A young sister sat in a room one beautiful summer afternoon. The sound of
the birds chirping on the lawn and other noises of the out-of-doors came
in through the open window to her. There was a look of melancholy upon her
face, and her gaze rested steadily upon the floor. It was clear that she
was troubled about something. Just then a minister entered the room.
Noticing her forlorn appearance, he said cheerily, “What is the matter,
sister?”
She looked up at him and answered wearily, “O Brother A, I am so
dissatisfied.”
“Well,” he replied, “I am glad of it.”
She almost gasped with astonishment, and exclaimed, “Why, Brother A! what
do you mean?”
He then sat down in a chair near her and explained to her the substance of
what I am going to say to you.
We have all thought how good it is to be satisfied. How many times we have
heard people testify and rejoice that they had reached this experience! I
would not depreciate this sense of satisfaction, for out of it come many
enjoyable things. It is a very pleasurable feeling and one that most
people very earnestly desire. There are times, however, when such a
feeling would be anything but a blessing. Perhaps this surprizes you as it
did the sister. God has made provision to satisfy us. Christ said that he
who would drink of the water of life should thirst no more; for it should
be in him a well of water, and thus his thirst should be continually
quenched. So there is a continual satisfaction in God. It is a good thing
to be thus satisfied with God and his plans and ways and with our
salvation, and dissatisfaction with any of these, if we are saved, is an
evil to which we should not give place; but hardly any greater evil could
come upon us than a complete and constant sense of satisfaction relating
to our attainments in grace, the development of our spiritual powers, or
the measures of our service to God.
Dissatisfaction is the mother of progress. The Chinese for centuries have
been taught to be satisfied with having things like their fathers had. As
a consequence they have almost entirely lost the inventive faculty. Long
ago they were an inventive nation, but now an invention among them is a
rarity. As long as people are satisfied, they are content to remain as
they are. Satisfaction is the foe to progress. As long as you are fully
satisfied, you are like a sailing-vessel in a dead calm. The sea about you
may be very smooth. Everything may be very peaceful and serene. But all
the time this calm prevails you are getting nowhere; you are at a
standstill. It is only when the wind rises and the swells begin to move
the vessel up and down and the sails begin to strain that good progress
begins. You may feel very comfortable in your satisfaction. It may be very
delightful and dreamy, but it may be dangerous also. Those who are fully
satisfied for very long may be sure that there is need for an
investigation. It is only when we become dissatisfied with present
conditions and attainments that we are spurred to effectual effort to make
progress.
Suppose God had been satisfied with the world-conditions before Christ
came. We should now have no Savior and no salvation. He was dissatisfied,
thoroughly dissatisfied, and so he made the greatest sacrifice that he
could make to change existing conditions. Paul was once very well
satisfied with his place in the Jewish religion; he was not looking for
anything better. His dissatisfaction arose from the fact that some other
people were not satisfied thus but were finding and advocating something
different. This aroused his severest condemnation. What he had was good
enough for him and ought to be good enough for them.
There are many today who are just like Paul was. They are fully contented
in their present situation, and should any one try to show them its
insufficiency and the need of higher attainment, it would only arouse
their opposition and indignation. That is why so many people oppose
holiness. Just as soon as Paul saw Christ and the higher and better things
for which Christ stood, he suddenly lost his satisfaction and became an
earnest seeker for those better things. Sometimes it takes a rude shock to
break through our self-satisfaction and to show us our true needs; but
when it comes and arouses a dissatisfaction, it is truly a blessing.
Suppose Luther had been satisfied to continue in the Romish church,
approving and submitting to her teachings and practices. Where might the
world have been today? He became dissatisfied and gave voice to that
dissatisfaction. Others heard and became dissatisfied. This
dissatisfaction made their hearts hungry for God, and out of that
heart-hunger came the Reformation.
Dissatisfaction has brought us the multitude of new things which we have
to use and enjoy. It has been because men became dissatisfied with old
methods and old implements and old ideas and customs and old attainments
that they have toiled in painful research, that they have labored night
and day to invent new things. In some places, people still plow with a
crooked stick and grind their flour in hand-mills. What their fathers had
is good enough for them. Some people are like that about religion. What
their fathers had is good enough for them, and they are indignant if we
even suggest something better; they are satisfied. There are others who
sought and obtained a real experience of forgiveness, but right there they
stopped. Years have passed. They were satisfied when they were first saved
(which was a very good thing); the only trouble was that they remained
satisfied and never made any further progress. They hear entire
sanctification preached, they accept the doctrine intellectually, but they
can never be persuaded to press on into the experience themselves. They go
on from year to year to year and never make any real spiritual
advancement. What is the trouble? Oh, they are just satisfied, that is
all; and they will never get any further till their sleepy satisfaction is
rudely broken in upon by something that startles them out of their
security and awakens them to their needs. That will bring dissatisfaction
and that in time will set them to seeking to have those needs supplied.
Some people are content just to drift with the tides. They go along with
the crowd, whichever way sentiment goes, and are quite content. They are
no real moral force in their community or in the church. They are aware of
the fact, and they seem to be satisfied to have it so. They will never
amount to very much so long as they are thus satisfied. Getting
dissatisfied is the only thing that will ever make anything worth while of
them.
There are those who know that they are less spiritual than they used to
be; still, they are not much concerned about it. They are resting very
easy. Such satisfaction is a curse. What such folks need is a good case of
dissatisfaction; for that is the only thing that will keep them from
drying up and withering away. I know of people who once had a glorious
experience but who for years have been so satisfied with themselves that
they have not progressed an inch. Instead, they have gone backwards, with
the result that today they are cold and formal. They are still satisfied,
they still profess to be justified and sanctified, but they amount to
practically nothing for God or the church. There is no moral force
radiating from their lives. To such persons the coming of dissatisfaction
would be a great blessing. So long as they are satisfied with their
present condition, so long they will be cold formalists.
Some people know that they are coming short both of their duty and of
their privileges in the Lord, but in spite of this they seem content and
are making no effort—at least no effective effort—to do better. O brother,
sister, if you are satisfied where you ought to be dissatisfied, it is
time you awakened, it is time you looked toward better things until your
hunger for them stirred you to action to obtain them.
To those who are dissatisfied, who realize your needs and lacks, I say: Do
not be discouraged. God means by this very feeling of dissatisfaction with
yourself to spur you on to seek diligently for higher and better
attainments. If you allow yourself to be discouraged, it will only hinder
you. God will help you to obtain that which you need. Do not falter
because your need seems great; God’s supply is more abundant than your
need. Cast off every weight. Press forward. God will help you. When once
he has aroused you to effort, you will find him ready to help. Your
dissatisfaction is most encouraging. Do not stay dissatisfied; press on
till you obtain what you need. You will never attain your full measure of
desire in this life, but you may obtain much, and what you do obtain will
prepare you for that fulness and satisfaction which only eternity can
bring you.
Dissatisfaction is never welcome, but it is a true friend. Through it you
may reach blessed attainments and soul-enriching grace. Value it and use
it rightly, and it will prove a great blessing, though it may often be a
blessing in disguise.