Hebrews 13:5: “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.'”

August 3rd, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The Greek word for content was originally used to describe a nation that did not have to import anything, but had within its own boundaries everything it needed to sustain the life of its people. For the thinking person struggling to find deep satisfaction in life, this verse shares a truth more valuable than silver or gold. “Be content with such things as you have.” We must refuse to get caught in the trap of desiring more and more, and instead choose to simply accept and be fulfilled with what God has given for this moment in our lives. Contentment or literally “to be self-contained” has much more to do with what we are on the inside than our circumstances or what we posses on the outside.

When the Holy Spirit spoke, “I will never leave you.” He used 5 negatives in the Greek, so the verse actually says, “I will never, never, never, never, never leave you.” This verse is meant to help us realize that our contentment comes from God and not ourselves. No matter what is happening in our lives, good or bad, God is with us and on our side, and that is enough. In Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe, the main character is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. Life is hard, but he finds hope and comfort when he turns to this very verse in the word of God:

One morning, being very sad, I opened the Bible upon these words, “I will never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Immediately it occurred that these words were to me; why else should they be directed in such a manner, just at the moment when I was mourning over my condition, as one forsaken of God and man? “Well then,” said I, “if God does not forsake me . . . what matters it, though the world should all forsake me . . . ?”

From this moment I began to conclude in my mind that it was possible for me to be more happy in this forsaken solitary condition, than it was probable I should ever have been in any other particular state in the world, and with this thought I was going to give thanks to God for bringing me to this place.¹

“LORD, we thank You that You have promised to never, never, never, never, never leave us. We believe You LORD.”

¹Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1920), p. 149.