Deliver the Discontent
I have lived in Mississippi for the majority of my life. I always knew Mississippi seemed not to compare with other states in terms of having professional sports, big arenas, big cities, or amusement parks. When I moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, area in 2021 to begin seminary, the lack of industry in Mississippi compared to other states became real. For example, within a thirty-minute drive, I could be at an NFL football game, Six Flags, or a unique restaurant. In Mississippi, you have to drive out of the state to experience a professional sports game.
One thing I enjoyed in Texas was how quickly Amazon delivered packages. There were days when it seemed my package arrived before I hit the button to place my order. Thankfully, when I moved back to Mississippi in 2024, I can receive some of my Amazon packages on the same day.
Deliver Your Discontentment to God
When Amazon delivers your packages, it can take a few days to receive them or as little as a few hours. When they deliver your package, they are handing something over to you. It is no longer their property. It is now yours.
The same is true for God. When you deliver your prayers to God, He hears them and takes the burden off of you. God wants you to be content in Him while He handles your worries. Worrying is worthless when we deliver our discontentment to God.
When we are discontent, we are telling God that we are not satisfied with Him. Discontentment tells God that there is something in our life that we are putting over Him because we are not happy with Him. Discontentment is a sin because our ultimate satisfaction should be in God and nothing else.
What do we do with discontentment? We deliver it.
The way we deliver discontentment is through prayer.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6, NIV)
Paul authored Philippians as he was sitting in a jail cell. He was in an uncomfortable position. He was chained and hurting. He was isolated from the world. Paul wouldn’t have been able to change clothes much. He might not have changed clothes at all. Paul was in a state of discontentment, yet he wrote this letter to the Philippians to express his gratitude for them and for what Christ was doing in his life.
How did Paul do this? Paul had contentment because he delivered his discontentment to God.
Paul knew all difficulties are within God’s purposes. In his discontentment, he did not suggest “Pray about it.” Instead, Paul tells us not to be anxious, but to be thankful. He tells us to present our requests to God. He tells us the way not to be discontent or anxious is to be in prayer and have an attitude of thanksgiving.
Just like an Amazon delivery worker hands over our package to us, we should hand over our discontentment to God. In doing so, we keep a heart of prayer and a mindset of gratitude. When we pray, we make our requests known to God. We remain thankful to God because our requests are in the hands of the One who is in control.
If you find yourself in a season of discontentment, the key to overcoming it is found in prayer and thanksgiving.
Deliver the discontentment to God. Present it to Him. The only way to find true contentment afterwards is to be connected to God. Nothing else will satisfy you or bring you joy.