Review of The Power of Christian Contentment by Andrew Davis

The Power of Christian Contentment

The Power of Christian Contentment by Andrew Davis is a profound book. It is filled with practical, beautiful truths about the heart of the believer. I found it both deeply convicting and highly encouraging. 

A friend (and reader) gave me this book after I wrote about my own journey with contentment. As most of us probably are, I believe I was blinded to the many ways discontentment lives in my heart. This was not a sin I would say I battled with any level of consistently prior to opening these pages. 

In The Power of Christian Contentment, Andrew Davis faithfully highlighted Scripture in a way that shone deep in my heart and revealed the hidden places I had given up, without realizing, to sin.

“This is how you must see complaining – as a bleeding wound in your soul, through which the power of the Spirit drains out of you until you repent of it.” 

The Definition of Contentment

I worked through this book VERY slowly and because I did, it was used of God in my life over a period of months. I read it through tears. 

This book is written as a modern-day exploration of Jeremiah Burroughs’ classic work The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. It takes its themes and much of its structure from this 17th century classic of Christian literature and yet it isn’t simply a commentary on Burroughs but a work on its own. 

Davis defines Christian contentment as “finding delight in God’s wise plan for my life and humbly allowing him to direct me in it.” And then he spends 200 pages digging into the challenges and joys associated with that definition. 

The Power of Christian Contentment in the Midst of Our Suffering

There is no glossing over the hard realities of applying this truth. Davis addresses the deep pain we often experience in this broken world, how that pain moves the heart of God, and how we can rest in him in the midst of our sorrow. 

So many of our shallow calls for contentment leave the hearer confused and disheartened because they can’t ignore the agony of their reality. When contentment is poorly defined, it can feel like a call to lie to ourselves about our circumstances. 

Scripture encourages believers to truly lament and even gives us a book filled with the language of lament (Psalms). Scripture also commands contentment. No shallow definition or weak theology will be able to support those two concepts side by side. 

Andrew Davis waded into that struggle and came out with practical ways, by the Spirit’s enabling, we can practice true contentment from the heart in the midst of a broken world. 

“In our murmuring we are effectively saying to Christ that his death on the cross and his resurrection for us are insufficient; we must have a little more or we cannot be happy.” 

The Journey Toward Contentment You Should Take

I encourage you to take this introspective journey with Davis. Spilling with Scripture, you will often find yourself gratefully uncomfortable under the Spirit’s conviction. 

And, as you do, Christ will be magnified as he works in your heart to produce the glorious fruit of contentment.

“We must put Christian contentment on display before this angry, indignant, suffering world to show that the true answer is Christ.”  — (check out this article for more about this)

What a beautiful testimony we will have before the world when contentment becomes our aim and prayer. 

And may this be said of us: 

“Content people are quiet under God’s hand, completely satisfied with the simple blessings God has chosen for them.”

Some other book reviews you might enjoy:  

• Humble Roots 
• Refresh 
• The Gospel Comes with a House Key

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