Content

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

Paul, the apostle, 1 timothy 6:6-8

A good stomach, a clean house, and a little food is far better than a large table, a dark chamber, and a sick heart. A good person has no true lack so long as his conscience is clear, and he enjoys God’s loving favor. If you judge providence based on abundance, then you will see that riches and goodness may meet together as well as riches and wickedness; honor and goodness may meet together as well as honor and wickedness.

Obadiah Sedgwick, Special Providence for Anxious Souls, p. 22

We also need to learn from Joseph not to be grieved when God determines to prosper us and others become jealous. This is a hard lesson for many people to learn. I often hear people trying to discount and explain away God’s blessing so that others won’t be upset with them. But there’s no need for it! If you realize that God enabled you to put the business deal together and smiled on it, if you know that the very breath you breathe is a gift from God’s hand, and if you can only explain the bottom line in terms of God’s sovereign choice to bless you, you don’t need to bury yourself because the next guy is jealous of your success. Listen to Calvin again: “Let us then learn not to be grieved if, at any time, the shining of the grace of God upon us should cause us to be envied.” If Joseph’s brothers had a grievance, it was with Jacob; Joseph never asked for the coat, nor did he conjure up the dreams.

Alistair Begg, The hand of god, p. 35-36

The wisdom to suffer well is like manna-you must receive nourishment every day. You can’t store it up, though you do become more familiar with how to go out and find what you need for today.
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We take God’s hard answer and make it sound like a pat answer. He sets about a long slow answering, but we’re after a quick fix. His answer insists on being lived out over time and into the particulars. We act as if just saying the right words makes it so. God’s answer involves changing you into a different kind of person. But we act as if some truth, principle, strategy, or perspective might simply be incorporated into who we already are. God personalizes his answer on hearts with an uncanny flexibility. But we turn it into a formula: ‘If you just believe x. If you just do y. If you just remember z.’ No important truth ever contains the word ‘just’ in the punch line.

David powlison, god’s grace in your suffering, p. 15-16

Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for an copper coin? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Jesus christ, god the son, matthew 10:26-31

…Christ points us to the sparrows that fly here and there. No one notices them. One person hunts them for food while another person kills them for pleasure. But not one sparrow falls to the ground without our Father ordering it to occur and permitting it to be so. It does not come by idle chance but by His working providence. That being the case, do you think that anything befalls you without your Father noticing it, ordering it, and governing it? No! If God has an eye on the sparrows, you may be confident that He has a special care for you. He not only orders the great moments of your life and death, but “the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” He knows them all and He attends to them all. And if He knows the very hairs of your head, how much more does He care for your person, safety, and preservation!

Obadiah Sedgwick, Special Providence for Anxious Souls, p. 2