Satisfied

   
     "What if all we had left tomorrow morning is what we thanked God for today?"


     The words burned straight into my heart and made me sit up fast . . . yeah, what if?  God, did I thank you today for my children?  What about three healthy meals?  And a vehicle to take me to the doctor's appointment? And . . . 


     On and on the list would go, because we all have so much to be thankful for, don't we?  But we live in this crazy culture that's always flashing signs and blinking pictures to remind us of what we DON'T HAVE, and as hard as I try to escape them or shut it out of my head completely, I can't.  It's everywhere.

     I am learning (over and over) that I have to find my satisfaction in Jesus and what I already have -- even if it doesn't measure up to everything else I see.  There's a verse in Hebrews, that at first glance seems like two vastly different instructions, but when we look closer we can see how they beautifully connect.  In Hebrews 13:5, we're told to, "Keep your lives free from the love of money, and BE CONTENT with what you have, BECAUSE God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'"  It can read as separate thoughts, but they are perfectly intertwined . . .

     It is God's assurance of His care for us that should cause us to be SATISFIED with what we have and where we are!


     Pastor Andy Stanley says, "We live in a culture that makes us aware EVERY DAY of what we DON'T have!  Every day we become more and more aware of what we don't have.  It didn't used to be that way.  But every day I'm reminded of what I don't have, should have and actually need."

     Sigh.

     We can't escape the glowing advertisements that adorn every street and roadway, but we can meditate on truth.  The truth that God will never leave us and that we have all that we need.

     It's like putting on a pair of dark sunglasses as we drive down through city traffic -- it won't make the appeal completely vanish but it will dim the attractiveness of all that the world shouts at us to want.


     Lord, remove my desire for the things of this world and replace it with a desire for more of you.  Establish a deep understanding that because you will never leave me, I can and must be satisfied with all the good things with which you have blessed me!

"O God, you are my God,

earnestly I seek you...

My soul will be SATISFIED

as with the richest of foods."

Psalm 63:1&5