THE POISON OF PARADISE: DISCONTENTMENT

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate…” Genesis 3:6

REFERENCE
Genesis 3:1-6

“Nature is content with little, grace with less, but lust with nothing. If the whole world were monopolized, avarice (greed) would thirst for more.” ~ Matthew Henry.

Adam had it all. A good job, a good house with a lush garden, exotic pets, a big ranch with flowing streams and a good family; but one day, he ‘ate’ himself out of everything. How? The poison of discontentment! Discontentment simply is, ‘Not being happy with your lot – thinking God is keeping something good from you; thinking that what you don’t have is worth more than what you presently have.’ I’m sure Adam in the midst of all he had, kept wondering to himself, “I can have more…what about that tree in the middle of the garden?” “How can God say I have dominion over all His works, when I can’t have this tree?” Adam had so much but he couldn’t get his eyes off the one he didn’t have. Of course, the devil soon smelled that thought of discontent and he capitalized on it.

There is a healthy dissatisfaction that we can have about our lot in life, that pushes us to strive to become better. However, when it blinds us from seeing what we have or how fortunate we are compared to many others, when it steals the spirit of gratitude from us – then we have crossed into discontentment, and like a man who ingests deadly poison, the consequences can be fatal.

Discontentment is poison and can make a man lose his paradise. If you are constantly complaining about what you don’t have, comparing yourself with those who seem to have more, never pausing to enjoy what you have, thinking that if you have more, you will be more respected or more powerful – be careful, you are ingesting poison and you may soon lose even that which you have, because you do not value it. A discontented heart is an unthankful and ungrateful heart; it forever wants more. Seeing another have what he doesn’t have, sends him into a frenzy to get that thing by all means. His prayer point is ‘Give me,’ not ‘I give thanks.’ Discontentment made David who had 7 wives to go after and take the wife of his poor, loyal subject, Uriah. He would have lost everything, but for the mercy of God. POISON!

Do you complain more than you rejoice? Do you petition God more than you thank Him? Do you often think that life and God are unfair? Do you always want what others have? You may be ingesting the poison of discontentment. Learn from Adam; “He who goes after what is forbidden, eventually loses what is permitted.”