Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

Copyright © 2012–2025 DiscipleMakers, except guest articles (copyright author). Used by permission.

You are here: Home / Archives for Satisfaction

Why We Harm Others (Prov. 3:31)

By

In seeking wise humility, we must not pridefully withhold good or plan evil against others.  To help us, the center of Proverbs 3:27-35 illuminates our motivations.

Do not envy a man of violence
And do not choose any of his ways (Prov. 3:31, ESV)

If God opposes the proud so severely, why would anyone ever choose such a path?  Because, Solomon reasons, we are tempted to envy violent people.

Derrick Davis (2008), Creative Commons

Derrick Davis (2008), Creative Commons

Remember our discussion about violent people from Proverbs 1:10-19?  The attraction to violence is that it will gain us more stuff.  And more stuff means improved security and increased community, or so we think.

We love ourselves enough to believe anything just to get a little satisfaction.  We’ll even believe that “love your neighbor as yourself” means that we first have to love ourselves.  Nowhere, however, does the Bible command us to love ourselves; it assumes that we already do.  Whenever we put ourselves at the center of the universe, we are choosing to act like violent men.  The antidote to such a poisonous choice is to fear the Lord, who really is at the center of the universe.  “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day” (Prov. 23:17).

If you’re anything like me, you may have a hard time with this teaching.  I want to love people; I really do.  I’ll do whatever God wants me to do for most of the people in the world.  There are just a select few whom I can’t love.  In particular, there are those who have hurt me deeply, and those who don’t deserve my trust because of some failure on their part.

Next week, we’ll see how the New Testament applies Proverbs 3 to these situations.

Find Your Satisfaction in Jesus

By

court-gavel_0God’s example shows us the way of satisfaction.  His empowerment fuels our search for satisfaction.  But most importantly, his Son motivates our satisfaction and makes it possible, because he shows us that the Lord’s satisfaction is more important than our own.

Jesus satisfied God’s justice so we could be satisfied by his mercy.  Jesus filled himself with our sin so we could be filled with his righteousness.  Jesus is ready; we have only to ask for more of him, and we’ll be the most satisfied people on the planet: “Until now you have asked nothing in my name.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).  Wisdom pushes us toward the Lord to rub shoulders with his Son, who is our life.

If you are the unhappy romantic, you might look to Jesus’ example to show you how to love.  You might even ask for his Spirit to help you love rightly.  In the end, however, your only hope is to rest in the fact that Jesus already loves and respects you.  He suffered for your failure to obey him, and God treats you as his son or daughter – as though Jesus’ obedience were your own.

Drawing nearer to the Lord through the grace of Christ will melt your heart and conform it to his heart.  Then it won’t be so bad if you don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend; all you’ll need is Christ.  If you do get hitched, you’ll do it for Jesus and not yourself, which is so much more satisfying.  It’s okay if another person lets you down, because Jesus never will.

I know someone who is totally satisfied with his life.  He has a high-powered professional career, a beautiful and delightful girlfriend, a lovely home in the heart of a large city, and a perfect home theater system.  He has plenty of golfing buddies.  His future looks good.  His goals are clear.  I love this man, and I pray that he’ll get to know Christ.  I’ve tried telling him the Good News, but how do you convince someone that he needs Jesus when he already has everything he wants?  What concerns me most is not that he wants too much, but that he doesn’t really want enough.  He settles for small corporeal pleasures, but doesn’t see that these things will end up letting him down.  Please pray for him, and for others you know like him, that his quest for satisfaction would culminate in the best place possible: with Jesus.

And let’s be the kind of people who turn to the Lord for our satisfaction and reflect his joy and glory in everything we do.

Satisfaction is God’s Design Part 3: Redemption

By

To find satisfaction, we must follow God’s example and receive his provision.  But that’s not enough.  Here’s a third reason for looking to the Lord for satisfaction

3.  In redeeming all things, God became wisdom.

God’s example and God’s empowerment are wonderful things, but they are not enough to satisfy us with wisdom.  If God merely demonstrated and disbursed wisdom, it would be bad news for sinful people; God’s example would crush us, and his empowerment would condemn us.  So he didn’t leave it there.

Instead, he became wisdom for us.  The eternal God entered the world as a man, Jesus Christ, and he did for us what we could not do for ourselves: find and keep wisdom.  He showed us wisdom, he gave us wisdom, and best of all, he became our wisdom (1 Cor 1:30).

Jesus lived without a trace of foolishness and should have been rewarded with long life, riches, honor, pleasantness, and peace.  However, consider what he got:

"At the cross I bow my knee" by Demi-Brooke (2009), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution License

Demi-Brooke (2009), Creative Commons

  1. Instead of gaining long life, he died a premature death in our place.
  2. Instead of keeping riches (a close relationship with God), he was abandoned on the cross by his heavenly father.
  3. Instead of receiving honor, he experienced great shame in the physical nakedness of his crucifixion and the spiritual darkness of his substitution when he became sin for us.
  4. Instead of finding pleasantness (a straight path to God), he was cut off from fellowship with the one he loved most.
  5. Instead of enjoying peace, he was attacked by God and men.

Yet in dying our death, he brought us life: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).  After God accepted Jesus’ sacrificial death on our behalf, he raised Jesus up:

  1. He came back from the dead, acquiring an indestructible life.
  2. His relationship with God (true riches) was restored, and he took his seat at God’s right hand.
  3. His shame gave way to unprecedented honor, for every knee will bow at his name.
  4. The pleasantness (unhindered straightness) of his way to God was restored.  And this restoration is not just for him, but also for all who love him.
  5. As was foretold at his birth, he brought glory to God in heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.

In short, Jesus lived wisely, and we could not; so he took our place.  Upon doing so, he suffered the consequences of our foolishness, so that we who are fools could reap the satisfying rewards of his wisdom.  Such is wisdom: Accept God’s rescue.

Satisfaction is God’s Design, Part 2: Provision

By

To find satisfaction, we must follow God’s example.  But that’s not enough.  Here’s a second reason for looking to the Lord for satisfaction.

2.  In enthroning mankind, God provided wisdom.

"Plug" by Rob Pongsajapan (2005), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution License

Rob Pongsajapan (2005), Creative Commons

At the end of God’s creating work, he gave humanity the authority to rule the world as his representatives: “Fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over…every living thing” (Gen 1:28).  They were to care for and protect God’s possessions with love and respect: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Gen 2:15).  When God entrusted people with this task, he did not leave them ill-equipped.  He gave them everything they needed: clear instructions (Gen 1:28, 2:16-17), nutrition (Gen 1:29-30), hydration (Gen 2:10-14), aesthetics (Gen 2:9: “every tree that is pleasant to the sight”), and life (Gen 2:7).  He even spelled out the consequences of failure so they’d know what to expect: “in the day that you eat of [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] you shall surely die” (Gen 2:17).  In short, he gave them both the knowledge of what to do, and the resources to carry it out.  He built wisdom right into the world so they could download it into their hearts.  Such is wisdom: Receive God’s help.

What does God’s empowerment have to do with satisfaction?  God’s gift to the wise is not only the strength to make wise choices, but also the satisfaction found in doing so.  (See Ecc 5:18-20.)  If you need strength to do what God wants you to do, you’ll have to seek God to get it.  He is the giver of instruction and ability.  Wisdom pushes us toward the Lord to receive his power for living.

Let’s say you have a history of unwise dating relationships.  You can’t resist a nice body or an attentive ear.  You get the attention you desire, but you desire more of it all the time.  Because you haven’t learned self-control and self-sacrifice, you can’t keep your lips or hands off your partner.  You feel guilty every time you cross the line, but you can see your resolve weakening.  You know what Jesus wants you to do.  You know what he would do in your place.  It’s just so hard to do it yourself.  What hope is there that you can find and keep wisdom, and be satisfied in doing so?

Know that if you trust in Jesus, his Spirit is within you.  He is at work in you to carry out his will.  He can make you more faithful and selfless than you thought possible.  His example might encourage you, but his indwelling power provides you with the strength to change.  Stop making excuses.  Ask him for help, and believe that he can give it.