The Key to the Good Things In Life, Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, December 29th. So many things are advertised as the path to happiness, but they can't provide lasting fulfillment. Learn about true contentment in part one of The Key to the Good Things in Life. You ask the average person now, what are the good things in life? And they're going to answer by what they think would make them happy.

When what they think would make them happy may not make them happy at all. The good things in life are not those things that simply make us happy. Here are the good things.

When he says that he will not withhold any good thing from those who seek him, who love him, who trust him. Listen, the good things in life are all those things that fit into God's purpose and God's plan for our life. All of those things that fit into God's purpose and God's plan for life, they're the good things.

You say, but now wait a minute, like what, for example? It could be prosperity. It could be great wealth.

It could be good health, opportunities, abilities, talents. It could be many good things, but it could also be troubles, heartaches, trials, periods of being in need. You say, but wait a minute now, you mean to tell me that hardship, trial, tribulation, troubles, these are good things?

Yes, they are. You see, here's the problem. You and I judge good things by the way they affect us at the time. We don't see from God's perspective. And I can look back over the years of my life and tell you that some of the best things that God ever sent into my life were the things that caused me the most pain, the most heartache, the most suffering, the most difficulty and the most trying moments.

At that time, if you had told me that's a good thing, I'd have said, man, you're out of your mind. At that time, I would have thought, God, you need to redefine what good is because when it is painful, when it is difficult, when it causes suffering and hardship, there is no way for us to think in terms of it being a good thing. But God's good things are not limited to what makes me happy, what makes me feel good. God's good things are all those things that fit into the category of what? Those things that fit into God's purpose and God's will for our life.

Listen, if it fits into God's purpose and His will for your life and mine, it is a good thing. So we talk about the good things in life, here's what falls in that category. All those things that fit into God's purpose and God's plan for your life and my life, they're the good things. You know what He says? He says, when you and I are seeking Him, we're not going to miss any of them.

Now, what is the key to having these good things in life? Well, I want you to look at this verse. Look in verse 9. He says, O fear the Lord, you His saints, for to those who fear Him, there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord, they shall not be in want of any good thing.

Now, what is the key to all of this? Look, if you will, in verse 10 when it says the young lions do lack and suffer hunger. Now, a lion of all the beasts of the field will be the one least likely to suffer hunger because the young lion is so swift and can run so low, so fast and so silently. He says, even the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord won't know good thing.

And of course, one of the interpretation of that is that young lions would be like people who are very powerful and very wealthy, who can do and achieve and purchase and buy most anything they want. He says, even they will lack and suffer hunger. You and I may know people who have everything money can buy, but they're lonely and they're empty. They have no sense of direction, no driving purpose in their life that satisfies them or fulfills them. And oftentimes they have no one with whom they can enjoy and share what they have. Those folks aren't happy.

They aren't contented. They give away half, two-thirds most of what they have or maybe all of it just to be able to experience some of the contentment and the joy and fulfillment and peace that we have as believers. So, he says, even the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord, he says, shall not want any good thing.

Now, what is the key? Verse 9 says, those who fear him, there's no want. Verse 10 says, those who seek him shall not want any good thing. Now, listen, to fear the Lord is to reverence him.

And that is the foundation of our relationship to him. That is a reverence for God is God. And on the basis of that reverence, we begin to seek him.

Here is the key to the good things in life and the best things in life. And that is seeking the Lord, not seeking what God has to give. That is but seeking the Lord. And there are many verses that relate to that.

And some of which say, you know, seek the Lord seeking his face. Now, most of us, we think in terms of seeking God, come to him with both hands open. And we want this and we want that and we want this and we want that. We have this need and that need and God this need and that need. And so we come with a, listen, not open hands, but a basket, empty basket.

God, here are my needs for the day. And oftentimes, what we want is not God. Now, listen, if many people could get it some other way, they wouldn't even bother him.

If some people could get it some other way, they wouldn't even bother him. And that is the very reason that many people never come to him because they feel no dependence upon him. They seek things. This world is in pursuit of power and prosperity and position and prestige and acceptance and love and all the other things in life. But you see, when you and I begin to seek the Lord, God gives us some very wonderful promises. And there are a lot of people who are seeking a lot of things. And it's amazing to me that when they get them, that people have the idea, well, if I can really accomplish this, my heart's going to be satisfied. And you know what happens? They get it and they wake up to this startling realization.

They're just as empty as they were before they ever got it. You see, every single one of us is different in a million different ways. But every single one of us is exactly alike in this point. The only thing that satisfies the human heart is Jesus Christ. Friend, you can travel the world over. You can have anything and everything in the world you want physically, materially, relationally. And without him, you're going to come up to a startling emptiness, a shocking disappointment. It's not there.

There isn't anything out there that can satisfy this. This is why he says, they that seek the Lord. Now listen, what does it mean to seek him? To seek the Lord means that you and I will desire him. That is, we desire to know him.

To seek the Lord means to hunger and to thirst after him. That is, no matter what's going on on the inside of us, there is more and we know that there's more. We hunger and thirst after a deeper relationship with him. We long for an intimacy with him. There's something inside of us, while it is fully satisfied, is absolutely dissatisfied.

And while it appears to be a contradiction, it is no contradiction at all. Because the more of Jesus Christ you experience, the more of him you want. And so there is a seeking after the person of Christ, not what he has to give.

You see, here's the key to the good things in life. All these good things in life become ours as a result of seeking him. Look, if you will, in Psalm 42. Here's the expression of a man who sought the Lord, sought him diligently, sought him continually, as he says, sought his strength. And he describes that in Psalm 42 in a beautiful way when he says, As the deer pants for the water brook.

Now, if you'll think about that, he's breathing hard in his tongues hanging out. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Do you have a real thirst to know him?

You see, here's the problem. Most people have grown up in churches where to be a Christian is to be saved. Read your Bible, pray, go to church, give, share your faith, and be good.

The real Christian life is a daily walk of the fullness of the Spirit, where you and I have a hunger and thirst and yearning for him that we can say with David, Oh God, my soul yearns to know you. I'm not satisfied knowing so little about you. I want an intimacy.

I want a relationship. My soul is crying out to you, dear God. That's what David was saying. Look, if you will, in Psalm 143. Psalm 143 says it a little differently. Here again, David says, and you can, of course, read this all through the Psalms. Verse six, I stretch out my hands to thee. My soul longs for thee as a parched land.

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever had what we call a dry period in your life where, you know, not too interested in reading the Bible, you read it and nothing happens and you pray and your prayers ricochet off the ceiling, over to the walls and back down to the floor and you think I'm not getting anywhere and you hear somebody else talk about what God's doing in their life and you think, well, and you go to church and you listen and no matter how excited everybody else is, you just sort of sit there and think, those dry times. That is when you feel like your soul is like a desert parched land.

What do you do in those times? Well, my friend, the tragedy is that some of you would have to say, I didn't know there was any other way because your heart has been so parched and your soul, you felt so deserted for so long because you've been walking in the spiritual desert. My friend, the Bible says if you and I will seek him, he will reign upon us. He will reign upon us. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 26. Isaiah chapter 26, listen to what he says in this passage. Verse 9, listen, at night, listen to this, at night, my soul longs for thee. Indeed, my spirit within me seeks thee diligently.

It just keeps on. You see, the Christian life is more than just activities. The Christian life is a relationship.

The Christian life is intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me just share a little something that happened to me last Monday morning. I woke up and I just lay there for a few moments and I knew something was going on in my spirit. And oftentimes I have awakened, as the psalmist says, and cried out to God. Oftentimes maybe something burdening me, something in my heart, something that I longed for God to do.

But somehow last Monday morning, it wasn't any of that. And it struck me that as I lay there and just let God speak to my heart, it was like the Lord was just affirming me. He knows my heart. He knows my desire. He knows my hunger and thirst after Him. And all of these years, my yearning to know the Lord. Never have I had such a beautiful, quiet, overwhelming affirmation as if God were just saying to me, I know your heart. You don't have to prove anything to me. You don't have to do a thing. Just let me love you. How long that lasted?

Probably half an hour or so. And I did not tell you that to say you ought to have that experience, but simply to say this. How could God be more loving and more gracious? What else could God have done to have spoken such an affirmation to me as to awaken me in the middle of the night to simply tell me that I love you, and I know your heart, and I'm pleased, and you don't have to prove anything.

Just keep doing what you're doing. Friend, you can't name anything that God could have given me to match that in life. Not that I'm perfect. God knows my frailties, my weaknesses. I'm simply saying this, when you and I seek the Lord, God does not turn a deaf ear. And when you're sleeping at night and you think nothing's going on, I'm here to tell you, heaven, the motors are moving. God's up to something. He's doing something all the time because you see there's no night up there. The wisest way to go to sleep at night is thinking about Christ. And you can't plan to wake up and have God say something. You can't plan to wake up and have your spirit crying out to God.

You know what it is when I think about it. It's those beautiful, unplanned, non-controllable, indescribable, quiet, loving, overwhelming visitations from Christ that are indescribable. And I only say that to say this, God loves you a whole lot more than you realize He does. And He's so willing to fellowship with you and to love you and to provide for you everything your heart needs and many desires of your heart. A number of years ago, I was seated on the first row right here and somebody else was preaching. And I don't even know what he was saying, but at some point in that sermon, the Spirit of God spoke to my heart so clearly and said to me, give me your whole life and you'll never want for anything.

Another thing He said, I sat there absolutely overwhelmed, but you know what? He's made every one of us that promise. Give me your whole life and you won't want for anything.

That's good for you. God is so willing. But first of all, I've got to want Him if I never get anything else in life. And I can tell you, my friend, if you will set your heart to seek the Lord, you'll not want anything. You say, well, now, no, here's what will happen. When you start wanting something that doesn't fit into God's plan and purpose for your life, you know what He'll do? He'll cancel it out. And that is all of a sudden you think, I don't need that.

I don't really want that. Or God will show you that doesn't fit into His plan. You could not have a greater goal in life than this, to set your mind, as the Scripture says, to seek the Lord all the days of your life. And then let Him decide what He wants to do.

And you know what? When He decides it, you don't ever have to worry about if He's going to come up short. You don't ever have to worry about if He's going to do the wrong thing.

He's always going to do the right thing, and He's never going to come up short. Sometimes to want to be in need is very, very good. So I want to ask you this question. If God gave you a sheet of paper and He said to you, list any three things in the order in which you want them, I will grant them immediately. What would they be? And in what order would you write them? If you will do that and be deadly honest with yourself, you will know in your own heart if you're seeking God or if you're seeking something else.

I challenge you to try that. Be honest. Not now, but before you came to church today, what was it you were really seeking? Would it have been, Lord, to know you, to follow you, to obey you, to love you, to adore you, to build an intimate relationship with you?

Would that have been number one? I hope so. You'll never have a greater goal in life than to seek Him. Thank you for listening to The Key to the Good Things in Life. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.