Can’t Get No Satisfaction

I had been playing in a hockey game recently when I was hit with something during the game which seemed to take the “wind out of my sails” and left me feeling deflated. No, it wasn’t a puck, stick, or another player; just a feeling of emptiness in what I was doing; no satisfaction.

I finished the game, left the ice rink, took off my equipment, loaded my hockey bag, loaded all my stuff into my truck, and made the drive back to my home looking forward to taking a long shower to shake off this dissatisfaction.

All the way home, all I wanted to do when I got home was to throw my hockey gear in the washer, hang up my equipment to dry, and take a shower. It was my plan, when all was cleaned and dry, to pack all the equipment away back in my hockey bag and “hang my skates up for good”.

But, I argued with myself, this was not the way that I wanted to hang up my skates for good. Surely, I thought to myself, there must be one more game left in me; I was only in my fifty-fifth year of life!

Usually, I am excited (amped!) before and after I play hockey because I have a love and a passion for the sport that I enjoy no matter whether I am playing or watching; Yet, deep inside me, was such a feeling of dissatisfaction. And Cathy saw it on my face when I came home as I pulled deeper inside as I wondered to myself what was going on.

Simply put, I found no life in something that I thought would bring it. As Mick would say; “I can't get no, I can't get no, I can't get no satisfaction, no satisfaction, no satisfaction, no satisfaction.” (…Did I really just quote Mick?)

Have you found this to be true for your life? Of course you have, and so have I!  And yet, we will still try to get life out of things that really have no life. We search for satisfaction in our jobs, hobbies, vacations, food, sex, porn, sports, etc. and we still come up feeling not satisfied.

Why? I believe it is because we have tried to dig our own wells instead of going to God. The prophet Jeremiah wrote it this way:

“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)

But, instead of paying attention to the dissatisfaction, we press on believing that our performance, victories, accomplishments, and steps up the ladder of success will bring us satisfaction as we still try to dig our own wells.

We are driven, pulled by inner urges; yet never satisfied. We get the ‘prize’ yet we are no happier than we were before. This is true for those who know Christ as well as those who don’t.

And while we are chasing satisfaction; a still small voice is crying out for us to come to Him to find our satisfaction. Jesus said:

“Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

“… If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” (John 7:37)

“…I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”. (John 10:10b)

My advice to you who are reading this and find yourself so dissatisfied with all you are doing is: STOP! Leave left the ice rink, take off your equipment, load up your bags, go home, take a long shower as you call out to the only One who can bring you life and satisfaction.

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; and you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come; buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live;” (Isaiah 55:1-3a)

"Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."