Divine Discontent

Divine Discontent  ||  John 2:13-15  ||  Merdice Cumberbatch

This text is about Jesus' cleansing of the temple during the feast of the Passover. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables (v14). Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables (v15).

Jesus was angry! He was angered by the commercialization of temple worship, which created an obstacle to true worship. Traders also took advantage of people who had traveled great distances by selling animals for sacrifice in the outer courts at exorbitant prices for the convenience of buying at the temple.

To understand how the text correlates to the title of today’s devotional I had to dig deep into this. Oxford dictionary defines divine as, ‘coming from or connected with God’ and discontent as, ‘a feeling of being unhappy because you are not satisfied with a particular situation.’ So, we have the phrase Divine Discontent, two separate words when joined together means something so profound.

Divine discontent is a good thing. Without it we would not be able to truly do our part for God’s Kingdom. Divine discontent takes us out of our comfort zone and prepares us for our purpose. Divine discontent is at the core of ministry and missionary work. If you are unhappy with all the horrible acts of genocide and social injustice going on in this world today, that is divine discontent stirring within you. Divine discontent gives us power to act upon making changes against social injustice.

Since we are in Women’s History Month let us add a few of our Sistas in the mix regarding divine discontent. I can only imagine how divine discontent stirred within Harriet Tubman to escape slavery. It is what gave her strength and continuous courage to carry out so many dangerous missions to help free our enslaved ancestors. I can only think how much divine discontent had to have been heavily on Rosa Park’s spirit after that long day of work when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man.

Divine discontent seeks God’s way by helping us carry out God’s business here on earth. In the text, Jesus was angry with holy reason. As we begin the final week of our Lenten Journey, let us remember this week’s prayer focus is Walking with Jesus and let us pray for courage to walk with him in all circumstances.

Prayer: Most gracious and merciful God, thank you for that uncomfortable feeling of divine discontent that helps us to make changes in our lives and the lives of others. Amen and Asé!