“Satisfied with My goodness” . . . that’s the phrase I chewed on this morning. Here are some thoughts that were captured from my New King James days.
So, a follow up thought to yesterday’s “Living Water” musings. Jeremiah 30 and 31 continue to be relatively “upbeat” as they center on God’s determination to restore Israel and Judah. And as I read about what God has in store for His ancient people, I can’t help but apply it as an insight to God’s heart and determination for those of us who are no longer “excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” but “now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:12-13).
This morning it’s a word that twice appears the NKJV that grabs my eye. The word is “satiate.” It’s not used in the NIV or NASB and apart from one other place in Jeremiah, it’s Greek root is not translated “satiate” anywhere else in Scriptures. The Greek word is ravah . . . and is found 14 times in the Old Testament. Words used in the NKJV to translate it are satisfied, watered, filled, drenched, bathed, soaked, satiated . . . and in a few instances it is translated “drink” . . . “take your fill” . . . and “be made drunk.” So you can see the theme and get the overall meaning . . . the idea of pouring it on . . . taking it in until there’s no room to take more in . . . and be absolutely filled and satisfied.
And so, through Jeremiah, the Lord promises concerning these worn and torn exiles:
“. . . their souls shall be like a well-watered garden
and they shall sorrow no more at all.
I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance
and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness.
For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
(Jeremiah 31:12b, 14, 25 NKJV)
God can make the soul like a well-watered garden . . . God can fill to overflowing with abundance out of His goodness . . . God can water to complete replenishing the dry, parched ground of the inner man. And not only can God do that . . . it’s His desire to do that for His people. And it’s not about what’s happening on the outside, but about what’s going down on the inside. Satiating of the soul isn’t necessarily accomplished by making everything right in our worlds (although it might help) . . . but it’s about filling us up on the inside to the point where we are overflowing and what’s going on in the soul pours out on what’s going on around us.
And God’s “watering can” is the Holy Spirit, isn’t it? Isn’t that the living water Jesus promised to the woman at the well? “Sir, give me this water,” she says to Jesus, “that I may not thirst” (John 4:15). “Fill ‘er up,” she says to the Savior. And Jesus says, “I’m all over it (not really, Pete’s paraphrase) . . . but first go, call your husband, and come here” (4:16). He offers the satiating, living water of the Holy Spirit to those who know their need and come to Him to meet that need. “Chicken Soup” isn’t going to satisfy my soul . . . I need Living Water to be poured out to overflowing. And I need to believe that God wants to satiate . . . that God is able to satiate. And so, I to come to Him, in all my brokenness and need, and receive the water that is able to satiate my soul.
Father, thank You that you desire to replenish the soul. My desire is to keep cleared away the sin which so easily clogs things up and “besets us” (Heb. 12:1 KJV) and to drink deep of the satiating water You offer.
Fill ‘er up . . .
By Your grace. For Your glory.
Amen.
Here’s a link to a 2009 song that I posted back then — a blast from my past and worth listening to again. Click here to listen to Fill My Cup
