Is Anyone Satisfied?

The answer is – yes!

The more relevant question is – are you?

Just because many are not satisfied does not mean you can’t be.

The evidence of widespread dissatisfaction is beyond dispute. We want more, and we want better. What we have is not enough or is not what we want. Our eyes are always scanning for something else. Our minds are always scheming and plotting ways to justify the next pursuit we secretly have in our hearts.

The burgeoning growth of the self-storage industry from 2010 to 2020 is fascinating in one way but depressing in another. Some have so much they need to rent space to store their excess. Others have so little they have to store the bare necessities of life in a rented unit while they search for a home shelter.

Someone cleverly came up with the six D’s driving the surge in the self-storage industry, but they missed the seventh. (1)

1. Downsizing
2. Death
3. Divorce
4. Displacement
5. Disaster
6. Density — more people living in smaller spaces.

“Currently, there are more storage facilities in the U.S. than there are Starbucks, McDonald’s, Walmart, Home Depots, Domino pizzas, Dunkin’ Donuts and Costco’s combined…” (2)

In the United States, people required 1.7 billion extra square feet to store their stuff in 2019. (3)

“The self–storage industry is very, very robust right now.” Industry statistics show that the U.S. has an average of nine square feet of storage for every person in the country, while Canada is closer to just two square feet per capita — not nearly enough, according to those building more storage capacity.” (4)

The seventh D is Desire. We desire new stuff. Different stuff. More of the same stuff. Summer stuff. Winter stuff. Perhaps a re-numbering needs to occur. Desire may be the original #1 driving force.

James Wallman is a journalist and a trend forecaster and often called a ‘futurist.’ According to his book “Stuffocation,” he believes having too much stuff is the biggest problem of our times – at least in much of Western society. He believes our thirst for more and more stuff “is making millions of us feel joyless, anxious and, even worse, depressed.” (5)

One metric to determine satisfaction is the physical space required to house our desires. Another metric is the persistent chase in our lives to find deeper fulfillment and longer-lasting satisfaction. Why is the honeymoon period of blissful joy so short when people land their dream job? Why does the thrilling wow factor of reaching a pinnacle of success fizzle and vanish so quickly afterwards?

The axiom from the Bible is always relevant:

Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied. Proverbs 27:20 NLT

Death is never satisfied with the last casualty. It is always ready to claim the next victim. Graveyards don’t shrink. They grow. Human desire is an ever-present reality in the human heart – never satisfied. Always restless for more.

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too, is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 5:10 NIV

In 1965, The Rolling Stones recorded (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, and it became their first International #1 Hit. Sixty years later, and with 2000 concerts behind them, the song remains popular at every performance. (6)

I can’t get no satisfaction, I can’t get no satisfaction
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no

When I’m drivin’ in my car, and the man come on the radio
He’s tellin’ me more and more about some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination

I can’t get no, oh, no, no, no, hey, hey, hey
That’s what I say
I can’t get no satisfaction, I can’t get no satisfaction
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no

It would be incredibly good news if the Rolling Stones, at this very late stage, put out a new song that upstaged their big hit – a new song about finding peace, satisfaction and fulfillment.

Given all the evidence of pervasive dissatisfaction in the human family, how can you find satisfaction?

It doesn’t get any more basic than this – satisfaction starts with God. If God is less than first place in your life, you will not be satisfied. Obviously, if He is nowhere in your life, how could you not experience severe emptiness?

We were designed by God – as was everything else. But we were unique in that God distinguished us with the capacity to find fulfillment, fellowship and friendship in a vertical relationship with Himself. So, when pleasing ‘self’ is the consuming passion of our lives rather than the Eternal God, emptiness and dissatisfaction metastasize in the human heart as one lives in a perpetual state of sinning against God.

Can you experience satisfaction in your life? The answer is a resounding yes! The question is not ‘what’ can satisfy but rather ‘who’ can satisfy.

He [God] satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things. Psalm 107:9 ESV

Jesus said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 ESV

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35 ESV

Implied in the verse you just read is a beautiful invitation to you personally. Here is a direct invitation to you from Jesus Himself:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

The Gospel of John records the encounter of a thirsty woman with Jesus at a well of water. She was broken by sin and empty. Jesus lifted her thinking away from well-water to a refreshing spiritual water that only He could provide. He said to her:

Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14 ESV

Heaven4sure.com has a section entitled Changed Lives. Read the stories of people in many parts of the world who were empty and unsatisfied until they found total satisfaction in Christ and their lives were transformed. Not only does Christ provide satisfaction and peace in this life, but He is also your only passport into Heaven for life beyond death. Without Christ, no one will be in Heaven.

There’s something tragic about one’s life slipping by, and the only song in one’s heart is “I Can’t Find No Satisfaction.” If you turn to Christ and embrace Him as your Saviour, there will be a new song ringing in your heart. The lyrics will be similar to this old song written by Clara T. Williams in 1875. (It may not be your favourite music genre, but take a minute to listen to the Gaither Vocal Band sing her lyrics.)

All my life I had a longing
For a drink from some clear spring,
That I hoped would quench the burning
Of the thirst, I felt within.

Refrain:
Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved.

Feeding on the husks around me,
Till my strength was almost gone,
Longed my soul for something better,
Only still to hunger on.

Poor I was, and sought for riches,
Something that would satisfy,
But the dust I gathered round me
Only mocked my soul’s sad cry.

Well of water, ever springing,
Bread of life so rich and free,
Untold wealth that never faileth,
My Redeemer is to me.

Read it here: Celine Dion and God

Sources:

1. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-storage-business-booms-1.4579205
2. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/20/neighborcom-is-out-to-disrupt-self-storage-its-like-airbnb-for-stuff.htm
3. https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/the-self-storage-industry-is-in-trouble-this-data-shows-why/
4. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-storage-business-booms-
5. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/07/stuffocation-living-more-with-less-james-wallman-review
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(I_Can%27t_Get_No)_Satisfaction