Why do so many people seem so unhappy? - Satisfaction - TouchPoints

Ecclesiastes 1:8No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-15What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

When we mistake happiness as a destination or permanent state rather than an occasional experience during life in our broken world, we are bound to become deeply dissatisfied. This side of eternity, happiness can be pursued but never finally possessed, experienced in passing but not permanently. It is best for us to simply be deeply grateful for the happiness God does graciously provide along the way.

John 4:14“But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

Long distance runners experience two distinct levels of thirst. The first is a conscious need to stay hydrated, which is not always accompanied by the feeling of thirst. They know they must keep drinking even when they don’t yet feel like they need to drink. But if they wait until they have become dehydrated, even drinking liquids will not help them enough to allow them to continue to run. The internal well of living water Jesus offers is a constant supply of spiritual hydration we dare not ignore or go without.

Psalm 63:1, 5O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. . . . You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy.

Isaiah 55:2Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.

Too many people try to meet their deepest needs in ways that just don’t satisfy. Sometimes when you’re hungry, the worst thing you can do is eat the wrong thing. For example, if you haven’t eaten in a while and you quickly gobble down three donuts, you’ll be satisfied for only a few minutes until you start to shake from the sugar rush. The same principle applies to satisfying the hungry soul. Fill it with only fun and pleasure and sin and you’ll always be craving more and never getting enough. Your soul will get the “shakes.” Without taking nourishment from God’s spiritual food you will never feel satisfied and always wonder what is wrong with your life.