Tag: Satisfaction

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Hungry Rats

Daily Reading

Hosea 8-14

Daily Thought

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” ~Hosea 11:1

God recalls his love and care for Israel, rescuing them from slavery, feeding them in the wilderness, leading them to a land he specially prepared for them. And yet “when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart became proud; therefore they forgot me” (Hosea 13:6). To the fat and happy, beware.

I was pre-med for a year, before I discovered my powerful dislike for biology. I did have fun with rats, though, doing experiments in the lab. I learned that if you want to teach a rat something, it better be hungry. It is the “90 percent rule.” Feed a rat, weigh it, then diet it down 10 percent. Hungry rats solve mazes faster, click pedals to get food more often, and generally behave better than when they are satisfied. If they are not hungry, they are not that eager to learn.

“Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.” ~Luke 6:21

Israel had much to learn. When Mick Jagger wails, “I can’t get no satisfaction,” it is a good thing. It is the soul seeking more, beyond the here and now, for the here and now cannot satisfy. We are made for so much more. Said the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, “he has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

“For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” ~Hebrews 13:14 

All of life is lived on the edge of eternity.

Daily Prayer

Father God, May I be satisfied in Your love, and unsatisfied with anything less. You created me to live in a close relationship with You. May I hunger, starve even, when I neglect to nurture and feed that relationship. God, keep me forever eager to grow in the knowledge and love of You. May I live always in the light of eternity.

Amen

Daily Question

What are your deepest needs and desires?

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The Old Saw

Daily Reading

Psalm 21-25

Daily Thought

Something broke at my parent’s house and I needed tools, so I went to my dad’s workbench in the garage. I easily found the hammer because it was hanging in the same spot it has hung for forty years. One hammer. I thought of my tool chest where there are two identical hammers. In fact, I have two of lots of things, two of too much. There on the wall was my dad’s old circular saw, the same old drill, the same old level. I could keep going. It was a pleasant trip of nostalgia because I had used many of these tools as a teenager.

I buy a lot of backups and upgrades, and my dad does not, and his life is better for it. It is not that he is stripped to his mere needs, but his life is free of wants and full of delights because he delights in what he has. I delight in what is new, and therefore I want what’s next and what’s different. I want too much because I delight in too little.

The most familiar Psalm begins, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1), and the next line is telling, “He makes me…” (Psalm 23:2). I do not go on my own, but I am learning to follow my shepherd, and he leads me not to my wants or even my needs, but to his delights. Somehow green pastures and still waters restore my soul. I thought a full life meant having more, but it doesn’t. I have two of too many things.

Daily Prayer

Loving God, You promise a life that is full, even overflowing. My life is full of clutter. Let’s clean it up. God, teach me to love what You love, to share Your delights, to seek righteousness and goodness and purity and beauty and truth, things of eternity more than things of today.

May I pursue the One that I truly need, the One who fills my heart, the One who created me and leads me in the right direction. I love what You promise, that if I follow You, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. That is what I want!

Amen