Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits– who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalms 103:1-5 (NIV)
Heart satisfaction. Is there anything sweeter? No longer needy, no longer wanting but fully satisfied – completely, wholly, entirely. When God fills a heart it no longer remains unsatisfied. He fills the entire space of our vacuous hearts as water fills a cup. Every space - indeed, to over flowing as He Himself stated in John 10:10 (NIV): “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” And Paul adds in Ephesians 1:22-23 (NIV): “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Indeed, when God is our portion there is no lacking and no thing or no one can take Him away from us. He will never leave us nor forsake us, Scripture tells us. Fires cannot destroy this portion nor waters nor floods. Thieves cannot break in and steal our portions nor soldiers plunder. Men may take our silver and our gold but they can never take away our God. Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God. The great Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:35-39 (NIV): “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When God satisfies a heart, it is satisfied indeed and all else is merely a cherry on top – nice perhaps but not necessary. Those satisfied in Christ Jesus are no longer needy. It is never Jesus plus something else to bring heart satisfaction – it is simply Jesus. He opens His hand and satisfies us with good things – things that cannot be taken away from us. And those satisfied in Him are the most blessed people to be around as they do not soak others dry as a sponge seeking soul satisfaction. We should do the world – and ourselves - a favor and let Jesus satisfy our needy hearts. Everything else in this world is simply a temporary fix.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.** Romans 15:13 (NIV)**