Great message from Grant, as I ponder his words, I can definitely see a pattern in my life. As I drift in and out of my fellowship with the Lord, due to distractions and/or sin, I am always unsatisfied until I realize what I am truly missing. How dense are we as man, that we keep making the same mistakes over and over. What patience the Lord must have with us.
Maranatha, Lord Jesus come quickly!
-myblessedhope
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By Grant Phillips
“Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man.” (Proverbs 27:20 NIV)
“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10 NIV)
Are you satisfied with your life? Thousands upon multiplied thousands of people today are not satisfied with their lives. Some are restless. Some are in abject turmoil.
Proverbs 27:20 above tells us that death is never satisfied. The open grave will always yearn for more. Even though about 140.4 million people are born each year, 56.7 million die each year (2010 statistics).
The same verse speaks of destruction, and destruction comes in many forms. War brings destruction. A wandering eye brings destruction to a family. Greed and murder bring destruction, and we could go on. Destruction is all around us, as is death. So too, destruction is never satisfied.
Where does all this originate? It comes from the human heart, for the heart of man, apart from Jesus Christ, is never satisfied.
Adam and Eve were not satisfied to have everything the Garden of Eden had to offer, but decided to disobey God and eat of the one lone tree He specifically told them to not eat from. Sin blanketed the world as a result.
Judas Iscariot was not satisfied to enjoy the fellowship of God, in the flesh, but preferred power and wealth instead. Suicidal death was his reward.
From the Garden of Eden to today, mankind has never been satisfied. He always wants more, even at the expense of others. Why can’t we be satisfied? Why do we always want more and more?
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
This insatiable desire comes from a wicked heart, a heart that does not know God. The heart without God is an empty hole that longs to be filled, but only God can fill the vacuum that exists.
Some will come to God through His Son Jesus and find rest, while most will continue their vain attempts to fill the vacuum and satisfy the wicked heart. However, it is never filled. It is never satisfied. It keeps longing for more, and each demand gets greater with time.
The Lord had the Apostle Paul write the following words to his protégé Timothy:
“1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV)
Are we in the last days? Yes we are, the last days of the Church Age, and the heart of man isn’t getting any better. It’s getting worse.
Think about this.
When Hollywood first produced movies depicting murder, there were no “blood and guts” scenes, but in order to continue drawing the crowds, the scenes had to become more and more real. Today murder has left the silver screen and found its way into the neighborhoods of America, and they keep getting more gruesome. Why? The evil heart needs more to satisfy its desires.
The scary movies I watched as a child would be boring today. Yet, as a child, my heart would race as I watched them. Today, people are chopped up like lettuce for a salad, and the watchers crave more.
Sex used to be kept in the bedroom, a private issue between your parents. Now it’s taught in schools and practiced wherever the urge hits. Any sexual act imaginable can be found in not just sleazy dark places, but in your own living room. Yet the evil heart is not satisfied. It wants more.
Sexual acts of perversion are commonplace. Sex with animals, children, male/male, female/female, and even objects, they are all out in the open. And each depravity just becomes more shocking than the one before.
The most depraved acts one could imagine are committed on the streets of some of our large cities, and they keep getting worse.
There seems to be some kind of “law of nature” that says, “Each action must top the one before.”
Greed is like that too. The general attitude with most people is the more they have, the more they want. There is never enough money, or things. The evil heart always wants more. It is never satisfied.
An old saying goes like this, “Give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile.” That is exactly where we are today, always hungry for more. “My house isn’t big enough, I need a bigger one. My neighbor got a new car. Mine is three years old. I need a new one. My clothes are not in style. I need to go shopping. So I have ten of these, I want that one too.”
As we have seen, a heart that is not satisfied will long for more. Some things will produce destruction while others may just produce clutter, but they all depict a heart that is restless for God. The very soul of man needs God to satisfy the hunger of his heart. The sad thing is, most just don’t recognize what their soul really needs to be at rest.
In Isaiah 61:10 above, it is clear that our delight should be in the Lord. Only this will make our soul rejoice, because then we are clothed in salvation and righteousness, both from the throne room of God.
Food tastes good, but its consumption is only temporary. Drugs only mask the real problem and create others.
I ask again. Are you satisfied with your life? Has someone flushed the toilet, and you’re in it? Are you going down for the last count?
Maybe things aren’t quite that bad in your life, but you’re just not happy. You’ve tried hobbies, read books and even smelled the roses, but something is missing.
Jesus Christ is what is missing. No human being on this earth will ever be at peace until they come to Jesus to be born again (John 3:3). Jesus will give you a new spirit that will be filled with His own Spirit. Only then can you say with David:
“…My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.” (Psalms 62:1NIV)
“Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.” (Psalms 116:7 NIV)
But you say, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t feel satisfied. What is wrong with me?” You need to come to your Savior and Lord and ask of God the same thing David asked Him.
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Psalms 51:12 NIV)
Accept the council of John in this verse.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NIV)
Then follow David’s advice.
“I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws.” (Psalms 119:7 NIV)
Grant Phillips
My articles are posted at “Pre-Rapture Commentary” http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com and many are also posted at “Rapture Ready” http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html.
Even though I am very limited on time, I will respond to any who email me and request a reply, unless I sense they just want to argue.
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Click on the article title for a link to full original referenced article.
In Romans 10 Paul lays out how salvation is open to all, Jew and Gentile. He writes:
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” – Romans 10:4-5
What he is saying is now it is not about works or how closely to a “T” you follow the law. But that it is through God’s gift of grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. It is really that simple, and yet a hard step for some of us.
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9
Christ is the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14), through faith in Him you will be saved. It is the only “works” that God requires for eternal salvation.
