Soul Satisfaction

Introduction

Good Morning! Thank you for being here. I hope to be quick this morning - firstly, because of the snow and secondly, because I don’t know how long my voice will last. I am going to pivot this morning, because I want to start our sermon series next week with the full effect. The Lord has led me to Psalm 131 today, and I think it is helpful for us in looking to a new year.

I know this time of year, man of you are making goals and thinking about what you are going to do and how much weight you are going to lose and how much money you are going to save or how many books you are going to read, etc.

I want to change that game a little and ask a simple question: Are you satisfied in Jesus? As the bread of life, the fount of living water, the vine, the way, the truth, and the life - is he that to you?

I would dare say that you can conquer the world this year, but if you miss being satisfied in Jesus, known by him, and abiding in Him - does anything else really matter?

Puritan pastor Jeremiah Burroughs once gave an illustration to his church about contentment and satisfaction: He said that finding satisfaction in the world is much like warming your clothes by the fire, but finding satisfaction in your soul for Jesus is like the warmth that comes from a man that internally warms his clothes.

A healthy man puts on his clothes in the morning and at first they might be a little cold, but eventually his body warms them.

But a sickly man cannot warm his clothes himself. He must set them before the fire and cause them to warm before they can warm him.

When Christ has warmed your heart, no situation will ever make you forever cold. And if the world is what warms your heart, you will only ever be content in how much it can warm you.

One is healthy and the other is sickly. So, if the external warms us more than what Christ has done in us, we may be

What if you accomplished it all this year, but you had the opportunity to meet with the God of the universe in a powerful, life-changing way.

This is a prayer of David positioning himself to be satisfied in Jesus.

Read Psalm 131

Psalm 131 ESV

A Song of Ascents. Of David. 1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. 2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

Explanation

Psalm 131:1 “1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.”

David is renouncing pride in a variety of ways. Pride that sickens our hearts into thinking that satisfaction comes from anything other than our standing before God.

His heart is not lifted up. He does not believe himself better than others. It is not finding satisfaction in himself.

He has not found satisfaction in himself. It is somewhere else. Someone else.

His eyes are not raised up. He is not trying to solve

He isn’t consistently looking for the next thing that catches his eye. The next thrill or toy or trip doesn’t entice him. His eyes are set on something much better.

He does not occupy himself with things too great and too marvelous for him.

How many of you are stressed with the new year?

End of Christmas

Things to do. School is starting back. Back to work.

Horrible acts in our nation and around the world.

Snowstorm

You cannot do everything, handle everything, know everything, understand everything, or prepare for everything. Today might be about you remembering that while God is sovereign, you are not.

Rest is sometimes found in acknowledging our limitations.

Satisfaction isn’t found in ourselves, our possessions, or our achievements, but rather, it is found in the God who enters our heart, becomes our prized possession, and grants us worth simply for being his.

Psalm 131:2 “2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.”

There is nothing so beautiful and captivating and precious as a little one with the full attention of his/her mother.

That baby’s contentment, his warmth, lack of hunger, need to be held and comforted, sleep, and every aspect if his being comes from the mother. So when a little one is quiet, we know that mother has given the child everything to be quiet.

A mother is greatly content with a happy, quiet, and full baby.

And it took much for that mother to get that little one that way.

And for those of you who know - those months and years of loving a little one take everything. That baby gets everything from the mother, and the mother gives everything for the quiet and satisfaction of her baby.

Our God invites us into the same kind of beautiful exchange with Himself.

2 Corinthians 12:7–10 “7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Invitation

Psalm 131:3 “3 O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.”

These verses might mean that you begin to pray with desperation for the first time in your life. God, give me you, please.

Father, help me to come to a place of desperation for you. Help me to know that I have and am nothing without you. Soften me, Lord. Hide me in you, Lord. Keep me, Lord. Humble me, Lord. I would rather have you than all that I own. Take it, Lord, if you must. And give me you in return. Bring me to the place of you alone.