”ultimate consumer product.” Companies sell happiness. And people will spend big on the things that they think will make them happy.

Why? Because happiness is a close relative of contentment. But it isn’t contentment.

Think about what brings you contentment. An old 2004 Gallup Poll gave us a list: family and friends, health, where we live, religion, romance, personal growth, career, recreation, and last on the list (and in fact, not one person in the video we just watched mentioned this) - money. These are the things that people said made them feel content.

But now let’s fast forward to 2024. A recent Gallup Poll shows that only 47% of Americans feel 'very content' with their personal lives. That's barely above the record low from 2011. Even broader measures of contentment have dropped; only 78% of people report being 'somewhat content,' down from the 84% trend we've seen since 1979. So what’s going on? Our contentment, according to the poll, hinges on several aspects of our lives. If our family or friendships falter, if our health declines, if we have to move, if a relationship ends, if we don’t feel like we’re growing, if our career takes a hit, if we can’t enjoy our hobbies, or if we face financial trouble – our sense of contentment can take a serious blow. And I’m not minimizing these things – because these are real, everyday issues that many of us face, which might explain why contentment feels so elusive. But rather than looking inward for contentment - I believe true contentment comes from going in the exact opposite direction from self. If I need a perspective change in my life – why not go to the source?

Because the truth is, contentment is a byproduct of God's humbling process in our lives.

And when we look in the scriptures for our contentment, we get example after example after example. This week as we’re continuing our series, we’re looking at Moses – Josh talked about his parents largely last week, and this week I want to talk about his life, and what contentment looked like for Moses. Because when we look at Moses, we see a man humbled by God.

What is the secret, what’s the formula to true contentment?

1. Contentment Comes Before Calling

First – if you’re taking notes, is this: Contentment Comes Before Calling. You know, we often hear about God’s calling in our lives, don’t we? Have you ever considered that contentment often comes before hearing God’s call clearly? Now, we’re all called by Jesus to fulfill the Great Commission to reach the world for Christ, when He said:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

— Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)

So there’s that call on all of our lives, but then there is God’s individual commissioning of people for tasks and life purposes, using our talents and our gifts as being part of the body of Christ like Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12, and Romans 12. In this, contentment is so incredibly important to hearing God’s call clearly. Think about it for a moment, when we’re not content, what are we doing? We’re looking for the next big thing or wishing we were somewhere else – and when that’s our focus it’s like we’ve got static on the line between us and God.