PROVERBS 27: THE JOY OF SATISFACTION

It’s a common occurrence for people to want something they don’t have. The entire advertising industry is built on this idea and on getting us to purchase what vendors want us to buy. But we can learn to be content and thankful for what we have, while trusting God for anything else we need or desire. God invites us to ask Him for whatever we want, but we are then to wait patiently for His will to be done.

We need to beware of lusting after anything we don’t have. I believe lust describes the feeling of wanting something so strongly that we have decided we cannot be happy without it. Lust often causes us to compromise our moral values, which is always a mistake that carries consequences we will not like.

First John 2:16 says, For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world (NIV). Satan uses these things—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and pride—to keep us dissatisfied, ever longing for more and more. We should learn to look at things and enjoy them without lusting after them.

Material goods are transitory. There are here today and gone tomorrow, but God is eternal and everlasting. He has placed eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and we should long for Him, not for things. There is nothing wrong with wanting things and asking God for them, but to say we cannot be happy without them is not a godly attitude and it will also steal our joy.