Rachel Whisman

I have this post-it note above the sink when I am washing dishes to remind me of the truth, from when I am not thinking about anything to when I am over-thinking. It provides something to steady me and bring me back into focus. It is from Psalm 107:9 and reads,

“For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” 

“…He satisfies…he fills…” These are promises to believe and enjoy, but if I am honest, when I was washing the dishes, they felt more distant than present. Questions of doubt wanted to trickle in, “God, do you really? It doesn’t seem like you are.” to “How are you satisfying me?” Maybe you have had these questions come to mind, but what do you do with them? Do you give them breath and let them live on to become something more lethal? Do you just ignore and try to bury it under the rug, or do you take them captive and confess them to the Lord? 

When we confess in honesty to the Lord, it wakes us up to the reality of what we are trying to hide with our pride. It could look like this:

“Lord, you’re not satisfying me with what/who I want.” 

“God, I really want _________ to fufill me and I am ________ because you aren’t.” 

“I have not been believing in you, please forgive me and help me.”

“Lord, convict me of my wrongdoing against you.” 

When our hearts are hard to accept the truths and reality of scripture, it is due to our unbelief rather than His capability. We don’t just end at asking forgiveness, but “you must go on to remind yourself of God, who God is, and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do” as Dr.Martyn Lloyd Jones preached. In other words, you have to defy yourself by taking yourself in hand and preaching to yourself the truth of scripture. 

“God, you do satisfy me whether I feel it or not.” 

“You have been taking care of me from the start.” 

“You determine how you will take care of me best, not the other way around.” 

“You can satisfy the longings of my soul with you.”

“You can fill me with good things.” 

“You can because of what Christ did for me on the cross.” 

God can and God will. There is hope. He can do far more abundantly than we can imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Preaching to yourself is taking a step of faith towards truth and away from the lies that want to create a cobweb in your heart. 

It is a two-way street as well. The word preaches to us if we would just look at it and meditate on it. So, practically, where are the spaces that you look at often? Is it above the sink as you’re washing dishes? Is it the mirror as you’re brushing your teeth, above the coffee grinder as you fix your morning brew, on the dashboard in your car as you wait for the light to turn green, or on your desktop at work? I have found that just a little super sticky note can be a means of refreshment or needed conviction when everything else is in disarray.

All that Christ does for us he does abundantly. There is no niggardliness on Christ’s part to His saints…The great sin of believers is that they do not make as much use of Christ’s bounty as they might. Every day we ought to take from Him mercy in abundance. Supplies from Christ do not fail. But our faith fails in receiving them.

-John Owen