Have We Really Experienced a Spiritual Satisfaction?
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday One by One Leadership Foundation hosted the Keys of Life dances of ICo at Moorings Presbyterian Church. It was glorious and satisfying. It was an act of creation. And a lot of energy and effort went into the event that went beyond meeting the basic needs of those in attendance. I think people were changed by the experience in a spiritual way. But for me it was a bit of a stress experience as well as being rewarding. You see, we all have many dreams and plans and sometimes they converge with what God is doing but that does not mean it is without adrenaline. Here we learn that we need to trust God more. Fortunately we can find satisfaction and favor in the Lord’s plan and also find a bit of relief. So yesterday we evoked change, empowered youth and engaged various communities in a collective act of imagining and desiring a better future where all our gifts are given to God’s glory. It was pleasing and rewarding and enjoyable and gratifying but draws us to a deeper question about sustaining our spiritual growth without becoming adrenaline junkies. And so we ask. Have We Really Experienced a Spiritual Satisfaction?
Scripture: Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
Psalm 149:3 (NRSV)
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:1-11 (NRSV)
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
Psalm 63:1-8 (NRSV)
Message: There is a satisfaction we experience in our physical bodies that reminds us of what it is to be satisfied with God spiritually. Many find it when they dance. This special kind of satisfaction should be our goal in life. We get a hint of it as we find satisfaction in a cool drink for our parched souls. We get a sense of it when an event comes of successfully. But there are some lessons we are to internalize if we are to experience God in our daily lives but also collectively. And it is all about that insight we gain when our combined memories spark our passion to help others to activate their gifts. You see, God becomes glorified in us when we are satisfied with our memories of the divine woven into our current experiences. Here remembering God’s faithfulness sinks into our souls. In today’s Psalm David writes about his memory of worshipping God. The take aware here is that only when David remembers how faithful God has been in His life does he experience the satisfaction of being in balance. And it is at these moments in life that we experience a collective memory of God’s provision in our lives. This is spiritual satisfaction. Here we slow down and take a breath as we reestablish equilibrium. Here we gain access to a contentment that honors God. Getting to that satisfaction can however be a great challenge. God’s ways are not our ways. That is why it is a mistake to try to make spiritual things fit our way of thinking rather than seeking to have our way of thinking molded by spiritual things. Friends, there is a fundamental difference between seeking God and seeking security, significance, vitality, relationships, and pleasure. So much of what we seek can be such empty goals unless we experience them from a perspective that embraces the mystery of God. Here we learn some of the keys to life. Here we affirm the lives of others so the door to experience God might be opened for them as well as for each of us.
Pray we love for something that is greater than ourselves. Pray when we look back over the events of our lives we not feel empty. Pray we receive the grace of God. Pray the cup of salvation fill us with satisfaction and joy. Pray that we would long so much for God that we could feel it in our flesh. Pray that we would crave for God and feast on Him satisfying our hunger, quenching our thirst. Pray that we realize that there is no satisfaction, no glorification apart from God being in the dance with us. Pray that grace though acts of faith and praise would unlock our spirit so that it might become free. Pray that we realize that Jesus holds the key to our future. Pray we experience the love of God freeing us to move in the Spirit and be satisfied.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 