The Secret of Our Satisfaction
Everyone wants to be satisfied. To be fulfilled. To find that elusive something that will meet the deep longings of our soul.This is not a sinful desire. If anything, it is often too weak.So, where do you look?The Natural PathThere are only two choices available to us: the gods of this present darkness or the Lord God Jehovah. We tend to think there are more options, but every path we take leads either to God’s feast or to an idol’s table, covered with extravagant yet empty food.It makes no sense, and is one more sign of the futility of our sinful depravity, but for some reason we are more inclined to think the gods of this world will satisfy. We keep looking to them to do for us something they are incapable of producing.The gods of success, power, reputation, sex, food, money, possessions, etc. we believe can help us. They will not, and they cannot.The Rewarding AlternativeBut the one true God is shouting through human history to help us in this search, because He knows there is only one authentic source. If we are wise, we will listen to the One who made us.
Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me! Let there be no strange god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god. I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it.But My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices. Oh that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their adversaries.Those who hate the LORD would pretend obedience to Him, and their time of punishment would be forever. But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you (Psalm 81:8-16 NASB).
God is waiting to satisfy us. It’s all there. Everything we’ve dreamed of, everything we could possibly desire. We can waste years listening to the Enemy’s voice, when all the while the Creator has spread the table for us and sent the invitation.
God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).
Why not stop and turn right now? Recognize your wrong direction and repent. Cry out to Him for a revival of your affections. It is useless to go anywhere else.