BY EVERY WORD FOUNDATION

SATISFY US IN THE MORNING

The gospel offered to thirsty people is not just for the forgiveness of their sins, it is also for the satisfaction of their soul. It is certainly not less than forgiveness and justification before God, but it is so much more. Consider a couple of statements from our Lord. "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst'" (Jn. 6:35). "On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow river of living water'"" (7:37-38).

St. Augustine beautifully described his own conversion as the experience of enjoying God. In a prayer to God he said, "How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure" (Confessions, 181).

Christianity begins by finding Christ more satisfying than anything this world has to offer, and it continues by looking to him for satisfaction. Every morning as we meet with our Lord and Savior, we could pray Ps. 90:14: "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." Satisfaction in God should be the passionate pursuit of every Christian.

In his autobiography, George Mueller recalls a turning point that changed his entire approach to life and ministry. His turning point is instructive for all believers. He wrote:

"I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit" (quoted in John Piper, Desiring God, 132).

How Do I Get My Soul Into a Happy State?

This raises the obvious question: how specifically do I get my soul into a happy state? I quote Mueller at length because I have found advice to be invaluable. He went on to say:

Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as a habitual thing, to give myself to prayer, after having dressed in the morning. Now I saw, that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, whilst meditating, my heart might be brought into… communion with the Lord…

The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord's blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God; searching, as it were, into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word; not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon; but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul. The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer.

When thus I have been for awhile making confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the Word may lead to it; but still continually keeping before me, that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. The result of this is, that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is…nourished and strengthened and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart… (ibid., 132-33).

Everything Flows From This Relationship

The essence of Christianity could be described as a soul-satisfying relationship with God through Christ. And, everything in the Christian life flows out of this relationship. Therefore, it is right to follow the example of Mueller and the Psalmist, and make it our first and foremost duty every morning to seek after satisfaction in our Savior. Again, everything flows from this relationship—evangelism, service, obedience, parenting, preaching, self-denial, etc.—and it all runs like a river into the ocean of God's glory.

Consider how we serve Christ with the hope of bearing much fruit to the glory of God. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing… By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples" (Jn. 15:5, 8). Fruitful ministry is the direct result of an abiding relationship (i.e., a soul-satisfying relationship) with Christ. So, as we abide in Christ, as we find our satisfaction in him, we will bear much fruit to the glory of God.

Love and Obedience

It should especially be stressed that obedience and overcoming temptation flows from our satisfaction in Christ. Note Jesus' connection between love and obedience: "'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word… Whoever does not love me does not keep my word'" (Jn. 14:23-24). Sheer will-power may prove to be effective in the short-term for overcoming temptation and walking in obedience, but it will not last. Christ states as a matter of fact that if we love him (i.e., are satisfied in him) we will keep his word, while if we don't love him we will not keep his word.

The key is to deeply and sincerely love Christ; to find our joy in him. As the Puritan pastor Matthew Henry said:

"The joy of the Lord will arm us against the assaults of our spiritual enemies, and put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks."

John Piper responding to Henry says:

"This is the great business of life—to 'put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.' I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than to gain a distaste for it, because of a superior satisfaction in God… The human heart remains a ceaseless factory of desires. Sin remains powerfully and suicidally appealing. The battle remains: where will we drink? Where will we feast?" (Ibid., 11, emphasis added).

Where Will We Drink? Where Will We Feast?

Indeed, those are the questions. Where will we drink? Where will we feast? Again, let us hear the invitation and promise of Christ. "Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst" (Jn. 6:35). If we do not find our satisfaction in Christ, we will inevitably look for it in the things of this world. Therefore, we must make it our first and foremost duty every morning to seek after satisfaction in our Savior.