I. Introduction
These are the stories we learned as children and perhaps now you are in turn telling the same tales to your children or grandchildren. These stories were told by our teachers or at our bedtime to help us drift off to sleep. These tales taught us morals. However, unknown to many of us they also taught us significant spiritual truths! Let's look at one of these fairytales we know so well and see if we can unwrap a spiritual truth that is in it.
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks. She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty soon, she came upon a house. She knocked and, when no one answered, she walked right in.
At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. She tasted the porridge from the first bowl.
"This porridge is too hot!" she exclaimed.
So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl.
"This porridge is too cold," she said.
So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge. "Ahhh, this porridge is just right," she said happily and she ate it all up.
After she'd eaten the three bears' breakfasts, she decided she was feeling a little tired. So, she walked into the living room where she saw three chairs. Goldilocks sat in the first chair to rest.
"This chair is too big!" she exclaimed.
So she sat in the second chair. "This chair is too big, too!" she whined.
So she tried the last and smallest chair. "Ahhh, this chair is just right," she sighed. But just as she settled down into the chair to rest, it broke into pieces!
Goldilocks was very tired by this time, she went upstairs to the bedroom. She lay down in the first bed, but it was too hard. Then she lay in the second bed, but it was too soft. Then she lay down in the third bed and it was just right. Goldilocks fell asleep.
As she was sleeping, the three bears came home.
"Someone's been eating my porridge," growled the Papa bear.
"Someone's been eating my porridge," said the Mama bear.
"Someone's been eating my porridge and they ate it all up!" cried the Baby bear.
"Someone's been sitting in my chair," growled the Papa bear.
"Someone's been sitting in my chair," said the Mama bear.
"Someone's been sitting in my chair and they've broken it to pieces," cried the Baby bear.
They decided to look around some more and when they got upstairs to the bedroom, Papa bear growled,
"Someone's been sleeping in my bed.”
"Someone's been sleeping in my bed, too" said the Mama bear.
"Someone's been sleeping in my bed and she's still there!" exclaimed the Baby bear.
Just then, Goldilocks woke up. She saw the three bears. She screamed, "Help!" And she jumped up and ran out of the room. Goldilocks ran down the stairs, opened the door, and ran away into the forest. She never returned to the home of the three bears.
Goldilocks became a tasty treat for the bruins in James Katzaman’s account. In another version Goldilocks is tortured and killed by the bears for her transgressions.
I want to point out a couple of things and then take you to today's Scriptural account that this fairytale mimics.
I want you to notice how picky Goldilocks seemed to be. She struggled to be satisfied with the porridge (stolen mind you). She struggled to be satisfied with the chairs. She struggled to be satisfied with the bed. In the process of this constant dissatisfaction, she takes all of the wee bear's porridge, breaks his chair and occupies his bed. Just keep those details in the back of your mind.
Text: 1 Samuel 8:4-22 (TLB)
Finally the leaders of Israel met in Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. They told him that since his retirement things hadn’t been the same, for his sons were not good men. “Give us a king like all the other nations have,” they pleaded. Samuel was terribly upset and went to the Lord for advice. “Do as they say,” the Lord replied, “for I am the one they are rejecting, not you—they don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually forsaken me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but warn them about what it will be like to have a king!” So Samuel told the people what the Lord had said: “If you insist on having a king, he will conscript your sons and make them run before his chariots; some will be made to lead his troops into battle, while others will be slave laborers; they will be forced to plow in the royal fields and harvest his crops without pay, and make his weapons and chariot equipment. He will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his friends. He will take a tenth of your harvest and distribute it to his favorites. He will demand your slaves and the finest of your youth and will use your animals for his personal gain. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. You will shed bitter tears because of this king you are demanding, but the Lord will not help you.” But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said, “for we want to be like the nations around us. He will govern us and lead us to battle.” So Samuel told the Lord what the people had said, and the Lord replied again, “Then do as they say and give them a king.” So Samuel agreed and sent the men home again.
You are like . . . wait a minute I don't see any bears, porridge, chairs or bed in this account. How does it compare to the fairytale? I want you to think for a second . . . Israel has the God of the universe, the One who has sent plagues to deliver them from Egypt, the One who parted seas and rivers in front of them to destroy their enemies, the One who rained bread out of heaven, purified bitter water, caused walled cities to fall flat in front of them, caused the sun to stand still so their victory could be complete, the One who rained down hailstones to fight for them, the One who brings them into a land flowing with milk and honey and in spite of all of this the response of the Israelites is . . . this porridge is too hot, this chair is too big, this bed is too hard . . . well the way they actually said it is we want to be like everyone else. We don't want God as our king we want a man as our king. The shared trait in these two stories is simply the lack of contentment!
Goldilocks just couldn't seem to be content, and, in the process, she tears the house up. Israel couldn't be content and in spite of a vividly described and graphically detailed explanation of the destruction that would be the result of this decision the Israelites proceed with being discontent with being different and with trusting a trustworthy God.
Against these backdrops of discontentment, we learn some things.
1. The lack of contentment will break everything around you!
In Goldilocks case what could have been a good relationship, a chair, a bed is either destroyed or at least messed up. In Israel's case it will cost them slave labor, crops, daughters forced to serve the king's pleasure, taxes and tears. The lack of contentment caused brokenness around them.
How many of us are going from chair to chair, meal to meal, house to house, bed to bed, friend to friend, relationship to relationship, hobby to hobby, possession to possession all because we cannot seem to be content? It isn't that we don't have enough. It isn't that the house doesn't shelter us, the car doesn't transport us, the friend doesn't support us it is simply lack of contentment. We risk everything for more.
Our enemy is not possessions, but excess. Our cry is no longer 'Nothing' but 'Enough!'
Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., observes that our society is marked by "inextinguishable discontent." Our quest is better and what is next. We want a better job with better pay and a better boss. We want better relationships and a better car and a better backhand in tennis or a longer drive in golf. And, we have a propensity to live endlessly for the next thing - the next weekend, the next vacation, the next purchase, and the next experience. We are never satisfied, never content, and envious of those who have what we have not attained or accumulated.
The issue that causes brokenness in most of us is not that we have nothing, it is that we don't think we have enough.
What are you breaking in the pursuit of more? Your body? Your mind? Your spouse? Your kids? Your peace?
We sing and say that He is more than enough, but like Goldilocks and the Israelites we keep looking for more of everything else and the result is brokenness, stress, anxiety, dissatisfaction, and the feeling like something is always missing! It leads to buyer's remorse and our "discard society" that throws things away before they are even used up.
Listen you will never be obsessed with what God has for us, if we are obsessed with what God has for everybody else! Too many of us have an appetite for everyone else's life rather than an appetite for our own life. This obsession breaks everything around us. It breaks our peace. It breaks relationships that could be healthy and more than beneficial! It breaks peace of mind in the unending pursuit of enough.
Am I telling you to just accept things the way they are? No, I’m telling you to accept the things the way He wants them.
2. The lack of contentment causes us to lack compassion. Goldilocks didn't care that she was using up the resources of others. She didn't care that she was destroying their property. She didn't care that she trespasses. Israel didn't care that they were losing their distinction. They didn't care that they were no longer going to have enough to bless others. They were only concerned with their own wants and desires.
When we lack contentment, we almost invariably lack compassion. Our mind, attention and heart become consumed with what we want and what we think we need. We become completely and fully self-centered. We can't be compassionate towards others when our only concern is our own need! You will never be able to help anyone else if you don’t ever think you have enough.
You have to learn to be content.
You aren't just content you learn to be content. You train yourself to be thankful. Paul gives us some instructions regarding contentment that shows us the connection between contentment and real joy and also the need to learn contentment.
Philippians 4:4-7, 11-13 - Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do. Don’t worry about anything (don't go bowl to bowl, chair to chair, bed to bed); instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus. (Did you catch it? Learning to be content leads to joy and peace!)
Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether it be a full stomach or hunger, plenty or want; for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.
Contentment is learned. It isn't natural. We're not born with it. It is not a gift.
We have to learn the lesson that restriction is protection. We learn must learn that not everything we want is necessary and beneficial. That new house would stress you. That new spouse would destroy you. That new job would drive you crazy. We must learn to trust God that what He gives us is enough! I am not telling you not to be hungry. I am telling you not to be greedy! Rest in what He has provided.
