I Can't Get Me No Satisfaction - Day 266 Month 9-22 Week 36-7
Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)
2 Kings 23:4-33, Ecclesiastes 6, Daniel 5:1-12, Philippians 2:19-30
I Can’t Get Me No Satisfaction
“If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he” (Ecclesiastes 6:3).
I’m happy there is more to Ecclesiastes than chapter 6. Solomon is painting a picture of life that has little purpose. He’s basically saying that if your soul is never satisfied, even a long life filled with children and possessions can be so empty that it would seem better never to have lived.
There are times when my soul is not satisfied. I have dreams. I am one of those people who have dreams of many different things. Just this morning I was dreaming of completing the trail we have that follows the stream on one side of our property. We’ve already done the clearing but this morning I was dreaming of cleaning up the rocks and tree roots that are ever present on the path that we stumble over. I had a great idea and I was imagining the idea. I’d take my new mini excavator down the path and remove all of those things that make us stumble. There is only one problem with that dream. I don’t have a mini excavator. So I become sad that I don’t have an excavator. My heart sinks and my soul is not satisfied.
That story is a simple example but I think it illustrates how a person could go through life and find their soul dissatisfied. You feel you could do this or be that if only you had the resources. But you don’t have those resources so you are where you are and you can only accomplish what you can. If your soul continues to remain dissatisfied, it would be easy to understand why you may wish you were never born.
We’ve been reading a lot from the Old Testament this year. We are to a point in the old testament where we read about the kings of Israel and Judah. It feels like only 1 in 10 kings are good kings who follow God’s laws. Most are evil. It’s a difficult read but the odd time we read about a good king. We just read about Josiah. When the books of the law were read to Josiah, he actively went and righted everything he could. Reading this was food for my soul. But then, his son Jehoahaz becomes king and “he did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Once again my soul was disheartened.
So where do we find satisfaction when everything around us keeps disappointing us? Well I redirect my heart to the New Testament. We have Jesus. He says (excerpts from John 14:1-6):
Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me
In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me
Jesus gives us hope through Him. He gives us purpose. He tells us to love our neighbour as you love yourself. Maybe that's part of what satisfies the soul. When I stop making my own wants the centre of my life and start loving God and loving others, my attention shifts from what I don't have to what I can give.
Now that “satisfies the soul.”
Have a great day!
Steve
You can subscribe to this blog and receive an email each day or week. Just visit the following link. https://follow.it/my-faith-view-from-here-daily-readings-and-thoughts?leanpub
Comments
Post a Comment