Satisfied

Read: Isaiah 58

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11, NIV

IN WORD

Most people spend their lives on a relentless search for fulfillment. Many people never find it. There’s a wide range of reasons for that, like being self-centered, pursuing empty dreams, developing unworthy attachments, and neglecting or rejecting God’s will. The bottom line beneath all dissatisfaction is investing our hearts in something that doesn’t matter as much as we thought it did—or in other words, in something less than God. He uses people, places, possessions, and positions to satisfy us, but He never places them above Himself as our ultimate fulfillment. When we are empty and unfulfilled, it’s because our hearts have been misdirected.

Here in Isaiah, this misdirection—this seeking after fulfillment in ways we weren’t designed for—has caused God’s people to neglect others and serve themselves. God would love to satisfy them, but they haven’t positioned themselves for it. They have turned their attention away from Him and His ways, pursuing instead their own plans. They have given in to the temptation every human being faces.

IN DEED

God’s promise to guide us always, satisfy our needs, strengthen us, and make us like a well-watered garden and an unceasing spring is a description of the shalom we all crave. It’s the peace and fullness of His Kingdom, but it’s offered only to those who accept the Kingdom culture as their own. It’s the fulfillment we’ve all sought—often futilely—and it’s an open invitation to His people. This search does not end in disappointment, no matter how many other disappointments we’ve suffered. It’s a promise to every heart that hopes in Him.

ADDITIONAL READING: Isaiah 40:29-31

If a man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God? If man is made for God, why is he opposed to God?

BLAISE PASCAL