Satisfied
Matthew 14:20a “They all ate and were satisfied.”
How often in your life are you satisfied? I don’t just mean reasonably happy with things, but totally content and satisfied with everything you have? This is perhaps an indicting or even embarrassing conversation.
If the thoughts of our mind and the intentions of our heart were laid out for everyone to see they would likely reveal how often we see what others have and are jealous, perhaps even spiteful of what they have and we don’t. Such an open book display might show that we struggle being happy with the place we are in life. Do you ever find yourself grumbling about the food you eat, the place you live, the way you look or other blessings or perceived lack of blessings in your life?
Our verse for this week comes from a rather well-known New Testament story – Jesus feeding 5000 men and their families (likely nearly 20,000 people) with 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish. So often the only miracle we focus on in this story is how Jesus multiplied a small amount of food and fed a huge crowd. There is another miracle in this story which can often be overlooked – it is described in our verse for this week. Jesus didn’t just provide enough food for everyone to have a token participation in the miracle. He provided so much food that everyone got enough food to be satisfied and Jesus’ disciples filled 12 baskets with the leftovers.
The story narrative contains no description of people complaining that they didn’t like what was on the menu or wishing that Jesus would have had their favorite dessert. Let’s not overlook the simple truth of our verse for this week – “They all ate and were satisfied.”.
Have you ever observed a situation in our world today and it led you to think or remark something like this “How blessed we are and how easily we forget it.”? I will tell you that I think and speak exactly like that each time I return from a field visit to our Jesus Cares work in Malawi, Africa. When I see people who have very meager physical possessions and have much the same thing to eat just about every meal and only have meat to eat a few times a month, I am struck with how satisfied they are with so little and how blessed we are in abundance.
Do you ever find your prayers containing a number of requests which ask God to give you this or that physical blessing? By contrast – when was the last time you asked God to help you be content with every aspect of your life and forgive your jealousy, envy or covetousness?
There is no denying that it is a monumental task to be content and satisfied in our society which bombards us with one thought after another of “you need this” or “you deserve the best”. Add to that our own human inclination to have more or “keep up with the Joneses” and we begin to see how the devil lays one trap after another to undermine our satisfaction or contentment.
This whole subject is one of those temptations which no one likes to talk about because we’ve been so conditioned and even persuaded to believe that it’s ok to constantly want for more. Let’s learn a lesson from the thousands of people who were the beneficiaries of the miracle which is the backdrop for our verse for this week and ask God to help us be satisfied with things exactly as they are.