January Monthly Giving Update

Karissa Myers   -   February 13, 2025

“….Hannah rose…. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.  And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

-1 Samuel 1:9-11 

Discontentment is such a sneaky sin for me. To be clear, discontentment is different than mourning. Mourning is an honest assessment of your emotions and feeling the weight of sin in this life while still looking to God for hope and healing. Versus discontentment is turning your focus inward and sitting in your emotional distress. Melissa Kruger states it this way, “Discontentment is a heart problem, not a circumstances problem.” Yet, discontentment seems to creep in around real concerns in this life. My home, my bills, my family, my work, my relationships have real strife where I have to balance experiencing emotions and difficulty while keeping focus on God.

Discontentment is rooted in unbelief and entitlement. Being discontent with the things God has given you is saying I don’t believe God loves me and is good to me. Or even worse, saying I believe God owes me something. It is easy to get stuck in the wallowing rather than taking action in prayer and seeking God’s will for your life.

I need to think of discontentment as a hunger pain. When I feel discontent, I need to run to Jesus. Community can help speak into these situations that cause us discontentment. Other Christians can help speak truth and help us see our situations correctly. Discontment is learned and practiced. This is something that we have to control our mind and emotions. Turning towards gratitude and praise for the things that we do have rather than missing the things we wish we had.

Hannah’s story in 1 Samuel is such a great example of true lamenting a hard situation in her life (infertility) while keeping her focus on God (prayer) and God’s glory (Samuel’s dedication to God). We can follow Hannah’s example whenever we seek the Lord to change our circumstances, asking ourselves, “If God gives us what we ask him for, will we give it back to him?”

-Karissa