Never Satisfied

“Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.’"

—Haggai 1:5-6

The theme song of our world today could easily be the Rolling Stones’ song, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” We are never satisfied. No matter how much we have, we always want more. If we get a nice car, there is always the nicer one. The same goes for our house, or apartment, or fill-in-the-blank. There is always the newest gadget, toy or tool that makes what we have look outdated. Contentment eludes us as we rationalize to ourselves, “If I can only get that certain thing—then I will be content.” It’s not true, though, because once we get what we thought we wanted, there is still something else that is brought to our attention, reminding us that what we just got somehow doesn’t satisfy. Ours is a world that perpetually craves more than it has, and no matter what we get, it is never enough.

The prophet Haggai spoke to the issue of contentment when he prophesied just as the Israelites were coming out of exile. They had turned from God, and God gave them over to their enemies for 70 years, which they spent in the land of Babylon. After the 70 years was up, the exiles returned to the land in order to rebuild the city of Jerusalem that had been destroyed, as well as the Jewish temple. But they took care of their own lives first, constructing for themselves beautiful paneled houses while God’s house lay in ruins. Haggai tells them to consider what they were doing. They had done a great deal of work, but it was largely fruitless. They would plant crops, but have weak harvests. They would eat, but still be hungry, drink, but still be thirsty. They got warmer clothes, but they still were cold. And lastly, they earned money, but it always seemed to disappear. The reason? They failed to honor God first; therefore, contentment eluded them.

Our first priority is to honor and worship God above all things. When we seek to satisfy our own pleasures first, we are not showing God to be the supreme and overarching satisfaction of our life. It is only when we seek first Christ’s kingdom that we are truly satisfied and our earthly needs are taken care of (Matthew 6:33). True satisfaction only comes when we seek God above all things, because when we seek Christ, we are filling ourselves up with His thoughts, His agenda, and His purposes for our lives. Our perspectives are changed; what we thought we so desired is seen to be much smaller and less significant. Our attitude, values and pursuits are transformed as we seek to do what God wants us to do.

What about us? Are our perspectives out of line with the Bible’s? Are we catering to our own pleasures apart from God? Or are we seeking to find our pleasure in God? Is our satisfaction seen in our own earthly comforts? Or in Christ? Whatever is keeping us from being satisfied in Christ and Christ alone must be dealt with, and our priorities and pursuits must be realigned or contentment and true satisfaction will continue to elude us. May Christ show Himself to be our true sufficiency and heart’s satisfaction, as we seek Him and His will above all things. Amen.