Commandment 5: Expect Nothing; Be Grateful for Everything
Believe it or not, this commandment is derived from the tenth real commandment, not to covet. Consider the four steps of disparity between the expectations almost inherent in our culture and the attitude described in Psalm 103:9-10.
Our presumption: Even when things are good, I deserve better.
A step closer to the right attitude: When things are bad, I deserve better.
A step even closer: When things are good, I have enough (so I am grateful).
The appropriate attitude for followers (as in Psalm 103.9-10): When things are bad, I deserve worse, and therefore I am grateful.
Although that self-deprecating attitude is almost universally renounced in a culture which defines psychological health as self-approval, it is the starting point for the kind of attitude which is capable of receiving God’s goodness as grace.
This commandment relates to why it is possible “in every thing to give thanks” and to learn “in whatever state we are to be content.” Demanding self-aggrandizement is not Christian. Self-denying contentment, whether accompanied by wealth or poverty, is.
