Sunday, January 15, 2023

Psalms 36:8-9 -- On Satisfaction and the Treasure of God

"They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light."
Psalms 36:8-9


This is an interesting excerpt, explaining that we'll all be satisfied with what God has, and is offering to share with us. Fatness and "pleasures" have different connotations in our society now than when this was written, but basically God has a satisfyingly luxurious home with plenty of cool stuff and a river full of joy, and if we follow his plan and return to his presence, we will have access to all of that as well.

I am sure that most of this is symbolic because it would be hard to fathom what cool stuff is to God... I would love a Liahona, or some cool Brother-of-Jared lighting, but you know he doesn't need any of that. I think the point is that whatever he does have, he offers to us, and it will satisfy us.

I also love the part about the fountain of life and "in thy light shall we see light." Do I know exactly what it means? No. I can guess that the fountain of life alludes to immortality, and that the light part means that if we have God around to help us, we'll be able to know anything we want to, becuase he is a source of all knowledge... but it could be more than that, or refer to a specific thing that allows us to see more. I don't know.

I think of it a little bit like a tabletop role-playing game or even just a good story. God is the Game Master and we're all sitting around the table, ready for an adventure. He tells us of things that our characters can understand... one of them grew up really poor, and they value food and shelter above all else, so the ultimate goal of the quest is explained in terms of having a comfortable home and always enough to eat. Another character is a tinkerer and wannabe inventor who dreams of cool gadgets and finding better ways to do things... and so we learn that there are a lot of those things as well. The scholar learns that there is a source of knowledge there where he can ask any question and get an answer. Another character just misses her daughter every day, and learns that there is a way to talk to her again. Every character learns that there is something that appeals to them and that the journey is worth taking, and so they are all in and decide to travel together to find this great treasure.

In reality, God has everything that any of us could ever want, but we want different things, and are motivated in different ways. This is telling us that *all* of us will be satisfied with the house of God and what he offers. It is worth every effort to seek that fountain of life and that light of God. What they represent for us could be a miraculous surprise of something we could never known to ask for but which is perfect in every way. And if we do know what we want, and it is a righteous desire, no matter how impossible, is is also there with God, and offered to us. So let's go all in, together, and work our way towards that treasure, using our different talents and our teamwork to get there.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Total Pageviews