Not Good Enough

In Psalms 37 David writes, "Delight yourself in YHWH; and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psa 37:4). Now, you get the point, right? If the desires of your heart are in the Lord, He will satisfy those desires. The Bible talks a lot about being satisfied with God. In Psalm 16 David writes, "You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psa 16:11). "Pleasures forevermore." We know with confidence "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Rom 8:32). Scripture makes it clear that we have every reason to count on God for our best interests and satisfaction.

So we know this and, on Sunday, we go to church and sing His praises. We thank Him for His goodness and praise Him for His grace and mercy. We even have a term for God: "Providence." Because God is our provider. But we often have a different message, don't we? You and I know it as "sin," but what is sin? We know Jesus is Lord, but sin says, "You're not the boss of me." We know that "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17), but sin says, "That's not enough." In the Old Testament, God referred to Israel's idolatry as adultery. Why? Because He was Israel's "husband" and she was His "wife," but she said, "You're not good enough; I need another, better husband." Thus, in the same way, every sin we commit is telling God, "You're not my boss" and "You're not good enough for me."

If we could keep that in mind, I think it would have to have an impact on our lives. The psalmist wrote, "I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You" (Psa 119:11). If we kept His goodness and authority foremost in our minds and found our greatest satisfaction in Him, perhaps we'd stop hunting around for satisfaction elsewhere. And if we recognized what we were saying to our beloved Savior when we sin, we'd be less willing to sin. I think that's a certainty.