The message of a hungry child’s persistent cry is, “I demand satisfaction!” The message of countless consumer rights groups is, “Demand satisfaction!” Martha Stewart exhorts, “Be a demanding consumer.” The assuring message of countless advertising campaigns is, “100% Satisfaction Guaranteed!” Many of us have bought into the notion of our right to demand satisfaction.
From the time we are infants we hunger for satisfaction. Certainly, a satisfied baby is good; however a satisfied Christian is dangerous. The danger of being physically or materially satisfied is in becoming proud, believing we are self-sufficient. Such was the danger of those we read about in Hosea 13:4-6. “As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their hearts became proud; therefore they forgot Me.”
If Christians do likewise, one may presume to demand satisfaction, for “the Lord has always been with you; you have not lacked a thing” (Deut. 2:7). That one has forgotten the request of Agur, Proverbs 30: 8-9; “Feed me with the food that is my portion, that I will not be full and deny You and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’” There is the danger of satisfaction. We forget God; we may even deny Him.
We’d best be careful about demanding our satisfaction. And, doesn’t it seem ironic that we are too easily satisfied to give God less than he demands, while still expecting Him to give more than He has promised. God did not promise to satisfy our every demand. Rather, it is God who holds the singular right and privilege to demand that which satisfies Him.
We satisfy God; that is we are well-pleasing to Him, when we imitate His Son, for Jesus came to satisfy the demands of the Father. “I have come down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). Doing so will assure that we will hear the words Jesus’ heard, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.”
When we are like the child longing to be fed, God is satisfied and well-pleased when we do not seek “the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life” (John 6:27). By that food, we also endure unto eternal life. In our endurance, through Christ unto eternal life, God has guaranteed that he will be 100% satisfied!
