The Source of Goodness
Psalm 107:8-9 “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.”
Hamsters are funny critters and watching them use a hamster wheel is fascinating. They climb on and begin to run at breakneck speed. Round and round they go, but they never get anywhere. They run themselves ragged. Sometimes they lose their footing, but the wheel is at such a high rate of speed that the hamster is then mercilessly whipped around until the wheel finally slows down. Once it stops, they crawl off to recover and make sense of the world that is still spinning so furiously.
Life is like that sometimes, isn’t it? We climb on that ‘wheel’ and we are pulled and pushed, pressured and stressed and the world spins around us. We go and go, yet our speed and effort only tends to make things more complicated and dizzying. We see the brokenness and struggle around us and our frantic pace doesn’t change it. It’s hard to make sense of it sometimes. But, if we stopped and grounded ourselves in God’s Word, we would gain understanding and perspective. HE satisfies the longing soul!! He SATISFIES the longing soul!
Sometimes we run ourselves ragged, trying so hard to gain peace, contentment, joy, satisfaction...the list goes on. We climb onto the proverbial hamster wheel and before we know it, our pursuits have us spinning yet never reaching a destination. Instead of gaining satisfaction, we grow weary. We lose our bearings and find ourselves disoriented and exhausted.
Stop. Give thanks to the Lord for His goodness. Go back to the basics. Did you sleep last night? Give thanks; God gave you rest. Did you wake up this morning? Give thanks; God’s goodness is blessing you with another day to live, breathe and serve Him. Is life hard right now? Give thanks; you have the sense to understand and to realize the ‘hard’ only because it means you’ve also enjoyed good things to compare this ‘hard’ to...and God is faithful. He doesn’t make you walk through the hard times alone.
So often our discontent is connected to our disconnection from God. The Apostle Paul got it. Philippians 4:11-13 says, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Paul knew what it was to be satisfied with God so much that his circumstances didn’t drive his thinking and emotions. The circumstances were just another day, opportunity or situation that God walked through with him. He trusted God. Situations change. God does not. His peace was grounded in the One who is unchanging.
Today, let’s pray that our sons and daughters would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to them. Pray that they would find satisfaction in Him for the longings of their soul, and trust that He fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Pray without ceasing, friends. God hears our prayers.