Is Your Soul Satisfied

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast. Our show, Stories of Hopelessness, Turned into Hope. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

Today, after Black Friday, did you get what you wanted? Is your soul satisfied? It may seem a little funny to put it that way, but actually, we need to go there. You know, sometimes old Southern preachers used to say, now I've got to quit now, I've quit preaching, and I've gone to meddling. So James, I'll let you do the heavy lifting now that I've already started meddling.

I see. But no, it really is a great question. Is your soul satisfied? Because isn't it true that we spend a lot of time trying to stuff things into our souls? I mean, things. I was talking to a friend the other day who told me that he and his wife had to relearn their habit of going to Amazon whenever they were a little dissatisfied with life, you know, because it really didn't help. And we've all been there, haven't we? Even the concept of Thanksgiving, the holiday we just celebrated, it's something that can be easily misapplied. What do you mean, oh, meddler-in-chief?

Thanks a lot. You're on a roll today. I mean, honestly, what I mean is that sometimes when you hear people talk about Thanksgiving, it can sound so vague and general. You know, you can't really have Thanksgiving without someone that you are truly thankful to. I'm not talking about those we are thankful for, but rather, where are our thanks going? We can only give thanks to someone who has done something for us, someone to whom we are grateful. So, you know, I can't say that I'm thankful to the universe. That's like saying I'm thankful to a tree or a rock. The universe doesn't care.

It's inanimate. Oh, I see what you mean. Thanksgiving doesn't work without God, in other words, because, you know, there's no one to receive the sentiment.

Yeah, exactly. And that's the way it's always been intended. We are to be thankful to God. When George Washington issued the Thanksgiving Proclamation, the very first one on October 3rd, 1789, designating Thursday, November 26th of that year as a holiday—I'm sorry, I'm going to get in the weeds here for a minute—but he recommended that that day be devoted to, quote, the great and glorious being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, a day for, again, quote, humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and ruler of nations, and to beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions. So it's a day of prayer, actually. And you see that again when Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving Day in perpetuity. I mean, that wasn't until October 3rd, 1863, in the middle of the Civil War. And he wrote that it was a day of prayer to our beneficent father, same wording. And it's, by the way, on the same day, just, you know, so many years later, October 3rd. But it's a day of prayer to our beneficent father, who dwelleth in the heavens. And Lincoln made it a day of prayer for the ending of the Civil War, and also of humble penitence for what he called our, quote, unquote, national perverseness.

Wow, national perverseness. So I guess let's keep going in this direction of soul satisfaction, because, you know, no one can help us. I mean, no one can satisfy our souls and change us from the inside out, like Jesus can. Robert Chisholm Yeah, that's a great way to put it.

I mean, that's the truth in a nutshell. But the danger is, it can only sound like so many words, you know, unless we've been putting them into practice. We have to go to him. And this week, I've been thinking a lot about 1 Thessalonians 5 18. It says, Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. And I found myself asking, can I really do that seriously? Am I mature enough in my faith so that I can thank God, no matter what? And I realized, man, I really have to practice this.

Yeah, we really all do, don't we? I, I thanked God for anything that I could think of, as I kept going through the day. And by the time I got to the end of the day, my soul really was more satisfied. I was genuinely happy. But I still realized I had a ways to go. Darrell Bock So it was a day without too much difficulty. But even then, you got distracted, right? I know what that's like.

Robert Chisholm Yeah. I mean, what I realized was that I was thanking God for a lot of things and relationships, good things that were happening that day, material blessings, people that I love, that's all good. It's wonderful, in fact. But I think that, again, that verse from scripture can be easily misinterpreted. We can think that what it says is give thanks for all circumstances.

And that may work when things are going well. But when they're not, we have to go deeper to that, which we can always be thankful for. Darrell Bock Oh, I think I see where you're going with this.

Robert Chisholm Yeah, that's just it. I mean, the only thing I can really be thankful for in every circumstance is God's love for me in Jesus. And that's where I think Paul is going when he says that giving thanks is God's will for us. You know, it's a little like Job when he said the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. The Lord's name is always blessed. He's always worthy of our thanks, just for who he is, and for what he has already done for us. And that is what, you know, scripture calls our riches in Christ Jesus, we can never come to the end of those. And this is so important, because when things are not going well in our lives, if we realize we have those riches, it's so much better. So you know, I'm coming to this understanding, what I need to do is run my fingers through those riches, all that he is, you know, not the stuff on Amazon, or the, you know, just the immediate stuff around me, I need to get to that place, or I'm just always so thankful for him. And, you know, the everlasting stuff, if you will, of who he is, that can satisfy my soul. Darrell Bock Oh, that is so true. So what happened after you started working on that?

Dr. Michael Smith Well, that's the funny thing. If the truth be told, as soon as I started just trying to thank God for who he is, and really going there more and more, the devil just unloaded on me and my wife both. You know, we went through this challenging circumstance, one of those, you know, holiday time, brouhaha type things that distracted us for a few days.

And we began to realize, man, this really is a spiritual attack. Darrell Bock Boy, let's pray. Oh, Lord, thank you for Thanksgiving, and for the challenges that relationships bring to that, that we might truly realize our relationship with you is challenged, and that we desperately need your help in helping us to pray, not only without ceasing, but truly in your presence. Help us to see that, be thankful for you, that we can really get there. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Announcer You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.