Today’s 333 Devotional: “Learning Contentment”

I guarantee you will not like what this devotional says if you are looking for a change in your situation. But I also guarantee that if you follow what the Lord says through it, you will find peace.

The children of Israel have been taken captive by the Babylonians. They want to get back to Jerusalem and back to the life they once knew. So they listened to what the false prophets said that in two years they would return.

But not so Jeremiah! Look at what the Lord said.

“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7)

The secret of having God’s peace no matter the situation is to be content where the Lord has placed you and pray for God’s peace and prosperity where you are.

So your marriage isn’t what you expected, be content and pray for God’s peace and prosperity to be upon your spouse and family. You don’t like your job, be content and pray for God’s peace for your boss, co-workers, and prosperity at your place of employment. You don’t like where you live, be content and pray for God’s peace and prosperity to be there.

Just as God was telling the Israelites to be content where they were, God is saying the same thing to us. God has a plan for our lives, not for harm, but to prosper, and to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

The Apostle Paul knew this valuable truth for his own life.

“I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” (Philippians 4:11)