Our Greatest Satisfaction

by Laurie Aker

Why is it that when we say we love the Lord and He is our God, we don’t put Him first? Why don’t we set aside time to be with Him in His Word? We allow our affections to wander, and our desires drift off to the temporal. Is sleep more important that sanctification? Is entertainment more edifying than the eternal? Are passions more satisfying than Christ?

It is an ever-present sin struggle that we will experience until we reach heaven. Even when we desire this joy, this fellowship, and this communion, the world and its pressures, our worries and our cares, and our passions and our longings can almost seem to put an invisible, super-strong cellophane wrap around our hearts that is clear but seemingly impenetrable. The words of God are right in front of our eyes. They enter our minds, and we try to apply them to our hearts, waiting with anticipation for them to pierce the outer layer, only to discover there is yet another layer and then another. We may even feel the Spirit’s touch, but it seems as though our hearts are incorrigible. We know God is all-powerful and His Word is effective. Why is it that we feel beyond its reach? Mentally, we know this isn’t true, but the wall that appears to be present, the excruciating pain, or the apparent numbness or deadness in our hearts becomes discouraging. We are dis- tracted, pulled, tossed, turned, and even tormented. We long to be satisfied by the Lord. We long to truly pursue an ongoing communion and oneness with the Lord that would not only glorify God, but draw others to Him. However, we allow other things to detour us time and time again.The temporal things the Lord has given us to enjoy we misuse. We hold and cling to the temporal solution. We let the temporal come between us and the eternal.

Will we ask the Lord to help our hearts have the same conviction as Joshua: “Choose this day whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Josh. 24:15)? The Bible tells us that Joshua followed the Lord fully. Will we follow the Lord fully? Will we be willing to pursue God and His righteousness with our all, that we would be fully satisfied in Him that He would be greater to us that even life itself? Will we set our eyes upon the Lord and seek after Him with all of our heart to foster and develop the soil of our hearts, that we too might know the deep and penetrating satisfaction of the Lord in the depths of our souls? The goal is that God, and only God, would be our greatest satisfaction and our greatest delight— better than the finest symphony or your favorite food.

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This blog post is an excerpt from the Thistlebend Discipleship Study Falling in Love Again with Your Lord available here.