Nothing Can Satisfy Without God

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul (Lamentations 3:24).      

Why do the things of this world fail to satisfy the soul?  Last Thursday we looked at Thomas Watson’s brilliant answer to that question.  He said, “Earthly things are transitory and not adapted to the soul.”  As a result, no amount of the world’s pleasures and riches can make people happy.  All of the Puritans affirmed the same thing.  By their very nature, the things of this world lack what the soul needs.  Another Puritan, Thomas Brooks, put it very well: “ Our God is a suitable portion.  No object is as suitable to the heart as he is.  He is a portion that is exactly suited to the condition of the soul in its desires, needs, wants, longings and prayers.  All the soul needs is found in God.  There is light to enlighten the soul, wisdom to counsel the soul, power to support the soul, mercy to pardon the soul, and fullness to fill the soul.  Health is not more suitable to a sick man, bread to a hungry man, and pardon to a condemned man, than this portion is to all the needs of man.  No earthly portion can suite an immortal soul.  Nothing can satisfy the soul without God.”  The highest good is that which is the most suited to do good to the soul.  I have been continually quoting from some of my favorite Puritans to give you a taste of their teaching.  I hope this will stir up in you a desire for more.