"I Have Learned To Be Content Whatever The Circumstances."

The way to happiness
(Thomas Guthrie, "CHRISTand the Inheritance of the Saints" 1858) 

"Blessed (or happy) is he whose transgressions 
are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
 Blessed (or happy) is the man whose sin 
the LORD does not count against him." 
Psalm 32:1-2

Our happiness depends in a very small 
degree upon what is external to us. 
The springs of happiness lie deep within. 

Yet, how common it is to think otherwise! 

Hence . . .
  the keen pursuit of pleasure,
  lovers' sighs,
  war's fierce ambition,
  the student's patient labor as he feeds 
   his midnight lamp with the oil of life,
  the panting race for fleeting riches, 
  the desperate struggles some make 
   to keep themselves from sinking into poverty,
  and the toil and trouble others endure. 

And to say nothing of the sins which 
these may alike commit, simply . . .
  to rise in the world, as it is called,
  to keep a better table, 
  to wear a better dress,
  to live in a better house than satisfied 
their humble, but happier parents. 

These paths, crowded and beaten down 
though they be by the feet of thousands 
who are treading on each other's heels--
never yet conducted any man to happiness. 

Never! It lies in another direction. 
Whatever his condition is . . .
  poor, or rich;
  pining on a sick bed, or with 
   health glowing on his cheek;
  to be married tomorrow, 
    or to be hanged tomorrow; 


"Blessed," or, as we would say, 
Happy, "is he whose transgressions 
are forgiven, whose sin is covered!"

The way to happiness does not 
lie in attempting to bring our 
circumstances up to our minds--
but our minds down to our circumstances. 

To indulge an unsanctified and insatiable 
ambition, to attempt to bring our 
circumstances up to our minds--
is to fill a sieve with water, or 
the grave with dead, or the sea 
with rivers. 

The passions that in such a case 
seek gratification, are like that  
wretched drunkard's thirst--
they burn the fiercer for indulgence, 
and crave for more the more they get. 

It is often difficult, I grant, to bring 
our minds down to our circumstances; 
but he attempts not a difficult thing, 
but an impossible thing, who attempts 
to bring his circumstances up 
to the height of his ambition.

As the old adage says:
"Nature is content with little,
 grace is content with less,
 lust is content with nothing." 

May ours be the happiness of him who, 
  content with less than little, 
  pleased with whatever pleases the FATHER, 
  anxious for nothing, 
  thankful for anything, 
  prayerful in everything;
can say with Paul, 

"I have learned to be content whatever 
the circumstances. I know what it is to be 
in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. 
I have learned the secret of being content 
in any and every situation, whether well fed 
or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." 
Philippians 4:11-12 

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Arthur Pink, "The Attributes of God"
Chapter 15. The LOVING-KINDNESS of God