Do Oreo’s ® ever satisfy? One is good. Five are better. But a whole package, that will satisfy! Not really. The satisfaction is not only temporary but an illusion. There is a deeper truth here. I will always wake up physically hungry. There is no end to the perpetual dissatisfaction. But there is a deeper, more urgent hunger that can only be satisfied in one way.

Proverbs 19:14 (ESV) “Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.”

The proverb I remember as a youth is “idle hands are the devil’s playground.” That isn’t the only version. Searching online I found:

  • Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.
  • Idle hands are the devil’s tools.
  • The devil makes work for idle hands.

The reason the “idle person will suffer hunger” is deeper than just the lack of wages. The idle person will become hungry and seek satisfaction in the wrong ways. The reality is that everyone is hungry for satisfaction in many areas of life. The devil works at getting you to try the wrong things to fill yourself. He even tried to tempt Jesus in different areas of his need while he was in the wilderness. He tempted with food to satisfy hunger, with pride and with position and glory. (See Matthew 4:1-11)

Some think the devil is imaginary. Those who worship him would argue they are wrong. The sad reality is the devil has a goal. Even Jesus believed in the devil as a real being who was a murdering liar. The devil wants to satisfy my desires with things or experience that only serve to perpetuate the hunger and make me a slave. In John 8:44 Jesus revealed the true nature of our chief adversary: “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” He says, “try this, it will satisfy.” But it won’t. “Maybe you didn’t try enough or long enough, so try again.”

Jesus really is the only satisfaction for life. In John 6:35 “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.’”

LINK: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/jesus-bread-life/