"I can't get no satisfaction..."

I have found there are seasons in life that I may "marinate" over a certain set of scriptures and keep coming back to it over weeks or months at a time.  Right now, it's Psalm 103.  Regardless of what I may be facing at the time, this passage seems to have some little nugget that hits home.

The little nugget that has been sitting with me lately is found in the first set of verses in the chapter:


Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.


He "satisfies our desires with good things."  

Desires are a gift from God.  Can you imagine life without any desires? I mean, life would be horribly boring.  We would be the most mundane, uninteresting people.  Desires push us forward.  The motivate us.  They inspire us.  We achieve and attain because of this thing called desire.  

However, we have all seen the flip side of desire.  When desire takes root and overrides reason or control, we see how destructive it can be.  Addictions, crimes, and many sins arise out of the result of desire gone wrong. 

Instead of God saying that we have to get rid of the desires that can lead to such things, He offers us an opportunity to actually fulfill them.  He is able to satisfy our desires with good things.  If you have ever encountered someone battling an addiction, you can see this process play out.  You don't overcome addiction with a list of "do's and don'ts."  Yes, there is a behavioral piece to the problem that needs to be addressed.  However, the way to achieve long-term success in being free is to find fulfillment in something outside of the addiction.  To answer the question:  "What need is being met within the addiction and how can that need be met somewhere else?"

That's what God does with us.  He doesn't ask that our desires be taken away from us.  He has created the desires.  They are from His hand.  It is our sin and brokenness that taint desire and turn it into something potentially harmful.  Our desires become destructive when we seek their fulfillment outside of God.  However, if we allow God to satisfy these desires, He is able to bring life and goodness.  Our fulfillment is found in Him and Him alone.  

Praise be to God, who doesn't ask that we lose our desires, but to find them met in Him.