Fiesta!

My craving for Mexican food knows no bounds. Even the walls of my own stomach can't seem to restrain it. Last year I began watching my diet and exercising more. But a few months ago, my husband and I planned a lunch date at a Mexican restaurant. I didn't eat at all that morning, wanting to save plenty of room (and calories) for all of the savory goodness that awaited me in the afternoon. 

Chips and salsa? Well, maybe just a few. How 'bout an appetizer? Why not? You only live once! Would you like guacamole and sour cream with that? It wouldn't be a burrito without it, right? Room for dessert? I couldn't possibly...but this one looks so delicious!

Let me tell you, I left that restaurant barely able to walk and certain I was gonna hurl before we got home! "Over did it a bit, didn't you?" Scott asked. I could only whimper.

The verse I read this morning took me back to that day:

Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days! ~ Psalm 90:14

The word translated "satisfy" here is saba. It means to be filled, sated, have your desire completely met --even to excess. That's what it means here. The author is longing for God's mercy --something we all desperately need and should crave much more than some of the things we do. The psalmist knows God's mercy will satisfy, fill, meet to excess, for all our days!

The word "saba" can also mean to glut with undesired things. Like my Mexican lunch. It was good food, don't get me wrong, but it didn't fill me for the rest of my days. I haven't completely stopped eating, although it took a while before I could even think of refried beans again. It was temporary. No matter how resolutely I stuff myself with tamales or enchiladas, they will never last eternally. Compared to God's mercy, the things of this world are not worth desiring.

But what is this mercy and if we are Christians, don't we already have it? How can we be satisfied again? 

The mercy of God was perfectly, ultimately demonstrated in sending Jesus to earth as a model for us, to perfectly live the life we are called to live. He came to die as the only sufficient sacrifice for our sin, to rise again in a guarantee of His accomplishment and our inheritance, and to remain with us through His Holy Spirit. And I know that's a lot, but there's more! This mercy fills us each and every day by the presence of His Spirit. Christ's work at the cross is continuing to work today for those who walk in His forgiveness. Unlike the many antacids I took the evening after our lunch date, that worked for a bit until they didn't, Christ's death on the cross purchased God's mercy for His people eternally. It keeps on working, even for all the stupid, selfish, reckless, rebellious things we continue to do. It doesn't lose it's potency, it never goes away, and it fills us. We need to be satisfied by that. We need to meditate on the comprehensive and glorious truth of God's mercy in our lives each day. And we need to allow that overflow to pour into the lives of others we meet. God does not change. He is faithfully, consistently pouring mercy into the lives of His children day after day. We need to make that the source of our desire and our fulfillment, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Like a mercy fiesta!