“I do not know when I have had happier times in my soul than when I have been sitting at work, with nothing before me but a candle and a white cloth, and hearing no sound but that of my own breath; with God in my soul and heaven in my eye. I rejoice in being exactly what I am—a creature capable of loving God, and who, as long as God lives, must be happy. I get up and look a while out the window. I gaze at the moon and stars, the work of an Almighty Hand. I think of the grandeur of the universe and then sit down and think myself one of the happiest beings in it.”

“ A Poor Methodist Woman” (an anonymous eighteenth-century woman)

Quoted by R. Kent Hughes

Set Apart, 40

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The one who has learned to live in the gladness of the Lord’s fellowship is peacefully content, not because he has much of this world’s goods but because he has true wealth in the Lord Jesus. He has discovered that life does not consist in the abundance of things but in the abundance of the Father’s love. Nothing truly satisfies his or her soul but the Lord’s presence and fellowship with Him. He may possess many things but they do not possess him. He may be poor but it does not matter. His perspective is eternal rather than temporal. As one old saint said, a cup of water tastes like wine when He is present.

The world, the flesh and the devil try to stir up discontent so that there must be one more possession or experience or position in order for there to be true happiness. Little do many suspect that this is the same temptation that drew Adam away from intimate fellowship with his Creator. What the loving Lord provided is not enough, so the temptation goes. How slow we are to learn the serpent’s old tricks.

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Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 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.

1 Timothy 6:6-8 (ESV)