Resurrection and Eternal Life: Psalm 90:14: Satisfaction with God

Everyone is seeking satisfaction somewhere or other. But what does the Bible say about where real heart-satisfaction comes from?

PSALM 90:14: SATISFACTION WITH GOD

INTRODUCTION

The story is told of a Quaker farmer who once advertised that he would give a piece of land to anyone that was satisfied. The offer had no response for some time. Finally a man came to see if the offer was still good.
“Sure,” said the Quaker, “are thee satisfied?”
“Yes,” said the man.
“If thee are satisfied,” answered the Quaker, “why, then, does thee want my field?”

Our lives are full of dissatisfactions, discontents.

Some people lack even the necessary things of life—food, clothing, shelter.

Some have everything they could possibly need, but they want more, more, more…

A child finished opening his presents on Christmas morning and said, “Is this all there is? If I had known this was all there would be, I wouldn’t have waited so long for Christmas.”

Some know that they have enough of this world’s goods, but they still feel within a discontent. Is this all there is to life?

Text: Psalm 90:14:
“Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

I. People live longing…

A. Children long to grow up so that they can have the privileges of adulthood…staying up as long as they like…things like that.

Young people long to be settled and secure…
Adults long for success…
In middle age, some people count the days until retirement…
In old age, people look back longingly. Sometimes they have regrets. They realize that the things they craved most were only shadows of good things…
In Psalm 4 the psalmist says, “There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good!’”

B. But it isn’t in the blessings of this earth—wealth, health, friends, or success—that we find true lasting fulfillment.

Psalm 4, that I just quoted goes on:

“…Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, O Lord!
Thou hast put more joy into my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.”

The more I eat of the Bread of Life, the more I drink of the Water of Life, the more satisfied I am.

And the more satisfied I am with the Lord Jesus, the more my appetite grows for the fulfillment that comes from God alone.

II. The psalmist prays, “Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love…”

A. Our greatest craving is to know and to feel that we are loved.

Human love is a foretaste of heaven.

But human love isn’t enough, because people come and go.

I have had many great friends in times gone by—but they have moved away from me, or I have moved away from them, and we’ve lost touch with many of them.

Some have died. Though I treasure the memory of their love and expect someday again to meet them again, I miss them.

B. The Hebrew word translated here “steadfast love” is a very special word.

The word is hesed, which is a word with a very broad meaning. We could translate hesed with all of these English words: love, loyalty, faithfulness, kindness, mercy…

The unfailing love of God is the love that all the human loves point to.

It is grace, a love that goes with us through the darkness, through the wilderness. Grace lasts forever.

III. “Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

A. Rejoicing is the outward expression of joy. Some Bibles translate it, “…that we may sing for joy...”

B. Gladness is the inward expression of joy: the satisfaction of knowing that God is always near.

“So near, so very near to God,
I cannot nearer be,
for in the person of his Son
I’m just as near as he.
“So dear, so very dear to God,
more dear I cannot be.
The love wherewith he loves the Son,
such is his love for me.

CONCLUSION

I use this prayer in three ways:

1. “Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”
It is a prayer for each night, as I go to sleep. I look forward to enjoying God’s love in the next day of life.

Each day is a fresh start with God.

2. “Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love” is a prayer for the dark times…

When we are walking through the valley, we pray for the dawn, the break of day, the dawn of God’s renewed goodness.
Sometimes we pray with the psalmist, “Restore to me the joy of thy salvation…” (Ps. 51.12).

3. And lastly—“Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love”—is a prayer looking forward to that time when all of God’s promises are fulfilled in their fullest measure…that time when I see my Lord Jesus face-to-face.

Another psalmist wrote these words, which speak to me also of that morning…

“Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).
And
“As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness.
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with beholding thy form” (Ps. 16:15).

What an awakening that will be when we wake up in the Promised Land!

When we see Jesus satisfaction will fill our hearts—such deep and lasting satisfaction that we can’t even imagine in this life!