Deuteronomy 8:10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

Deuteronomy 28:47 Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;

48a Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things.

Luke 3:14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.

Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

I Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

MEMORY VERSE: Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. — Hebrews 13:5-6

CENTRAL THOUGHT: Contentment and thankfulness are prerequisites for faithfulness, honesty, trust in God, and generosity, because when we focus on what God has given and what He has already done for us, we are persuaded He will supply for future needs as well.

WORD DEFINITIONS

I Timothy 6:6 “Contentment”: Competency; a mind satisfied with its lot. “The word occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in II Corinthians 9:8, where it is rendered, both in the R.V. and the A.V., ‘sufficiency.’ The adjective, found in Philippians 4:11 (and common in classical Greek), is rendered ‘content.’ It means ‘sufficient in or of itself ’—needing no external aid” (Pulpit Commentary).

I Timothy 6:8 “Raiment”: The word which we translate raiment “signifies covering in general; and here means house or lodging, as well as clothing…He that has more than these is rich in the sense in which the apostle uses the term” (Clarke’s Commentary).

Hebrews 13:5 “Conversation”: disposition; turn of mind. “Content”: to suffice; to be enough. “With such things as ye have”: “With present things; with present riches, or with present poverty; with present losses and crosses; with present reproaches and afflictions; and contentment with these things shows itself by thankfulness for every mercy, and by submission to the will and providence of God in every state of life” (Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible).

Hebrews 13:6 “Leave”: The withdrawing of a hand that sustains. “I will not drop thee” (MacLaren’s Expositions). “Nor forsake thee”: utterly forsake or cast off.

LESSON BACKGROUND

The passage at the beginning of Deuteronomy is a solemn warning; the latter mention is a sorrowful lament for the way the warning was completely disregarded. Together, with the apostle’s commentary in Romans, you have an explanation of the Israelites’ sin and its consequences in just a few words: the idolatry, the vain and covetous behavior, and the resulting religious darkness, famine, starvation, and exile.

It is so tragic how it played out in history, just as it was prophesied in Deuteronomy 28 over three thousand years ago. Israel was carried away to Babylon. The people who had been chosen by God were scattered over the earth. Years later, they were taken by the Romans and their beautiful capital city, Jerusalem, was destroyed. In AD 79-81, the emperor, Titus, carried

them back to Egypt in ships, just as this chapter predicted, and it happened again in AD 117-138 by Hadrian.

When John the Baptist was preaching by the Jordan River, he instructed the people who were repenting and seeking baptism. The soldiers, either Roman or Jewish, employed, as the Publicans were, by the Romans, who came to him asked, “What are we supposed to do?” His answer was, in part, that they should be content with their wages, or daily allowances, including food. They were not to take part in mutiny or extortion in order to obtain more.

The great sins mentioned in the context of the verse in Romans were a direct result of the lack of being thankful and glorifying God as God. Likewise, thankfulness and contentment were the groundwork of the godly, exalted state of well-being God’s people enjoyed while they kept His worship and obeyed His laws.

—Angela Gellenbeck

DISCUSSION:

1. Give the root cause of Israel’s sins and captivity.
2. What is the danger of being “full” and having financial success?
3. Share what happened literally to Israel in fulfillment to the prophecies in Deuteronomy 28.
4. What is truly great wealth, according to I Timothy 6:6?
5. We can be thankful and have contentment because of what promise? 

LIFE APPLICATION

We praise because we are so dependent. Anything we have is because God has been merciful. We are grateful because none of us can claim, “I’m a self-made man.” Anytime someone in history has made those kinds of claims (think Nebuchadnezzar!), God in His mercy brought him down. When Israel ceased to be thankful for what they had been given, they doubted God and went into idolatry.

Both Psalms and Colossians mention the kind of thankfulness and praise that breaks forth into singing. The proper way to enter the presence of God to worship is with singing. Hebrews continues later in the chapter by admonishing us to continually offer the sacrifice of praise, “giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15). That leaves little time for complaining!

Hebrews 13:6 also gives us the reason why: His promise that His hand will ever sustain us and hold us up. He will never utterly forsake us. Having this kind of contentment in our lives keeps us from covetousness and its companion evils, dishonesty and theft, as well as fear, worry, doubt, murmuring, complaining and bitterness.

—Angela Gellenbeck

REFLECTIONS

Job gave us a perfect example in the Old Testament of how we should handle wealth as well as poverty. He understood where wealth came from and he also understood lack of it did not diminish God’s power nor his love to mankind. “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

Being wealthy will not keep you out of heaven. On the other hand, being poor will not get you into heaven. It is not wrong to have financial obligations, but we are to faithfully pay back those obligations. It is also not wrong to gain wealth, but we must constantly be aware that the Lord gave it. Our duty is to praise Him and give unselfishly, understanding that the Lord is in control of it all. It is not sinful to be wealthy nor is it sinful to be poor. The sin lies in our perception of the place that we are in: are we contented in the Lord? Are we completely satisfied in our service to Him? Does He complete all of our being?

Our cup of contentment is to be filled with the God who died to redeem us; He desires to be our everything! Paul stated it well: “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:12 -13).

—LaDawna Adams