What Truly Satisfies

Can a Snickers Bar Truly Satisfy?

A few years ago, I traveled out of town for a speaking engagement that I didn’t want to do. I didn’t know anyone there, missed my family back home and barely made enough money to cover my travel costs. I delivered my three talks then went upstairs to my hotel room.

The trip took an even worse turn that night when I listened to a voicemail from my doctor explaining that I was diagnosed with Diabetes. I knew it was my fault. While I did inherit some not-so-stellar genetics, my diet, and slothful tendencies mainly were to blame for my medical diagnoses. I sat on my bed in that hotel room, scared, alone, and angry. To be honest, I felt like a complete and utter failure.

The deck is stacked against me in some ways. My dad died of heart disease at the age of 39. Individuals on both sides of my family have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. But the biggest problem is not genetics or DNA. The problem is that I love food a little too much.

I used to drive to gas stations, grocery stores, and bakeries in secret. I ensured no one knew where I was going and what I was doing. I’d buy candy, chocolate, donuts, chips, and much more, hide them in my backpack, and then get behind a closed door as soon as possible to binge on food. It wasn’t uncommon for me to secretly hide in a bathroom stall and binge on food.

We know there’s nothing wrong with food. God created us with a need for nourishment and calories. Our bodies won’t function properly without caloric intake.

The problem is that I looked for food to give me something it was never intended to provide. In addition to providing my body with fuel, I demanded that food solve all my problems. If I felt lonely, I’d turn to food to provide company. Angry? Food would make the frustration melt away. Embarrassed? Sad? Misunderstood? Food, food, and more food. I looked to food to solve all my issues and to provide a satisfaction that no thing or no person except for the Lord could ever meet.

In Psalm 90:14, Moses writes, “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” He asks the Lord to satisfy him in God’s steadfast, unfailing love, not in anything else. Change the object of our desire, but every one of us seeks satisfaction, at times, in something or someone other than the Lord. It might be pornography, worldly success, alcohol, looks, or the praise of humanity. In his book The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis famously said, “We are far too easily pleased.”

I see the faithfulness of God in the promise of Psalm 90:14. While the desire to turn to food hasn’t completely diminished, I realize the fleeting, temporal satisfaction food provides. I’ve learned that a Snickers Bar, despite its claims, can never truly satisfy.

I’m also learning that you can’t undo 49 years of bad habits in one year of faithfulness. The journey to health and wellness is a slow one. I now work out consistently, eat healthy, and seek to make wise lifestyle choices. The secret trips to the donut shop and convenience store are few and far between. God is helping me find satisfaction in Him and Him alone.

I realize I don’t deserve His grace and kindness. I just turned 50 a few months ago, and each day is a gift I was never promised and don’t deserve. Despite my lack of faith, God remains faithful. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). 

God also reveals His faithfulness to me in that I must depend on him in my eating decisions. With every meal, snack, and trip to the grocery store or gas station, I must ask God to help me make healthy decisions in eating. I watch my friends do whatever they want to when it comes to eating. They eat a burger and lose three pounds. I eat the salad and look at their burger, and I put on three pounds! It doesn’t seem fair, ever, but in those moments, I know I must plead for mercy, wisdom, and help, knowing that He generously provides (Ephesians 2:4, James 1:5, Psalm 46:1).

And when I get on that scale, whether the number is favorable or not, I know my value and satisfaction come not from a three-digit number on the scale, but from His unfailing love (Psalm 90:14). He remains faithful to me as I depend on Him.