SATISFIED
Susan Murray
Today’s Scripture: “So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.” Ecclesiastes 2:17, ESV
Theme: Life my way is a dead end.
LIFE UNDER THE SUN
Recently, I have found myself daydreaming about a new house. Although I enjoy and appreciate my present home, it has flaws and things about it that cause feelings of disappointment. Even the things that are good no longer give me the same feeling as when it was new. In other words, I do not feel satisfied. I had thought, as we were building this home, that this would be it - my dream home. I have owned several homes over the years and each one held the promise of satisfaction. And yet, as I enjoy this blessing, it still does not bring full satisfaction. It wasn’t meant to.
SATISFACTION DEFINED
When reading the account where Jesus had just fed 4,000 people my eyes lingered over the conclusion; “The people ate and were satisfied” (Mark 8:8a, ESV). This started my journey regarding satisfaction. Webster’s definition includes: contentment, gratification, fulfillment of a need or want. The secondary definition surprised me. “Payment of a fine as a punishment of sin; reparations for sin that meets the demands of divine judgment.”
Other passages use the word also: “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love...” (Psalms 90:14a, NIV). In Psalms 90, God is described as everlasting, and we are like grass – here today and gone tomorrow. It recounts His great wrath with our sins before Him. The psalmist sees how life is full of trouble, calls the reader to humility, and asks God to relent and have compassion. It’s in this context that the psalmist prays that he will feel the satisfaction his heart is longing for “...that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (Psalms 90:14b, NIV).
TRUE SATISFACTION
Everything in this world - life under the sun - may give temporary satisfaction but will never fully satisfy. Yet our hearts still have a legitimate ache for satisfaction. We were created to be satisfied with God, but due to our sin nature, we, like Adam, have turned to other things in this world for that satisfaction and we now feel that ache - that grievousness. Our sin placed us under the well-deserved wrath of God. He shows mercy as the psalmist asked although he couldn’t see it yet. We can see that mercy now, in Jesus. The gospel satisfies our heart’s deepest longings because, in Jesus, God’s wrath that we deserve is fully satisfied. This satisfaction in the gospel is the fuel for true, faithful, and real obedience.
Make It Personal: I can still feel the pull to click on a link to a house plan. When I feel that pull or when I see something in my house that disappoints, I turn my mind to Jesus. He has purchased my true dream home for me above the sun for all eternity.
What are you chasing to find satisfaction? What are you longing for under the sun that you believe that if you just had “that” you would feel ok about your life? (i.e. money, popularity, family, success, talent, food). To do so is chasing the wind - vanity
Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings;
Through His life I now am saved( Hymn:Satisfied by Clara T Williams)
Pray: Father, You have created me as your child, bestowing gifts I do not deserve. I often seek those gifts to be my heart's satisfaction when only Your love can truly satisfy – forgive me. Help me see Your beauty in the gospel, satisfying my deepest longings. Amen
Read: Philippians 3:8; Matthew 6:19-21, 16:26; Psalm 24:1-6; Proverbs 8:35
Weekly Memory Verse: “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” I John 2:16, ESV