Satisfied–How, When, Why?

by Scott Kaczorowski

In a recent Falling in Love Again with your Lord for Men lecture, Kevin said, “God knows that we will crave or desire something.  He made us that way.  The question we ask is what is it?  What is it we long for?”  For David the answer was clear: “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy” (Psalm 63:5-7).

David tells us three important things about his satisfaction and praise of in God in these verses: how he is satisfied in God, when he experiences this satisfaction in God, and why he has this satisfaction in God.

How is David satisfied in God? “…as with fat and rich food” (v. 5). The way one gets great pleasure out of good food–that is the way David gets great pleasure out of God.

When does he experience this? “…when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night..” (v. 6).  David says that he remembers and meditates.  What we continually put into our heads is what we will meditate on.  What we continually meditate on will affect our emotions, our thinking, and our living.

Why does David have such satisfaction in God? “…for you have been my help…” (v. 7).  The Lord’s mighyy acts on David’s behalf draw his heart to be satisfied in God.

The when and the why of these verses can help us move to the how.  Remembering and meditating on God and experiencing the help of the Lord in our daily lives moves our hearts to a deep satisfaction in Him.  I want to briefly offer a few practical suggestions here:

(1) Pick a period of time to swap out radio pop songs for praise music.  The songs that I listen to on the radio tend to rattle around in my head.  What a natural way to help us mediate on the Lord!
(2) Read books that make God look glorious.  (A suggestion here would be The Doctrine of God by John Frame. It’s lengthy, but if you read 5 pages a day you’ll be through it faster than you realize.)
(3) Fast.  This does not necessarily have to be food.  You can fast just about anything– the Internet, television, movies, video games, sports of all sorts, reading, writing (but probably not arithmetic…)  As was asked in the Falling in Love Again with Your Lord for Men devotional: “Is entertainment more edifying that the eternal?”  Why do we seem to think so?
(4) Journal.  But not just anything.  Write down an account of the mighty things that God has done in your life.  David was satisfied in God because God had been his help.  How has God been your help?  Writing it will help bring to mind now all the wonderful things the Lord had done and the written account will also help you to remember later.

These are of course just suggestions, but I believe any one of them could be helpful to move us more towards a more proper satisfaction in God.