God Really Satisfies

I woke up this morning to Larry's alarm at 5:15am....and my immediate reaction was to tell him just how I felt about his failure to turn it off for the weekend before he left. Ahhh, then I went back to sleep and didn't wake up until 8:00am! It was divine. Had my coffee and my weekend regular peanut butter and jelly toast, and then I crawled back into bed with my laptop and bible.
I mentioned in yesterday's post that my weekend plans included diving into a particular scripture that has been on my mind for some time now.

Psalms 81:6-16 has been my memory verse for the past two weeks. This verse has had much significance in my life since God first pointed me to it in 2001 (during a session with my therapist). At that time in my life, I was beyond struggling with bulimia: I was languishing in heart, soul, and mind. I was consumed not only with the ideal "thin" body, but with "filling up" my desires with all the food I could force into my stomach.
While I was at home for Christmas break during my third year in college, I met with a new therapist. God bless my parents.....I cannot imagine the turmoil they went through.....they were always trying to find a way to "fix" me.
During a meeting with this new counselor (which I wasn't exactly happy about), she prayed over me and I'm not kidding, y'all, I felt the weight of the world drop from my shoulders. As she prayed, I closed my eyes and saw typed words rolling across the front of my eyes. As the words typed out one by one (I'm guessing God just fancied using a typewriter at that moment....who knows?), I saw the scripture address: Psalms 81. I had no clue what this psalm said and to my knowledge I had never even read it -- but that's just how cool God is.
We (my therapist and I) immediately looked it up - and imagine my eyes popping out when I read, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." (psalms 81:10b)
Thus began my love for this passage. At that time, I began to seek God - but soon fell back into deadly habits. It was not until five years later that this verse began to flesh itself out in my life. On December 27, 2004 I submitted to God and started to believe that He really could and would satisfy my empty heart.
That's just a quick history on how I discovered these verses.
Interestingly enough, God has directed me back to these verses within the last month - and I know all too well why He chose to do so. With that in mind, I pray you will receive a blessing from my meditation on this scripture.

According to Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalms 81 (Blue Letter Bible, March 1996), "there is enough in God to fill our treasures (Proverbs 8:21), to replenish every hungry soul (Jeremiah 31:25), to supply all our wants, to answer all of our desires and to make us completely happy. The pleasures of sense will surfeit and never satisfy (Isaiah 55:2); divine pleasures will satisfy and never surfeit."
(In other words, the pleasures of the flesh will never be enough to meet the needs of our cavernous hearts.)

God is saying to us in this passage that He longs for us to LISTEN to Him - to understand that His ways for us are good. Everlasting delight and satisfaction are only found in Him.
I have been like the Israelites, bowing to idols and foreign gods; for many years, I worshipped my own selfish desires. I worshipped the covers of magazines; I bowed to the lust of my very own flesh....believing that this could somehow deliver me? satisfy me? No way! As God clearly says: "Idols/strange gods/foreign gods will only leave us longing for more, while He is the True God, the Living Water, the Bread of Life...willing and able to nourish our souls."

Another interesting element I pulled out of this psalm is that God declares, "I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the baskets." (v. 6)
According to Matthew Henry again, these "baskets" were pots the Israelites carried that were full of clay for brick-making. These pots had to be heavy and cumbersome, and yet the Israelites were forced by the Egyptians to carry these all day long to complete their tasks. But God is saying, "I delivered you; I took this burden from you! Can't you see that you don't have to do this any longer??"
In the same way, if I would take the time to truly know Him, to hear His voice and obey, I would realize the freedom Christ died to give me. I would enjoy the benefits of freedom...rather than picking up that clay pot of burdens before my feet hit the floor in the morning.
Here is a promise: "If my people would but listen to Me; if Israel would follow My ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes." (v. 13). Did you see that? He will halt our enemies; He will stop their attack, BUT we must first stop dead in our tracks, look UP to Him, acknowledge Him as our GOD; and basically CEASE to worship the false gods.
If we do this, God would feed us with the "finest of wheat" and "satisfy us with honey from the rock" (v. 16)
Just as the Israelites had a physical land of inheritance, we too have a spiritual "promised land". If we would live life "on our knees" in worship, then "there would not be a barren spot on the land of our inheritance" {Matthew Henry Commentary on Psalms 81; Blue Letter Bible, 1 March 1996}

I am totally jazzed by God's Word to me in these verses. Although I am no biblical scholar, I get excited when His Word falls fresh on my heart. I long to empty my hands of these darn clay pots, and to be satisfied with His unfailing love.

My prayer for all of us today:
Father God, my Redeemer Liveth!! You, who bought our freedom at a higher price than we can fathom, deserve all the glory in our lives. Cause our hearts to automatically look to YOU when we are hungry. And as we turn our eyes upon You - - may the things of earth grow strangely dim.
In the satisfying name of Jesus, AMEN.