God Who Satisfies Series

Psalm 91:16, says, “You will be satisfied with a full life and with all that I do for you. For you will enjoy the fullness of my salvation!” (TPT)

In continuation with our study on Psalm 91, let us turn our attention to verse 16. This is the Lord’s promise to the one who makes the Lord his refuge, the Lord will satisfy such a person with a full life and they will also enjoy the abundance of God’s salvation.

For our meditation I wish to focus on the word ‘satisfy’. If we look around us, there are many discontented people who are not satisfied with what they have. They are not content with the money, clothes, house or anything else they possess, but are constantly craving for more. There are those who have every material thing that one can imagine in their home, but sadly have no peace, which is a pathetic state to be in.

The reasons for dissatisfaction

• Greed

When a person is obsessed with a constant desire to acquire more material things, they will soon be overtaken by greed.

Here’s what Jesus said in, Luke 12:15, “Speaking to the people, Jesus continued, “Be alert and guard your heart from greed and always wishing for what you don’t have. For your life can never be measured by the amount of things you possess.” (TPT)

The caution that Jesus gives is that we need to guard our hearts against greed. These warnings are meant to keep us safe and protect us from impending danger. Jesus clearly exhorts us to not get entangled in this trap of materialism. There are a myriad ways in which we are tempted to be more materialistic every day.

Just take the newspaper in the morning, and out of it will fall flyers with attractive advertisements and schemes to purchase something new. If we open the newspaper every page is full of advertisements and offers that are so tempting. In my younger days I recall that these advertisements were small and inconspicuous. Things have changed so much that we will sometimes find the front cover with an elaborate advertisement. Therefore, for the common man, there is a constant enticement to have and possess more than we need.Sometimes the advertisement also has aset deadline, thereby pressurizing us to buy the item immediately. If we are not watchful, these are easy traps set for us. We will keep buying more and more things, and our houses will be filled with stuff that we don’t really need.

Jesus went on further to say that a man’s life cannot be measured by the abundance of things he possesses, because the fact of the matter is that one cannot add a single hour to one’s life. We should therefore pray and ask God to give us a heart that is content. Discontentment has put many families in much trouble. The pleasure that materialism gives to one is only temporary. There will always be a something better that will come up frequently, and the desire will be to try and acquire the better thing.

The Parable of the Rich Fool

• A wealthy man who didn’t know what to do with his possessions

To explain this more clearly Jesus told a parable. We read in Luke 12:16-17, Jesus then gave them this illustration: “A wealthy land owner had a farm that produced bumper crops. In fact, it filled his barns to overflowing!He thought, ‘What should I do now that every barn is full and I have nowhere else to store more? (TPT)

Here was a man who was really wealthy who had a farm that produced bountifully. Isn’t it strange that the question that bothered him was, ‘What should I do?’ which is something that we would expect to be the cry of a poor man who does not know where his next meal will come from?Though he had everything, he was anxious that he did not have place to store his excess produce.

• He plans next steps

Generally when wealth increases, the thought that fills one’s mind is what we should do with all the money that one has. This is when one comes into the planning stage.

We read in Luke 12:18, “I know what I’ll do! I’ll tear down the barns and build one massive barn that will hold all my grain and goods.” (TPT)

Now his plan was to tear down the old barns and build massive new ones so he can save up more. Think about all that he had to plan in order to get this work done. He would have to save the grains that were in the old barns, find someone to build new ones so he can store everything that his fields had produced. As long as discontentment was there, he would never be satisfied and would constantly crave for more and more.