One of the things for which the psalmist calls upon his soul to bless the Lord is that: "He satisfies your mouth with good things." (Psalm 102:5)
This is no small thing, and it means far more than people are accustomed to think. It is not merely that: "[He] gives us richly all things to enjoy," (1 Timothy 6:17) withholding no good thing from us, although that would be enough for everlasting thanksgiving.
But the greatest blessing of all is to be satisfied with good things. It is one thing to receive good things, and quite another thing to be satisfied with them. Good things are simple and there are few people who have simple tastes.
Our so-called "natural tastes" are, because of our birth and training, wholly unnatural. There is scarcely one of the good things that God has given us to eat, that is not almost universally smothered with condiments of one sort or another before it is eaten.
All sorts of things are devised to stimulate the appetite, which refuses, to be satisfied, and which gets more and more dissatisfied, because nothing can give satisfaction except that which is good; and whatever God has made good is good in itself, without any addition whatever. "But," someone says, "we must enjoy what we eat, or else it will not digest well, and will not do us any good."
That is true, but it by no means signifies that we should eat everything that our untamed, capricious appetites crave. It simply shows the necessity of learning to like that which is good. Appetite must wait upon reason, and be controlled and instructed by it.
Our natural appetites are like spoiled, unruly, untrained children, and must be treated in the same way that such children ought to be treated. No wise person would think it necessary to let such a child have his own way in everything. He must be instructed as to what is good. And until he is able to choose for himself, and choose well, someone must choose for him. He must not once be indulged in his waywardness, if his evil habits are to be broken.
If his confidence is gained, and his conscience is awakened, and his will brought into harmony with the right, the task of reformation will be a short one: very soon he will go in the right way as naturally as he used to in the wrong way, and will find infinitely more satisfaction in it.
In fact, for the first time in his life he will know what satisfaction is, and that satisfaction in doing the right will be one of the strongest safeguards to keep him from the evil.
That which is not good, is not delicious
To a well-governed and wise appetite.
--John Milton, Comus.
Just so it is with our tastes. We have been accustomed to be swayed by them, yet the more we gratified them the less we were satisfied.
Now when we learn what is good, and see that it is good because it comes from the hand of God, and know that it must be the best thing for us, we shall believe that it tastes good to an undepraved or a regenerate appetite, and so we shall teach ourselves really to like it.
It is surprising how quickly one can teach himself to like the good when once firmly convinced that it is good. And then for the first time is one really satisfied. One finds life itself full of enjoyment, and is no more under the necessity of seeking for something to make it enjoyable or endurable.
To be satisfied with that which is good, so that never a longing desire arises for that which is evil, is one of the greatest blessings that God bestows upon us, and it is wonderfully easy to learn when one sets himself to learn at the source of goodness.
"O taste and see that the Lord is good. ... There is no want to them that fear Him." (Psalm 34:8-9)--Present Truth, November 8, 1900--Psalm 102:5.