Over the summer, my job responsibilities changed. I have spent the last few months learning the new job, trying to figure out what it entails, and determining how to balance each week. This week I finally managed to create a workable plan for walking through each week.
Now I just have to decide to follow it.
Isn’t that the way it goes so often? We have a plan. We have a solution to every problem. But following through with the plan and solution is another matter entirely. We fail, not because we do not have the ability to succeed, but because we do not make the choice to succeed.
I made my work plan on Tuesday. But as I sat down at my desk on Wednesday, I had to decide whether or not I was going to stick with the plan. So many things tugged at my mind and tried to attract my attention. Could I truly focus on what was right before me, despite the seeming urgency of everything else?
The same thing happens to us spiritually.
I love Psalm 90:14.
O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
God’s lovingkindness is overwhelming, isn’t it? It is powerful. It is strong. And it is completely satisfactory!
But, just because we have God’s lovingkindness does not automatically mean we are going to be satisfied by it. Just as I had to actively choose to adopt my new work flow, so we have to choose to be satisfied by the lovingkindness of our Lord and Savior.
So, what does it take to be satisfied by His lovingkindness in the morning?
First, we must make a mental choice to be satisfied by the things of God.
So many things vie for our attention. They creep in and say, “Be satisfied with me!” Some of them are good: family, friends, work, ministry. But they are not enough to satisfy. They are simply tools by which God allows us to experience satisfaction in Him. When we lay upon them the responsibility of our satisfaction, we will always be disappointed.
We must determine that we will be satisfied by the lovingkindness of God alone, recognizing that He might show that through our relationships with our families, fulfillment in the jobs He has set before us, or opportunities of ministry that He creates.
Secondly, we must consider our hearts.
Satisfaction cannot simply be a mental checklist of acceptable actions. It must also extend into the heart where contentment lies. Satisfaction in the lovingkindness of God means that, even if no one else were to ever love us, we would be content in the love of Christ.
Can our hearts choose to receive what Christ has to offer? Can we choose to allow that to be enough? Satisfactory?
God woos us. God calls us. God draws us in. But on a daily basis, we have a choice. We can choose to follow the plan He has created for us, or we can choose to follow the other things that vie for our attention.
May we be diligent to make the only satisfactory choice.
Not Quite Ordinary 