The Satisfied Soul

“By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.”  Exodus 13:21

Did you ever notice how God becomes just what we need from Him in any given moment?

Perhaps you haven’t noticed. Maybe, like the Israelites, you reap the benefit of His presence without ever giving it much thought. They were often so preoccupied by what they lacked, they didn’t appreciate what they were given. Instead of thanking God for His rich provision, they grumbled.

In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:2-3

Really? They spent their time in Egypt sitting around pots of meat? Isn’t it amazing how quickly the human mind forgets and distorts. Perhaps you’d like to see what caused God to send Moses to get them out of Egypt in the first place.

The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. Exodus 2:23-25

God added these words when He called Moses from the burning bush.

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering . . . I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.” Exodus 3:7,9

The memory of their groaning in backbreaking slavery quickly faded to illusions of grand feasts. Why? They were hungry. A desire of their flesh rose up and wasn’t satisfied, and that one thing became the entire focus of their thoughts. They forgot the extent of their suffering, as well as God’s miraculous displays of power on their behalf. And their momentary hunger made them twist His intentions. They threw God’s plan to rescue them back in His face, claiming He meant them harm.

Ever been there? That’s the nature of the unredeemed heart, dear one. It deceives. No wonder Jeremiah 17:9 states,

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

And that deceitful heart left unchecked brings bitterness to the soul.

Perhaps this is why scripture continually points the people of God toward gratitude. Gratitude shifts our gaze and changes the direction of our thinking. Instead of emptying the soul by dwelling on what we lack, it fills it by celebrating what we possess.

Sadly, few consistently choose the path of gratitude. Our own hunger for things we desire clouds our view and overshadows our many blessings. And that’s dangerous. Scripture teaches that refusing to acknowledge God with thanksgiving leads to futile thinking and a hard, dark heart.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. Romans 1:21-22

Ingratitude made the Israelites fools—fools that desired to run right back to the oppressive captivity they had cried out for deliverance from. Amazing.

Before we start casting stones at the house of Israel, it might be wise to shift our gaze to the nearest mirror. Is your heart content in the journey God has you on, dear one? Do your lips offer praise for the Light that marks your path, or are you preoccupied with an area that remains in shadow? Are you hungering for something so ferociously that all that God has already poured into your life feels empty?

God wants to set your heart at peace, beloved. He longs to satisfy your soul with a contentedness only He can bring. You see, dear one, only God Himself can satisfy.

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Psalm 90:14

Do you want a little joy and gladness that carries you all your days? It results from a choice. Choose to look at what God has done, not what He has yet to do. Offer Him praise and gratitude. You may just find that you encounter God Himself.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:4-5

Praise and gratitude usher us into the presence and power of God. Thanksgiving allows us to enter His gates. Praise carries us into His court. And when we encounter Him, we discover just what we needed. Emptiness fades. Our hearts fill with His very presence.

And we are satisfied.

Ready to Bloom

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:3

I love spring.

And I have to admit, I’m a little more eager for it this year. We’ve had a very long, very cold, very gray winter. I’m ready to feel the warmth of the sun. I think creation would agree.

Yet even now hope emerges with the promise of new life. Green blades have begun to penetrate the brown blanket of lawn. Beautiful red buds have emerged on my maple trees. What has lain dormant and barren stands ready to bloom in full force.

My heart bursts with anticipation. Change is coming.

I sense the same promise looming on the horizon for the church, dear one. What has appeared dormant and lifeless is about to spring to life, bursting with beauty.

Can you sense it? The Spirit of God calls us to awaken from our slumber and rise to release the new life Jesus loosed on the cross.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Isaiah 60:1-3

I’m ready to see it. Aren’t you? I long to witness the glory of the Lord evident upon His people. Light will penetrate the darkness, and many will be drawn to the brightness of our rising.

But here’s the catch, beloved. You and I can’t penetrate darkness while our hearts remain dark. We too closely resemble the darkness to disperse it.

So what if we determined not to blend in with the fallen world any longer? What if we gave Jesus unrestricted access and invited Him to blossom our hearts with the fruit of His Spirit?

Fruit-bearing marks the path to glory, dear one.

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” John 15:8

Let’s see how you and I can become beautiful, fruit-bearing branches that reveal the glory of God.

We plant the seed.

God cannot produce fruit without seed, dear one. And Jesus clearly defined the seed for us when He explained the parable of the sower to His disciples in Luke 8:11.

“The seed is the word of God.”

There’s no getting around it, my friend. If you and I want to experience the promises of God and become living testimonies to the power of resurrection life, we must spend time reading the Word. That’s the only way to plant the seed.

1 Peter 1:23 tells us that we have been born again, “not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.

God’s Word is the imperishable seed. It can’t die, but it can be snatched away, and weeds can choke it out. That’s why it’s imperative to regularly return to the Word. We have to keep replanting the seed the enemy has snatched up until it takes root.

We water the seed.

Seeds can’t grow without water. Jesus said in John 7:38-39, Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

As we actively believe the implanted Word, living water flows. The Spirit waters the seed of the Word to bring growth. That’s why Jesus declared in John 4:23 that true worshipers would worship in Spirit and Truth. Only a true worshiper will yield godly fruit. The Word will not do its work without the presence of the Spirit.

We must seek the Lord’s presence though prayer and invite the Spirit to bring the Word to life in us.

Understanding provides the light to make it grow.

Psalm 119:130 declares,

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

This is why the work of the Spirit is so necessary, dear one. He gives us understanding of the Word, teaching us all things (John 14:26). Without Him, the words on the pages of scripture are just words. But through Him, the seed takes root and begins to grow the fruit of God’s heart in us.

Seed. Water. Light. Only these essential elements can initiate and sustain growth. Let’s trust Jesus to change our character and grow us up in Him, that we can be filled to the measure with who He is (Ephesians 3:19). We have nothing to fear, only lavish promises to fulfill.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-9

 

The Heart of a Betrayer

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16 NIV

Never forget, dear one. No one took Jesus’ life from Him. He laid it down. Evil men may have plotted and schemed, but they held no power over God’s Son. Everything He suffered, He allowed.

The perfect, sinless, Son endured so much for you and me. He faced rejection, ridicule, beatings and flogging. Nails pierced His hands and feet, fastening Him to the cross of our shame. Jesus became the very curse He would conquer, all for one very specific purpose.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Beloved, Jesus became sin so that you and I could become righteousness.

I hope you haven’t missed that part.

Jesus didn’t surrender Himself to the cross just to keep you out of hell, dear one. He gave up His life so He could get hell out of you. He purposed to redeem your character from the enemy’s influence and recreate you into the image of God.

Do you bear God’s image, dear one? Do you love compassionately, compelled to give of yourself? Or are you more like the prince of this world, driven to take for yourself?

We’d be wise to consider the question carefully. You see, we can do our best to look like God from the outside, but if our heart doesn’t resemble His, eventually we’ll self-destruct.

Judas learned that lesson the hard way. Let’s take a look at the event that sent him to the chief priests to betray Jesus.

And while he [Jesus] was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. Mark 14:3-5

Don’t miss the fact that some watching believed the ointment was wasted on Jesus.

I wonder how many times you and I have entertained similar thoughts upon witnessing a radical demonstration of love for our Savior.

He’s not worth that.

Verse 5 reveals that Mary’s gift had a value of more than 300 denarii, the equivalent of almost a year’s wages. Let’s get a bit of perspective, shall we?

In 2012 the median wage in the US per person was $26,695. What would you do with a possession worth that much? Would you be willing to pour it out for another? Or could you only see its potential to do amazing things for you?

Scholars agree that the flask of expensive perfume was likely Mary’s dowry, a treasure kept to ensure her future. Her bride price. When Mary broke it in an act of worship, she laid down her opportunity for a husband. Her future children. She poured out everything that gave her value in her culture, offering them to Jesus in an act of love.

I can’t help thinking of Matthew 16:24-25.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Mary was willing to lose her life for Jesus sake. And she found real life in the loving arms of her Savior.

Our friend Judas, however, had an interesting response to what he witnessed.

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. Mark 14:10

What about this particular event triggered Judas to sell his friend and master for 30 pieces of silver?

John 12:5-6 sheds some light on Judas’ intentions.

“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Consider this carefully, dear one. Judas was only with Jesus for what he thought he could get from Him. He was willing to steal from Him to have his own dream. Although he served the poor alongside Jesus, he didn’t really care about them. He stole from them to line his own pockets.

And when he witnessed Mary’s extravagant gift, money he believed should’ve been his wasted on Jesus, he took offense. That offense sent him straight to the chief priests.

We need to understand something about Judas, dear one. He was no more evil than you or me. He wasn’t a malicious man at heart. He served in the community helping people.

Judas was simply self-centered. And he loved money more than he loved Jesus.

No wonder Jesus said in Matthew 6:24,

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Judas’ love of money caused him to despise God—at least momentarily—and it cost him everything. He immediately regretted his decision, but he couldn’t undo what he had done.

Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. Matthew 27:3-5

Beloved, Jesus chose to suffer the cross to free us from the wretchedness within us. It’s our own self-centeredness that makes us most like Satan, that drives us to take instead of give. Will you let the Spirit of God recreate you in His image? Will you surrender your heart to be sifted and changed so it can beat with His love?

Life hinges on your decision, dear one. Choose to lay down your life and live.

Wealth Without Sorrow

The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22

Have you ever noticed how sorrow seems to attach itself to the riches of this world? If you haven’t noticed, dear one, perhaps you should.

It’s time we get wise to the scheme and stop buying in. The prince of this world would tell us that money buys happiness. It doesn’t. When we look closely at those who have laid claim to the world’s riches, we rarely find the happiness it promises.

Instead, we find sorrow. Brokenness. Heartache. Depression. Addiction. Hatred. Loneliness.

Yet for some reason, we still believe the lie. We still long for the blessing of the world and seek its riches.

What if we just decided to stop believing it? What if, instead, we sought the blessing of the Lord?

Here’s God’s promise, dear one. His blessing will make you rich, and it comes with no sorrow attached.

The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22

Wouldn’t you love a little wealth free from sorrow?

Jesus provides that, dear one. He longs to make us rich. But the wealth of God isn’t limited to dollar signs as the world’s is. It’s all encompassing. He desires to make your relationships rich. He wants to enrich your marriages and overwhelm them with joy. He wants to make singleness rich, and even bring joy from your work.

Whatever situation you find yourself in, dear one, God longs to enrich.

He is the fullness of joy, and He longs to enhance our lives as we experience the blessing of who He is. But His purpose is even greater than that. He wants His blessing to so overtake and fill us that it begins to flow out of us and bless others.

Beloved, God seeks to pour out and multiply blessing through His people.

You see, that’s simply who God is. He blesses. In fact, that’s the first thing He did after creating man and woman.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion . . . ” Genesis 1:27-28

Have you considered what that means for you and me, dear one? This is the evidence of God’s blessing resting upon us: His blessing prospers and multiplies.

Before we go further, I think we should consider what exactly God desires to multiply. What was God looking to accomplish with that blessing?

I believe it’s best understood through the context in which He spoke it.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Apparently God didn’t want us to miss the fact that we were created in His image. He repeated Himself in case we missed it the first time. And this is the context in which He blessed them. “I have made you in my image. Now be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with who I am.”

Can you even imagine it? A world in which every man and woman reflected God’s character? Where loving, giving, nurturing and selflessness were the norm?

Unfortunately, the deceiving serpent convinced Adam and Eve to step outside of God’s blessing. And when he did, he enslaved man’s heart, changing the kind of fruit we produce.

He replaced love with selfishness. Sorrow overtook our joy. Instead of peace, we naturally worry. Instead of patience, anger erupts. In place of kindness, we hurt people. Evil has overrun goodness. Faithfulness withers into doubt. Harshness crushes gentleness, and self-control is all but lost.

The fruit of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)—meant to nourish, grow, and produce abundant life—has been replaced by the fruit of God’s enemy. The image of God has been overshadowed in the hearts of the people He created to reveal it. Instead, the character of man naturally reflects the image of His enemy.

God gives of Himself. Satan takes for himself.

Beloved, Jesus went to the cross so that you and I could once again reflect the image of God. He conquered the deceiver and poured out His Spirit to all who will believe, equipping us to become who He is.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Romans 8:29

And now He asks us to take up His commission and do what we’ve been appointed to do.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last . . . This is my command: Love each other. John 15:16-17

Lasting fruit, dear one, will always find its source in love. Love drove Jesus to the cross. And if we allow it to come alive in us, love will change the world.

I think it’s time we let God fill the world with His image.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV