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Satisfaction – Not Here

Satisfaction – Not Here
By Dennis Huebshman

Noah Webster’s dictionary shows one definition of the word SATISFY as: To gratify fully the wants, wishes and desires of – Appease – To make happy.

Billboards, TV ads and other media all tell us we need to improve to be happy. Gotta drink this, eat that, take this pill, etc.

Around 1965, at the beginning of the hippie movement, there was a song by the Rolling Stones that was true of this from the beginning of time. It was called, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” The very title drove English teachers mad, yet even though they didn’t realize it, The Stones hit the nail on the head. They’re still around today, and still haven’t “got no satisfaction.”

Going to the Bible, we see where this trend started from the very beginning. Adam and Eve had DIRECT contact with the Creator of the Universe, yet they weren’t satisfied. Biggest problem was they would not accept responsibility for their actions. Eve blamed the serpent, and Adam blamed God – This woman YOU gave me… I have wondered what would’ve happened if they had repented. Can you imagine not being fulfilled by the Creator of the Universe? They just had to step out and defy the one command He gave them in an attempt to get self-satisfaction. Thus, sin entered the world, and except for one event in history it has been down-hill ever since. More on that later.

Abraham was satisfied with the Lord except for one miscue. God told him he would have a son that would be the beginning of a great nation. He and Sarah took it upon themselves to act outside God’s plan and he sired a child through his Egyptian maid servant – Hagar. This was Ismael. God didn’t approve, and caused Sarah to have the promised child by Abraham when she was 90, and he was about 100. This was Isaac. He was about 12 years younger than Ishmael. Without going into the whole story, the generations that were created by these sons have been fighting ever since, and is still the cause of many of today’s problems in the world. However, Abraham still found favor in God’s sight when he followed God’s instructions to sacrifice Isaac right up to the very act. God stopped him before the sacrifice could be completed and provided a ram instead. God had made a covenant with Abraham quite a few years before this incident, and this really sealed the promise.

Later, the children of Israel were rescued from slavery in Egypt, but in no time their dissatisfaction came through. They experienced all the miracles, yet would not put their faith totally in God. Because of their rebellion against God, they spent an extra 40 years roaming in the desert until the generation that were adults that went out of Egypt were dead except for Joshua and Caleb.

Joshua came closest to being a good example of satisfaction with the Lord. He followed God’s commands, and became one of the greatest leaders Israel ever had. At the end of his life, he advised the Israelites to choose who they would follow. In Joshua 24:15 he said that as for him and his family, they would follow the Lord. As long as the Jews worshiped and obeyed God, they were successful and prosperous in conquering the lands and being supplied with all their needs. When they went against the commands of God, they were disciplined and suffered defeat and misery.

Time marched on, and they entered the era of the Judges. Slowly but surely, the men began to take pagan wives and started to worship other gods. This distresses God the most. God always accepted gentiles that worshiped Him. Rahab was spared at Jericho and married an Israelite. Ruth the moabitess married Boaz to become the great-grandmother of King David. Both gentile women were in the blood-line of Jesus.

Sampson was one of those who was a Judge. God had honored him by giving him great strength, yet Sampson continually went out after his own lusts. God had told him as long as he did not cut his hair, he would have strength. Even though Sampson led an immoral life, God kept His promise as He always does. However, when Sampson let his weakness overpower him, and he told Delilah about the secret of his strength, God allowed him to be taken captive by the Philistines. They put out his eyes and made him a servant. Once his hair grew again, Sampson repented, and asked God to give him one more chance which God did. He literally brought the house down!

Moving on to David, he was definitely God’s chosen at that time. God made a covenant with David in 2 Samuel chapter 7. Jesus was to come from his bloodline. David had several wives and several children, however this was not enough for him He committed adultery with Bathsheba (always known as the wife of Uriah the Hittite) and then had Uriah murdered. Terrible crimes against God. God did not revoke the covenant, but because of David not being satisfied with all he had, he suffered the consequences.

One thing in David’s favor – he accepted responsibility for his actions. The Psalms are full of his recorded songs of prayer to the Father about his sins. He acknowledged to God his sins were His and His alone! The sword never left his household though. The baby born to Bathsheba from the adulterous relationship died: his daughter Tamar was assaulted by Amnon her brother, and then Amnon was killed by Absalom, another brother. Later, Absalom was killed by David’s army. Solomon, second child from Bathsheba went on to become ruler of Israel after David’s death.

Speaking of Solomon, he is another example of not being satisfied. God gave him the greatest wisdom of all, and riches beyond anyone’s dream. He ended up with 700 wives and 300 concubines. Instead of staying loyal to the Heavenly Father, he began to worship the idols of all the foreign wives and concubines. As a result, God’s children saw changes that were not for the best.

One example of someone who WAS satisfied with God was Daniel. He was taken prisoner as a teenager to a foreign land, and became part of the king’s court. Because he gave all glory to the Father, he was blessed and became the favored of several kings of Babylon. Because of his loyalty to the Father, he was given great insight into future events such as the Triumphal Entry right down to the day; and beyond that was shown glimpses of what the end-times of this earth will be.

The rest of the old testament is full of examples of people not worshiping God, and the consequences of their actions. There were some rays of sunshine like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel just to name a few, but mostly it showed a downward spiral until the coming of the Messiah. In fact, after the last of the Minor Prophets Malachi – there was about a 400-year period of silence from God.

Moving ahead to Jesus’ time, He had 12 men that were with Him day and night. They had the blessing of His direct teaching, and witnessed His miracles. The problem was, they expected Him to suddenly transform into a mighty conqueror and give them all a place of honor in His new kingdom. Judas experienced the love of Jesus, lived with him, walked with him, witnessed the miracles just as the others had, yet sold Him for 30 pieces of silver as was prophesied in Zechariah 11: 12-13.

His was strictly a materialistic relationship. He held the money bag for the group, and constantly dipped into it for his personal gain. That did not bring satisfaction as Judas ultimately hung himself. Peter denied him, but repented; Thomas doubted Him, but repented. All the others repented of their lack of faith before Jesus returned to Heaven. I believe is Judas had truly repented, Jesus would have forgiven him also.

If you look at the so-called superstars of today, you will find there’s a lot of dissatisfaction – sometimes leading to their deaths. Drugs/ excessive alcohol/ suicide are signs of their “success”. Elvis, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Janis Joplin, Faron Young just to name a few. These are people from the past, but those of the present are no different. The secular world hangs on their every action.

Today, I defy anyone to say they are truly satisfied! We may be momentarily content, but for us to be totally fulfilled will not happen here.

Many years ago, John D. Rockefeller was possibly the richest man on earth. A reporter once asked him how much money would be enough – the reply was “One dollar more than I have”. With all his wealth and power, it was not enough to satisfy him. I have heard other so-called rich people say the same thing. Others have had wealth, but were afraid someone would take it from them, and they led miserable lives. I personally have known some very wealthy people and can testify they were miserable. (I have never had a wealth problem.) They always had the fear someone was going to take their worldly possessions away. Their status in life is and was more important than their very families. They had and have a great distrust of anyone outside of their own, and even some of them they watch closely.

There is a saying, “Aim for Heaven – you get the earth thrown in – Aim for Earth, you get neither”.

Conclusion – you will never be satisfied on this Earth. The only time you will have total fulfilling satisfaction is when you are in the arms of Jesus!

Satan loves to tell you, you need such and such, and as soon as you get it he says now you need this and that. No fulfillment. Hell is a place of never being satisfied. Those who go there will be tormented forever – cravings that will only increase without relief; being shown what they could have had just by accepting Jesus, but didn’t. Once there, you can’t change your mind – that’s FOREVER! At your last breath on earth, your final destination is settled. There’s no third option. No saying you didn’t understand; no instant replays to try to get it right – it’s FINAL!

God loves to see His children happy and has no problem with us having nice things. He just asks us to worship HIM – not the things He gives us. If you have nothing this world believes to be valuable, but have the love of the Father, you are actually rich beyond measure.

Heaven is total satisfaction – Forever! The best part of Heaven is being with Jesus. That’s what satisfaction is all about. Everything else is secondary Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe! Yet, He did it so we get the prize of eternity with Him. Accept Him- Assure yourself a home with Him – It’s a free gift which is hardest for some to accept. It’s already paid in full!

There are questions only you can answer about your acceptance of Jesus – to say I don’t know is to reject Him; to say Maybe is to reject Him; to say I’ll think about it is to reject Him; to say, I’ll get to it later is to reject Him. Remember the Elvis song, “It’s now or never.”? The song words don’t matter, but the title says volumes.

This world has at least 7 years to go, but the rapture can happen at any moment. Please make sure you are right with Jesus today!

Maranatha!

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