Thirsty? (Part 2)

 

Snickers Satisfies

 

Does it?  Isn’t the advertising scheme of Snickers that it does NOT satisfy.  Is the marketing scheme of Snickers aimed at ultimate chocolate bar satisfaction? Of course not!  That would be the death of Snickers.  The marketing hope of ALL marketers is to create a longing for their product so strong that you will return again and again and buy their product. They want to create a hunger for, yet ANOTHER, “satisfying” Snickers bar?

Imagine if someone developed the truly “satisfying” chocolate bar!  The true satisfier!  It is soooo good that when you eat this bar – you will never want another one.  It is chocolate bar perfection!  Eat one and be done, for life!  Wow – now that would be….. satisfying.  And it would also be the death of the perfect chocolate bar company!

The point of snickers is that it does not satisfy.  They want to create followers and they want their chocolate bar to make you never hungry for more.

And… that is the commentary of the world we live in.  How many people do you know who are satisfied?  Job, marriage, children, istuff, etc…  Imagine if we were to look at our current phone and say:  “yep, this one is good enough – I will keep this one for the rest of my life.”

Yea…..  I can’t imagine that either!

That is because we are longing factories.  Factories that are seeking satisfaction.  I know, as for me, my soul doesn’t need any encouragement.  It is the reflex of my soul.  I like to long.  I have to fight to be content.  And that is why I love Psalms 63.

Read the 1st “Thirsty” post on Psalms 63 here:

 

O God, you are my God; earnestly 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.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.

 

Snickers, Stuff, And Finding Satisfaction In The Glory Of God:

One of my all time favorite quotes is from John Piper.  Read the below….. slowly.

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime time dribble of triviality we drink at night. ~John Piper

Ours is a culture that is in love with the “endless nibbling at the table of the world”.  God, and His glory, is….. well….. less glorious than prime time dribble, Facebook status, or pursuit of hobby or……  Not, that these things are in and of themselves wrong.  They might be, depending on the hold they have on our hearts.  But, the believer who endlessly pursues “stuff” is captivated with a lesser glory.

Behold the glory of the Lord, and all the dribble will be revealed as the dribble that it is….

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. “No one would sleep that night, of course…. we would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead the stars come out every night and we watch television.”

Humanity is in LOVE with glory.  Every mountain hike, mountain, waterfall or beach vacation is a pursuit of glory.  And when we stand before God’s creation that glory speaks!  The atheist may not acknowledge it, but that does not stop God’s creation from proclaiming the glory of the One who created it all! (Psalms 19)

No one has to tell the person who stands at the foot of the waterfall or the peak of the mountain summit to be astounded by the glory in front of them.  You don’t have to coach a child that when you see it, here is your response…. “WOW!”  Ok, son, let’s practice this.  No, there is no need for coaching.  Because the soul knows, when you see glory, “wow” quickly follows.

When we behold the glory of God, no coaching is needed!  Behold the glory of God and….. worship Him.  Worship is never to be done out of duty.  Duty cheapens the glory.  When we behold glory the response follows, it just does!  Praise Him!  He is Worthy!  AND, all other lesser glories are revealed for what they are…. “stuff”.

The moment worship is done out of duty is the moment it is no longer worship.  And that is what Psalms 63 is doing.  The psalmist is worshiping.  He is not told to worship or coached to worship, he beholds the glory of God and Psalms 63 is what you get.

It is like coaching the child to respond when you get to the summit with a:  “WOW!”  There is no glory in that response.  The summit is most glorified when the child, on his own, shouts out without reserve…. “WOW!”

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.  C.S. Lewis

Yes, we are FAR too easily pleased.  Caught up with lesser glories.  My friend, I promise you that Snickers or the next iwhatever will not satisfy.  Are you thirsty / hungry for God?  If not, perhaps it is because we are so…..full.  Full of lesser glories.  Full of the endless, prime time, dribble of triviality.

God, fill my heart with a desire like I see in Psalms 63!  Help me to see the stuff for what it is!  Stir in me a hunger and a thirst for you that is only satisfied…. in YOU!