I Can't Get No...Satisfaction

“…you eat but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill…” (Haggai 1:6 ESV)

You do not have to be overweight or obese to say that you struggle with you. You do not have to anorexic to say that food is a stumbling block for you. I believe that I am in fairly decent health (weight-wise) and I do not think that I need to gain or lose any poundage. (My distribution, however, is another story…) ANYWAY, if I am honest with myself, however, I still have to admit that I try to medicate myself with food or drink (non-alcoholic, for the record – usually coffee). When I am sad, I love to eat. Chocolate, brownies, cookies, even yogurt-covered granola bars – which are now my wife and doctor approved snack (only 2g of sat fat!!). However “healthy” they may be for me, however, they cans till be a vice. I like to eat to medicate my problems. I may not be addicted to heroin, but the draw can be just as severe. I eat, but I never have enough. I lie to myself that this one bite of _____ or just one sip of _____ or if I just had _____ then my life would finally achieve total satisfaction. That one perfected cup of coffee that is rightly blended and sweetened that allows me to wade in into the delights of pleasure. But that java never jives. Why? Because I have not looked hard enough, blended with enough coffee shops, or attempted enough espresso on the expressways of life? Hardly. This lasting pleasure never comes but it will never come. The only One who can provide such satisfaction is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He says, “Taste and see that [I am] good! Blesses is the man who takes refuge in [me]!” (Psalm 34:8). He desires that I would take refuge in Him, not my refrigerator.

OK, as a Christian I “know” this truth because I know that He is only way to eternal peace. But why then, do I still attempt to satiate my desires with thins other than Him? Why do I run after petty things of this world all the while thinking consciously in my own mind “This will never satisfy…this will never satisfy…this will never satisfy…never satisfy.” I think that the only answer that I can muster is that somewhere within me, I really don’t trust that He is able to satisfy my every need. I still think that He somehow can not give me what I really want. In actuality, this is problem true, for what I think that I “really” want is probably sinful and He will never give me that which is contrary to the goodness and holiness of His character. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things [“the Holy Spirit” in Luke 11:13] to those who ask Him” (Matt 7:11).

So, the question is this: Why do I not desire God the way that He wants me to? The ONLY answer to this can be because of my own sinfulness and the depravity of not only the entire human condition, but of my human condition specifically. It can never be because He lacks a measure of goodness or that He has ever actually proved Himself to be unfaithful – He is ALWAYS faithful (Rom 3:3; 2 Tim 2:13)! It can ONLY be because my sinfulness prevents me from seeing Him as He longs for me to see Him – as an all-satisfying Father who desires for me to know Him intimately. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Therefore, I must come to terms as the apostle Paul did and echo his hearts cry: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Ad the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Further,

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Phil 3:8-11).

Father, please cause me to know You and seek the fullness of my satisfaction in You. May I not seek to find refuge and medication in anything but You. Not food, drink, earthly relationships, wealth, work, or other things that will not withstands the fires of time. Urn within me a passion so fierce and so hot that I may not rest until I find the fullness of my everlasting rest in You. Glorify Your name in all the earth and begin with me for the sake of Jesus’ name. Amen.