Scripture
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. (Proverbs 14:14)
Observation
There exists within people (potentially) an internal source of satisfaction. This godly self-satisfaction comes from being a good person. The Amplified Bible translates this text this way:
Application (Personal)
How will I be satisfied within myself, how will I know whether I’m good or not? I need to first understand what I’ve been created for and what my calling is from God. Once I understand my life-goal, then whatever distracts, diminishes, or destroys that movement is dis-satisfying. It’s sin. Apparently Susanna Wesley (mother of John and Charles), gave her children this definition of sin as a means of judging the appropriateness or inappropriateness of various pleasures and activities:
Application (Psychological)
August Wilson, in his play “Gem of the Ocean,” explores the theme from the lives of oppressed African-Americans in the early twentieth century. He has Black Mary say (p. 73):
Aunt Esther, earlier in the play, explains it this way (p. 46):
Prayer
“And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake” (2 Samuel 5:12). Lord, in a similar way, you have graced me with a kingdom—not as the head of a nation, but as an influencer of the people around me. You have given me a domain of time and a space within a section of human history. Like so many kings of old, I get to choose the quality and influence of my life. Lord, help me to accurately discern your call and plan for me that I may fully cooperate with you, my Creator, Redeemer, and Good Shepherd.
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. (Proverbs 14:14)
Observation
There exists within people (potentially) an internal source of satisfaction. This godly self-satisfaction comes from being a good person. The Amplified Bible translates this text this way:
“The backslider in heart [from God and God-fearing] shall be filled with [the fruit of] his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied with himself [with the holy thoughts and actions which his heart prompts, and in which he delights].”
Application (Personal)
How will I be satisfied within myself, how will I know whether I’m good or not? I need to first understand what I’ve been created for and what my calling is from God. Once I understand my life-goal, then whatever distracts, diminishes, or destroys that movement is dis-satisfying. It’s sin. Apparently Susanna Wesley (mother of John and Charles), gave her children this definition of sin as a means of judging the appropriateness or inappropriateness of various pleasures and activities:
“Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sight of God, takes from you your thirst for spiritual things or increases the authority of your body over your mind, then that thing to you is evil. By this test you may detect evil no matter how subtly or how plausibly temptation may be presented to you.”
Application (Psychological)
August Wilson, in his play “Gem of the Ocean,” explores the theme from the lives of oppressed African-Americans in the early twentieth century. He has Black Mary say (p. 73):
“You got to be right within yourself, before you can be right with anyone else.”
Aunt Esther, earlier in the play, explains it this way (p. 46):
“The people will come and tell you anything. They got all kinds of problems. They tell you this and they tell you that. You’ll come to find out most of the time they looking for love. Love will go a long way toward making you right with yourself. They looking for love and don’t know what it is. If you tell them they still don’t know. You got to show them how to find it for themselves.”
Prayer
“And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake” (2 Samuel 5:12). Lord, in a similar way, you have graced me with a kingdom—not as the head of a nation, but as an influencer of the people around me. You have given me a domain of time and a space within a section of human history. Like so many kings of old, I get to choose the quality and influence of my life. Lord, help me to accurately discern your call and plan for me that I may fully cooperate with you, my Creator, Redeemer, and Good Shepherd.
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