Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 13:12

Anyone familiar with me through friendship, teaching, counseling or my books, knows my experience of God has always been measured by how He satisfies my heart.

I learned early on that God doesn’t provide a charmed, perfect life. He does offer, through friendship and fatherhood, everything my heart needs. He doesn’t promise to remove every enemy, but he does set a table before me even in their presence. God and His love are undaunted, faithful, able. Knowing God is the feast.

My confidence in God’s ability to satisfy my heart arose from reading Psalms and Proverbs for each morning’s devotions. The language of this truth is imprinted on every page.

Consider a few excerpts from Psalms 62 and 63:

First, an instruction to oneself and others:

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him….Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

Psalm 62:5, 8

Being satisfied by God requires two things. First, one must believe that he can and will satisfy the heart.

Two, bringing every need of the heart to him, offering him the opportunity to do so.

The last one begins when you stop turning to other things or people to meet these needs. When instead, you turn your face to the Father in trust. Give the Lord first chance to satisfy your heart.

The needs I speak of are more difficult to fill than needing rent money or a new job. The needs I have taken to my Father are:

• The need to be satisfied in longing for justice when treated unjustly.
• To be understood when I have been misunderstood.
• To be heard when no one else is listening.
• To find rest for my heart in a storm of unruly emotions.
• To have fullness of heart while waiting for God or others to come with what has been promised.
• To feel valued and cherished; to know I matter to someone.

My soul finds rest in God alone.

David’s words teach us the greatest lesson: that cultivating a longing for God himself is the sure path to a heart that is alive and satisfied:

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water….I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

Psalm 63:1-5

In the deepest places where there aren’t even words to describe my need, God pours his life into my cup.

As a daughter of Eve I have learned from her mistake.

Now, my goal is to never run to the tree of knowledge of good and evil to satisfy myself.

And I refuse to listen to the devil’s lies. Lies such as, that God may be holding out on me. Or that he is unwilling to give me His best for some reason, or unable to keep His word.

I learned from the beginning that God can, and will, love me better than I can love myself.

Jesus Christ is my tree of life, and his fruit is never deceptive. It never looks good in the hand and disappoints in the mouth. Though the opposite may be true at times, at first glance. His way can look disappointing to the eye, but taste like heaven once you try it.

Beloved, may the Lord satisfy your heart in every way. May He set you free of the neediness that makes you a beggar in body, soul or spirit.

May the expectation of God’s desires overtake every fear or false religious notion about God’s motives and responses to you.

May the Spirit stir deeper hunger in you for the Lord — whose love tastes better than the richest chocolate cheesecake!

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