If you ask an artist if they feel like a piece is completed, a common response runs somewhere along the lines of “I’m not satisfied with it yet.” Most works of art never reach a point that an artist can call them truly “done.”
Instead, the artist gets to a point where they simply decide they are not going to work on the piece anymore, or at least for the time being.
People try to find satisfaction in the work they do in many ways. You may work to accomplish a goal, work to create something or work to be respected by others. You may work to fulfill your personal standards or to meet expectations of those whose opinions you value.
This feeling of being unsatisfied with the work you are doing is a common one.
Solomon talked about this dissatisfaction: “All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.” Solomon knew a lot about trying to find fulfillment in his efforts.
As one of the richest kings of his time, he didn’t spare using everything he had to work towards various accomplishments, yet none of them satisfied him. He called them “vain” or “empty.”
As Solomon eventually recognized, deeper “true” satisfaction is never achieved through earthly things. Whether you attempt to find satisfaction in the career path you choose or the hobbies you have, your endeavours are sure to fail.
The apostle John relates Jesus’ use of an analogy to describe satisfaction in John 4:13-14: “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
God made us to have a desire for our hearts to be satisfied, and that longing can only be fulfilled in Him. God calls us to find satisfaction in Him by trusting in Him. John 7:37-38 says, ” In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
