I Can't Get No...

What's one thing everyone on the face of this earth wants no matter where they live, what language they speak, or when they exist in history? The answer's simple. Satisfaction. We see this and experience this everyday as we make decisions that bring us pleasure. From simple things (items on the menu, degrees on the thermostat, etc.) to important things (what guy or girl to pursue, what career path to go into, and the like), every decision we make is a sign of what we desire. But no matter what we do, we're never satisfied. Isn't that strange? We spend our whole lives consciously and subconsciously seeking satisfaction, yet we never find it. So what's our motivation supposed to be? What keeps pushing us to seek pleasure? For many, the answer is to turn the small glimpses of satisfaction God gives them into the ultimate satisfaction itself. C.S. Lewis wrote a ton of stuff on true satisfaction. In his book Mere Christianity, he wrote, "All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy." The truth is that we are made in God's image, so we have the longing to be worshiped, glorified, and satisfied. But just like God is satisfied only in himself, we can only find full satisfaction in Him. In spite of that, man has been seeking pleasure in everything but God since Eden. That's the problem.

If you don't quite get it yet, I don't blame you. Honestly, I am not skilled enough in rhetoric to fully explain this concept. So check out what else good ole Clive Staples has to say about it:

Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evaded us.

That empty space in our hearts that we all have felt can't be filled with human love, nature's beauty, or a crazy adrenaline rush. If you are truly seeking satisfaction in God alone, that space won't feel empty. Only God can rescue you from that endless longing for answers and peace. Only God can lead you to a place of safety and consistency.

I've been studying through Psalm 107 recently. This idea of a satisfying God is one of 4 attributes explained in this Psalm. So to finish this post, just dwell on the original text and see just one reason why we are to praise God for his steadfast love.

                                    4   Some wandered in desert wastelands,

                                         finding no way to a city where they could settle.

                                    5   They were hungry and thirsty,

                                         and their lives ebbed away.

                                    6   Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,

                                         and he delivered them from their distress.

                                    7   He led them by a straight way

                                         to a city where they could settle.

                                    8   Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love

                                         and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

                                    9   for he satisfies the thirsty

                                         and fills the hungry with good things.

This week my goal is to consistently cry to God for His satisfaction. Why? It's simple. He is my Lord. I am His slave.

An Excited Servant of God,
Cameron Francis