03.28.10
satisfy – 5
All the quotes in this post are from a blog post Mike (Tenth Avenue North) wrote about the idea of being satisfied. I would definitely recommend reading his entire post because I just used a few quotes from what he said and he wrote about the idea of being satisfied a lot better then I did. :)
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Satisfaction.
We want it. We run after it. And yet, somehow
it always seems to elude us.
What’s our problem?
What went wrong?
I have this thing where, I always like to be looking forward to something. My parents tell me that one year at my birthday party (that we had been planning for weeks), the day was only halfway down and I said, “This is fun! I can’t wait till next year!” and started planning what I wanted to do for my birthday the next year. lol I think we all kind of have that tendency, we’re all looking for something that will bring us satisfaction. For me, I look for satisfaction in my friends, that’s why I wanted to plan my birthday party for the next year, not for the cake and presents, but because I wanted to get together with my friends again. I always have some “day” that is occupying my thoughts. Like last night was WinterJam which I had been constantly thinking about for weeks. Today I can’t stop thinking about going to see a movie with my friends. Once that’s done, I’ll start looking forward to The Gathering and the Hillsong United concert in a few weeks. But when those things have passed, I start looking forward to the next big thing. And I can get pretty sad when I don’t have anything to look forward too… I feel bored. Discontent. Unsatisfied.
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy,
the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. – C.S. Lewis
That quote is profound. I should write it down and hang it up everywhere so that I will see it all the time. Nothing in this world is every going to satisfy my desires. No wordly thing could ever keep me content. Because I was made for another world. “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20, NIV). The only thing that can ever satisfy me is Jesus. And while there are some days when I completely realize that and feel content, there are other days where I try to fill that longing with people, or music, or an experience.
But here’s the deal. If we first understand that our soul is longing for far more than this world can offer then we can learn to expect and manage a certain level of discontentment in our soul, as we walk this earth.
Jesus says to store up for yourself treasure in heaven, because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 16:19-21) Our hearts need to be in heaven. Our hearts need to be satisfied in God. Our longing cannot be satisfied by anything in this world because we were not made for this world. Our home is in heaven.
You see, when your spouse or sports team or favorite food or music no longer has to be the thing that satisfies the deepest longing in your heart, you can actually enjoy them more.
Suddenly, the pressure’s off.
When God satisfies the deepest longing of our hearts, then suddenly, the earthly things we once desired seem trivial. In light of God, chasing after fame or money or a person seems to not matter as much.
But how much more could we enjoy each other if instead of trying to get them to fill us we walked with each other toward the waterfall?
Instead of trying to fill ourselves up with the little things that can never fill us completely, we should go to the waterfall of God to be filled to overflowing.
Why are you striving these days?
Why are you trying to earn grace?
Why are you crying?
Let me lift up your face
Just don’t turn awayWhy are you looking for love?
Why are you still searching as if I’m not enough?
To where will you go child?
Tell me where will you run
To where will you runAnd please don’t fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Last night we saw Tenth Avenue North at WinterJam and they sang that song. It’s written from the perspective of God, asking why we’re trying to run after other things. Why do we search as if God is not enough? It seems silly to think that anyone would even think that God could be less then enough, but yet everyday we live like He is. We chase after other things and try to earn His favour and look for love in people and pets and things that will never love us with the unconditional love that He gives.
Have you considered Moses’ prayer in Psalm 90,
“Satisfy me in the morning with your unfailing love”?
I love that prayer, because it shows us that Moses knew his own heart.
He knew how much joy He was made for, and He knew that if He didn’t get God
to come and pour into the canyon of his heart first thing in the morning, that he would go running after pebble like substitutes.
Satisfy me in the morning! In the morning!
And then, and this is the hard part,
if you don’t feel satisfied, don’t go running after substitutes.
Just wait.
Sit right there, content in your discontentment, and say to God,
“Alright look. I don’t feel satisfied by you right now, but one thing I know,
no matter what else I run to, it’s not gonna do it for me anyway, so I’m gonna wait for you.
Teach me O Lord, to know deeply that I’m not home here,
Teach me that all this world offers, and all the good things you’ve given us to enjoy,
they may be good, but they’re not the ultimate.
They’re not you.
Only you can satisfy.”
