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SATISFACTION

PSALM 23

You've heard all about subliminal messages. Remember those? That evil tool of advertisers who slip their own messages into our minds through subconscious images or sounds? That's the stuff that when I was in college had us spinning records backward and looking at magazine ads until we were cross-eyed trying to see the subliminal messages. Fortunately, and just in time to save my eyesight, I realized that I probably had as much to be concerned about with the overt messages of our culture as the covert ones.

I'm increasingly seeing just how true that is. The messages of self-oriented living that once were only hinted at are now blatantly portrayed before us day after day as the way to live.

Much of it could be summarized by a three-word question that our culture uses to keep us in pursuit of the good life. Those three words are, "Are you satisfied?" The expected and appropriate answer to that question is mo. No matter where I am in life, no matter what I have, no matter what I've experienced--it would be un-American to be satisfied and content with it.

No matter what level we achieve, there is always one more level that is higher, better, faster, bigger, newest, latest--more!

Our modern fascination with computers kind of serves as a metaphor for that whole mind-set. No matter what kind of computer you buy today, tomorrow there'll be one that's better. And there's a whole computer market based on people who have to have the latest. When I first started learning computers, I worked on a machine that I thought was just terrific. But now I wouldn't put up with that slow albatross for a second. I couldn't be satisfied with it because I know there's more. Our whole existence is full of those kinds of messages.

When you're sitting at a stoplight and a car pulls up that is bigger and better than yours, the message comes, "Are you satisfied?" When you see an advertisement for a Caribbean vacation and you've got a Des Moines budget, the message comes, "Are you satisfied?"

And the grand assumption is that in a world that offers limitless opportunity and advancement, you should never be satisfied with where you are.

Think about how that has affected you. Are you satisfied with your career? Are you satisfied with the house you live in? the car you drive? Are you satisfied with your marriage? Are you satisfied with your education?

Our culture seems to want to play on a constant sense of vague unrest that makes us question everything about our lives. And you know as well as I do that that mind-set, that attitude, has a great impact on our spiritual lives. A lot of churches, a lot of Christian speakers and writers play (perhaps not intentionally) on that underlying lack of satisfaction.

There's something deeper to be experienced. There's something more to be learned. There's got to be a more satisfying spirituality than what I now experience. Something better, faster, higher, smoother, happier, brighter. And certainly there is one sense in which we do always want to go deeper in our walk with Christ, but is there an experience of satisfaction for us on this journey?

Let me put the question this way for our purposes this morning, "In a world of everything, is God enough for you?"

If somehow we could once again hear the expression of the psalmist from this almost too familiar psalm, I think he could help us deal with that question. This psalm is probably the best known and most oft quoted portion of the Hebrew scriptures. Most of you could probably recite it word for word. And that's too bad. It's too bad because so often when we know a passage of scripture so well, we stop hearing it. This is a beautiful psalm of confidence, one that we love to remember particularly in troubled times.

Its images are so simple and yet they touch something deep within our hearts--a longing to be cared for and loved by One greater than ourselves and greater than our experiences.

One revered Old Testament scholar says of this passage, "It is almost pretentious to comment on this psalm. The grip it has on spirituality is deep and genuine. It is such a simple statement that it can bear its own witness without comment." So here I am trying to preach out of it. But it does have much to say to us who live in a society of privilege and plenty.

I remember that the psalms give voice to the heart of Israel. They do not try to explain life, they express life--with all its questions and doubts, all its fear and pain.

The goal of these psalms is not understanding, but faith. And somehow I wish we could approach this psalm, so well known to us, with a fresh perspective. I wish we could look at it not with a desire to dissect it and break it apart and understand its metaphors but simply to hear it anew in the context of our real question, "Can I truly be satisfied with God?"

I think the writer enters into that question himself. As he reflects on the history of his people and perhaps on his own history, he sees that there are a lot of needs in life. And sometimes he and his people tried to get those needs met in lots of other ways outside the provision of God. Certainly he must have had in mind the exodus of his people, their "valley of shadows."

The whole psalm moves from wilderness in verse 4 to the Temple in verse 6. That was the journey of his people. And along the way there were lots of voices screaming at them, "Are you satisfied with this?"

God has called you to a land flowing with milk and honey, and you've still got sand in your shoes. You'd better begin to watch out for yourselves because God obviously isn't." Have you ever heard those voices? I mean, there are so many other options we can choose in this life other than trusting God. So many other places to find security and provision.

In a world that seems to offer everything, is God enough for you?

As the writer identifies the deepest needs that we face in life, I think he describes the very same things that we long for. He expresses our need for rest and renewal. "He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul" (v. 2).

Our world certainly recognizes our need for rest and renewal. But their answers are so shallow. "You just need to have more leisure time. So buy this time-saving device or that convenience item, and you'll finally be able to rest. Go on your dream vacation even if you have to go into debt up to your eyebrows. If you just escape to the wilderness, then life will be well."

But what kind of rest does God offer? Not escape from the world but freedom from its values. He offers His presence that brings order to the chaos. He offers a place of quiet rest that you can experience so deep within your soul that you can go there even in the middle of a rush hour.

In a world of everything, is God enough for you?

The psalmist expresses our need for guidance and the wisdom to make right choices. "He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake" (v. 3). And our world understands that need. It tries to answer the need through the latest self-help system or the myriad self-proclaimed gurus who will claim to point you flawlessly in the direction of success and wealth.

But what kind of guidance does God offer? Not just the shaping of my human will, but the infusion of His divine will where, by His Spirit, I begin to understand what the right paths really are.

In a world of everything, is God enough for you?

The psalmist expresses our need for confidence even in the face of death. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me" (v. 4). And our world certainly looks for ways to beat the odds. The insane pursuit of immortality or isolation from pain leads us to all kinds of crazy things.

But God simply says to us, "You will go through valleys and even face the death valley, but you don't have to live in fear of it because I will be with you."

In a world of everything, is God enough for you?

Then the writer gives voice to our need to provision. "You prepare a table before me . . . , you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows" (v. 5). And our world sure works hard on that one. So many people define their whole lives by the pursuit and acquisition of material possessions. It's easy to be sucked into that.

But Jesus simply said, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and these things will be given to you" (Matthew 6:33). God has clearly promised that He will not let His children who trust Him go without the basic needs of life. But there is often such a gap between what we think we need and what we truly need.

In a world of everything, is God enough for you?

Probably most of us who claim the name of Christ would readily say that we are fully satisfied with God. But so often the patterns of lives betray us. In many ways our actions speak more loudly than our words that God indeed is not enough for us.

For we are not always immune to the incessant pursuit of material things, not because we need them but because they are bigger and better than what we have now. Or we spend our lives in disappointment because a relationship is not all we might want it to be. And we buy into the thinking of this world that says, "Somewhere out there is the perfect relationship for you if only you could find it."

Or even spiritually, instead of a simple focus upon God and what He would teach us, we pursue the latest, the spiritual hot button, and think that somehow real spiritual life is always just beyond my grasp.

Some of you are miserable with your life because you've been listening to this world's answers for your deepest needs. Our culture has taught you well to not be satisfied with anything.

What the writer of this psalm seems to have discovered is that when you find your satisfaction in God, then the priorities and desires of your life are set right.

I would challenge you this morning to look at yourself honestly. Look at your life. Look at what keeps you busy the most. Look at what you are giving your life to and the things that are obviously important to you. Can you honestly answer the question, Have you come to the place in your spiritual journey that you can honestly say, "God satisfies me. He meets my deepest needs?"

Have you come to the place in your life where you truly realize that nothing this world has to offer you can bring real joy and satisfaction except for God and His love for you? That can be a reality for you. But in order for it to happen, you have to be open to learn who God is and what He really wants to do for you. You need to receive His grace.

And in order to receive that grace, you must be willing to let go of everything else, to keep a very loose grip on the things this world has to offer and the answers to life's dilemmas that it puts forward.

When you really come to that place of total surrender, then you will begin to understand how the psalmist could say, "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever" (v. 6).