we ought to be satisfied with this; for he who sees the end from the beginning must know much better than we what is for our good.  The Scriptures abound with similar promises.  “O fear the Lord, ye his saints; for there is no want to them that fear him.  The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.”  “Trust in the Lord, and do good, and verily thou shall be fed.  I have been young and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”  “But my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”  It must, then, be a sinful distrust of the word of God, to indulge in anxious fears about the supply of our necessities.  If we believed these promises, in their full extent, we should always rest in them, and never indulge an anxious thought about the things of this life.  This, God requires of us.  “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.”  “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed?” “Be careful for nothing.”  And nothing can be more reasonable than this requirement, when he has given us such full and repeated assurances that he will supply all our wants.  The silver and the gold, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, belong to our heavenly Father.  When, therefore, he sees that we need any earthly blessing, he can easily order the means by which it shall be brought to us.

From the precious truths and promises which we have been considering, we infer the duty of contentment in every situation of life.  If God directs all our ways, and has promised to give us just what he sees we need, we surely ought to rest satisfied with what we have; for we know it is just what the Lord, in his infinite wisdom, and unbounded goodness, sees fit to give us.  But the apostle Paul enforces this duty with direct precepts.  “But godliness with contentment, is great gain.”  “Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.” “Be content with such things as ye have; for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”  Here he gives the promise of God, as a reason for contentment.  It is, then, evidently the duty of every Christian to maintain a contented and cheerful spirit, under all circumstances.  This, however, does not forbid the use of all lawful and proper means to improve our condition.  But the means must be used with entire submission to the will of God.  The child of God should cast all his care and burden upon him; and when he has made all suitable efforts to accomplish what he considers a good object, he must commit the whole to the Lord, with a perfect willingness that his will should be done, even to the utter disappointment of his own hopes.