Loaded
Pt. 5 - Benefit 5
I. Introduction
We have been commanded repeatedly to be thankful. Over and over again gratitude is commanded because God is worthy. Because life can be difficult and not everything is always as planned it is necessary to remind ourselves of the benefits that we have due to our relationship with God. So we have talked about the fact that we are loaded with forgiveness (the greatest benefit). We are loaded with healing. God is so good that not only does He deal with the spiritual fallout of sin but also makes provision for the physical fallout of sin.
So let's brag a little today. Realizing that we have been forgiven, healed, and redeemed touch your neighbor and tell them "Hey don't hate me just because I am loaded!"
So, let's go back to our text and continue to examine the benefit package we have due to God's favor on our lives.
Text: Psalms 103:1-5
Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits (There is the choice - control your soul - make yourself praise instead of complain) who forgives all your sin and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
We are loaded with satisfaction.
David has been listing point by point the benefits that our relationship with God secures for us. He begins by saying we are loaded with forgiveness. Then he says we are loaded with healing. Then he addresses the fact that God can deal with our mistakes and the mistakes of others by redeeming our life from the pit. Then last week we talked about being loaded with a crown. Our relationship with God should impact our attitude. David comes to the concluding statement of this list and declares God loads our life with satisfaction!
That is a huge benefit. How many people do you know that are truly satisfied? More specifically how many believers do you know who are satisfied? If you are like me, then you have run into a lot of Christians who have based their satisfaction on the standard or grade card of the American Dream. It is abundantly clear that we don't understand the origin of satisfaction. Notice exactly what David says and the order in which he says it . . . God will satisfy our desires with good things.
We get the order wrong. We try to find satisfaction in good things. We have misplaced and miss-assigned expectations. If we expect our spouse, a man, a woman, a car, a house, an experience, an object, or a job to bring satisfaction, then we will be disappointed because we have appointed the satisfaction to the wrong place. Only He can truly satisfy. He can use those things to increase satisfaction. However, our satisfaction is only and can only be found in Him!
Satisfied people are satisfied in spite of the condition of a car. Satisfied regardless of relationship status. Satisfied in every condition. Remember how Paul put it in his letter to the Philippians? We love to quote the last verse in his statement "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" However, let's put it in context. Listen to what he says just prior to that great and encouraging statement.
Philippians 4:11-13 I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
He apparently realized that being content would be very difficult and so he proclaims that he has learned how to be satisfied by the power of Him who gives us strength.
On a scale from 1 to 10 how satisfied are you? That scale reveals your relationship status or condition with God. Because if you are not highly satisfied, then you have allowed other things to become the determining factor for your satisfaction level.
If you base satisfaction on a certain level of money, what happens if you don't get it? What happens if you do? If you base satisfaction on obtaining certain status in community, what happens if you don't? What happens if you do? If you base your satisfaction on your marital status, what happens if you don't find them? What if you do and then discover it isn't as easy as you thought? Only God satisfies!
As we enter a New Year let's make sure that we judge this New Year on satisfaction in God. No other attachment, no other condition, no other scale, no other outside cause.
Let's come back to the old hymn that I would like to have sung at my funeral:
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
Refrain:
Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause;
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame;
I’d rather be true to His holy name
He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;
He’s sweeter than honey from out the comb;
He’s all that my hungering spirit needs;
I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead
Here is the question of the hour . . . what would you rather have? If you have Jesus, and you are continually unsatisfied in life, then could it be that you have assigned your satisfaction to something or someone other than God! Search your heart today are you loaded with satisfaction?
Finally, I want to remind you of another passage that connects here. David says that the satisfaction that God brings can renew our strength like the eagles. Sounds like the oft quoted Isaiah 40:31. "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
May I point out that we are loaded with satisfaction but the satisfaction and the strength of that satisfaction that comes from God generally requires waiting! Just being able to rattle off all the clichés like "good things come to those that wait . . . anything good is worth waiting on . . . it will be worth the wait" isn't enough. We have to genuinely believe and practice this truth. Why? oo many of us grow impatient, take matters into our own hands, wind up in situations we were never intended to face and then we grow dissatisfied and weak. Let's reassign our satisfaction to our relationship with God and let's wait on His timing!
In other words, we reveal how loaded we are with satisfaction by how loaded we are with wait!
May the Lord give us strength to be content and to be patient!
