Completely Satisfied

“The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.” (Pr 19:23 AV)

The fear of the LORD is something that comes with various promises.  Above, we see if we fear the LORD, we abide satisfied.  The word ‘satisfied’ means satiated.  Or, as we would use the word, saturated.  If there is anything we seek today is contentment and satisfaction.  Our entire culture chases after the perfect life.  We want all our wants and needs met.  We want perfect health.  We want our families to be like those we see on the family channel with our children winning every award and our spouses to perfect mates.  When we go to the restaurant, we see the picture of the food we order and expect it to come just as advertised.  We make a purchase and think it will finally make us happy.  The thing is, the things of this world can never fully satisfy.  We will always be wanting.  There will never be a day that goes by where we can say, “I feel perfectly content today and lay down to sleep knowing there is nothing more I would desire.”  That is, unless we make the fear of the LORD our passion.  Solomon states the soul that fears God will abide satisfied.

There have been only a few meals I have ever eaten where I walked away completely satisfied.  They were not large meals where I could eat as much as I wanted until I was full.  They were perfectly prepared so that when I was finished, there wasn’t another thing I could want.  One was a prime rib at a five-star restaurant in Letchworth State Park.  It was the first time I had ever had prime rib.  I have never had another prime rib like it.  EVER.  The other that comes to mind was a stuffed orange roughy at Whaler’s Catch in Paducah, KY.  The restaurant is closed now.  The owner suddenly passed away and they never recovered.  They were known in western Kentucky as the place to go for seafood.  I can take you to the table where I sat.  I can tell you the people I was sitting with.  I was not that big of a seafood eater.  Tuna fish and fried shrimp were the extents of my seafood voyage.  But when I ate that stuffed orange roughy, I savored every single bit.  I grew up with ten siblings.  If you wanted seconds, you ate fast.  To this day, I am a fast eater.  I figure it better to eat it while it is hot than take forever and eat it warm.  Not this orange roughy.  Every single bit was like a taste of heaven.  I took small bites.  Not large ones.  The whole meal could probably have been eaten in about ten normal bites.  But I took thirty minutes and twice that amount of bites because it tasted soooooo good.  When I was finished, they asked if I wanted dessert.   Nope!  I wanted the aftertaste of that perfect meal to linger on my pallet and tantalize more olfactory senses.  When I was done, I was completely satiated with the meal I had just consumed.

We fill our lives with all sorts of things trying to answer an urge that will not go away.  We are looking in the wrong place.  The fear of the LORD is the key to satisfaction.  Walking with God in faith and obedience is the necessary ingredient to a satisfied life.  An intimate relationship with God founded in respect and awe for who and what He is brings all the heart needs to feel full.  The more we try to satiate the needs of the soul apart from God, the less satisfied we become.  As every addict will tell you, there is never enough.  Only an infinite God can fill an infinite need.  Better to walk with God in fear and want nothing, than to walk contrary to Him and want everything.