Jump Start # 1882

Genesis 25:8 “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.”

We are staying with this same verse this week. The death of Abraham brought Isaac and Ishmael together to bury the grand patriarch of faith. Today, we focus upon that little expression layered in this sentence, “satisfied with life.”

Satisfaction. Abraham was satisfied with life. What a great statement that is. I wonder how many could say that about their life. Many feel like their life has been hard. Some may believe that they were cheated in life. Some, get to a certain age and they believe they have earned the right to be grumpy and sour. Abraham was satisfied.

Not everything in Abraham’s life was easy, nor will it be in your life. He had to leave a home and surroundings that brought him wealth and comfort. God called him to go to a land he had never been to before. He journeyed by faith. That wasn’t easy. There were times when he feared for his life. He didn’t do everything exactly as he should have, yet, with all of that, he was satisfied with life.

We get satisfied when our team wins, our kids do well, and our bellies are full. We look at our investments and if we have saved diligently, that brings satisfaction. Being with family brings satisfaction. For others, it’s marching through their bucket list. It is going places, and doing things that they always have dreamed of. I talked to a college student the other day. He had just finished his Masters degree. I asked if a PhD was next. The answer was a quick “No.” The student was tired of being a student. He was satisfied with his level of education.

Abraham was satisfied. Other words that we could attach here would be content, happy, peaceful, settled, calm, reflective, joyous and thankful. That stream of words is often missing from our hearts. We are rushed so fast, and are so busy, that the words that define us are: stressed, stretched, tired, in a hurry, behind, pressured, frustrated, consumed, defeated, discouraged, and depressed. Abraham was satisfied. How could Abraham be satisfied and we are not? We have more stuff and more gadgets and more technology than ever before. What did he have that we don’t? Why was he satisfied and we are not?

Hebrews 11 shows us something behind the scenes that helps us to understand Abraham’s satisfaction. The text says, “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise…for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Satisfaction—not in stuff, but through faith. It is by faith that he journeyed. It was by faith that he was looking for something that God had established. It was by faith that he believed in the promises that God had spoken to him.

I have known modern Abraham’s. They are people of faith. They walk with the Lord and their heart is at peace. One guy in particular I met long ago. He is no longer on this side of life. He was a simple person. He and his wife worked and worshipped together. He seemed bigger than life to the young preacher that I was at that time. He could tell stories and knew people that kept me amazed for hours. His life was rather plain. His house was ordinary. He and his wife never had any children. The jobs he worked at were nothing special. He was old when I first met him. But I saw a kindness in his heart and a satisfaction that was like Abraham. I learned from him that one doesn’t have to travel long and far to be satisfied. If you can’t be satisfied at home, then you won’t be satisfied anywhere else. I also saw in him that filling your life with stuff doesn’t make you satisfied. Our times have really missed that lesson. Our closets are bulging. Our garages are packed. We must rent storage sheds to keep all the stuff that we have. We keep getting more and more and we are less and less satisfied than my old friend, from long ago.

How can we be satisfied in his fast paced, ‘gimme’ gimmie,’ times that we live in? Abraham’s satisfaction, as well as ours, comes by faith. Knowing that God has forgiven you and can use you in His kingdom brings a contentment and peace to your heart. Realizing that all the stuff that surrounds us will someday be junk and that we are not defined by these things or the labels of our clothes or the size of our house, but by the largeness of our hearts. Satisfaction comes from knowing that we walk with the Lord. It comes from understanding that we can please God. That God smiles when He looks at us. I have that with my grandchildren. No words have to be said. Our eyes connect, and we smile at each other. Satisfaction.

Satisfaction comes from knowing that God wants me to be with Him. It comes from knowing that even in my bumbling way, God has a place for me in both His kingdom and in His Heaven. True satisfaction must be spiritually based. If our contentment comes from living in a house that we love, what happens when that house must be sold or we are placed in assisted living? There goes your satisfaction. If it comes from having done everything I wanted to do in life, what happens when there are no more things on my list to do? What happens when age, or health keeps me for finishing my list? Where is my satisfaction then?

What Abraham experienced is what Paul knew as well in the N.T. Satisfaction, along with joy, are not based upon your circumstances, but rather your choices and especially your walk with the Lord. This is why Paul in a Roman prison could tell others who were free to rejoice in the Lord. He was. He wasn’t sour, miserable or feeling cheated in life. He had the Lord and the Lord had him. He knew where he was headed.

Satisfied. Content. Calm. At peace. Happy. The world is looking for that, but it’s looking in the wrong places. It’s not in your next vacation. It’s not in a new house. It’s not getting out of the city. It’s found in Jesus Christ. Remember the great shepherd Psalm? It begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” Content. Satisfied. Even sitting at the table across from my enemies. Even traveling down those long dark valleys of the shadow of death. I shall not want.

Jesus tells us in the sermon on the mount to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. If that means sinless, perfect, we don’t have a chance. We sin. We can’t do what Jesus wants us to. However, if that means, complete, whole, lacking nothing, I shall not want, then we can. Be satisfied. Be content.

We sing “This world is not my home,” but we can sure act like it is. We can be so wrapped up here that we forget about the “there.” We can get so caught up with the right and left of politics that we forget God has an up and a down.

Satisfied. Old Abraham was satisfied with life. Such a person is ready to go. Not to die, but to be with the Lord. I expect ole’ Abraham talked with a gleam in his eyes. Satisfied people tend to do that. They are thankful. They see the good side of things. They are upbeat, positive and encouraging. An afternoon with Abraham would do us all wonders. The things we could learn. Turn off the TV. Go sit on the back porch. Listen to the birds and the wind blowing through the trees. Count your blessings. That’s not the same as taking inventory of your stuff. Blessings. Heaven sent. Not counted in dollar bills. You have a good family? Are you part of a good church? God has touched your life, answered your prayers, forgiven your sins, and opened doors of opportunity for you? Have people made an impact and a difference in your life? Count those blessings. It makes you thankful. It stirs things around until you are satisfied in your heart. It tends to make you worry less and become less bothered.

Satisfied with life. You don’t have to be old to find that. You find it through faith.

Roger