“It never works to look for spiritual heart satisfaction in physical things.” – Paul David Tripp, Awe
The physical world is amazing, filled with beautiful landscapes and beautiful people. Such beauty is to be appreciated, but it isn’t to be the end in itself. Beauty in others—objects and people—should always prompt a sense of wonder and awe for the One who created them and gave them as gifts to his image bearers.
Of course they don’t. I’ll be the first to admit that I sometimes exchange the gifts for the Giver. I look for “spiritual heart satisfaction” in things that cannot satisfy. They simply can’t. They aren’t capable of it; they were never designed for it. They crumble beneath the weight of my demands, my neediness. They are gifts, not God.
Jesus speaks of this truth a number of times in the New Testament. A compelling one occurs in the latter portion of Matthew; Jesus says, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:25-6, NASB)
In earlier passages, Jesus gives the same message, adding, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37, NASB) He addresses physical things, too: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24, NASB)
Is Jesus saying that these people and things are bad? Not at all. He’s addressing my heart issues and saying that gifts cannot be substituted for the place God alone should have. God must be at the center of all things, informing all things. He gives indestructible and undefeatable soul satisfaction.
Job knows this, as does Paul. Both men face the loss of everything; both men praise God for who he is. They consider knowing Jesus to be of far “surpassing value” (Philippians 3:7-8, NASB) and everything else as rubbish.
David, too, lives in light of this truth. He speaks often of the steadiness of the man who trusts in the Lord. For example: “When I am afraid, / I will put my trust in You. / In God, whose word I praise, / In God I have put my trust; / I shall not be afraid. / What can mere man do to me?” (Psalm 56:3-4, NASB)
He follows those words with some of my favorite ones found in Psalm 73.
Who have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. […]
But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have mad the Lord God my refuge,
That I may tell of all Your works. (Psalm 73:25-6, 28)
David, like Job and Paul, has discovered the truth: soul satisfaction, spiritual heart satisfaction is found in no one but God. Physical things fall apart; physical things and people disappoint. There is only One who never disappoints and never falls apart, and that person is God. He is the One who causes me to live and move and have my being.
I’ll forget this truth; it’s not without reason that Paul David Tripp says people have an “awe amnesia” problem. For this moment, however, I remember. I proclaim the truth that spiritual heart satisfaction is not and never will be found in physical things. It’s only found in God, the One who made me, loves me, and upholds all things.
Image: Oliver Clarke (Creative Commons)