You Can't Get No Satisfaction

I recently listened to one of Beth Moore's devotions and felt hugely convicted.  I thought I'd share with you some things that were brought to my attention and in what way it has impacted my life.

Isaiah 47 addresses Babylon--- Ancient Babylonia: The Bible reveals that all false systems of religion began in the land of Babylon.  The name Babel in the Bible means "confused" (Gen 11:9) and throughout the Bible, Babylon was a symbol of the confusion caused by godlessness.

"You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, 'No one sees me,' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, "I am, and there is none besides me.'"  Isaiah 47:10

Wow- this hit me like a ton of bricks.  The Babylonian mentality is this:  I will live for myself, that nothing is as important as me, I've got to find myself, its SELF ABSORPTION.  The Babylonian mentality shows up in us whether or not we say it - our actions show it (our selfish ways).  We are supposed to make a mark here for the kingdom of God and live unselfishly.  We are supposed to become people to live onto others and live onto our God.  We are supposed to become people that glorify his name. But we live in a culture that teaches us to be self absorbed and we are miserable with it.  If we aren't 100% intentional about being unselfish - we are.  We get sucked into it and I'm just as guilty as anyone else. 

Daniel chapter 1 portrays our culture perfectly.
"Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king's service some of the Israelites from the royal family and nobility - young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace."  Daniel 1:3-4 

Do you notice what he's saying?  Bring me your smart, young and beautiful. We are living in that culture today - how young can we look and how long can we look that way?  How together can we appear and how beautiful can we possibly be?  We've got to do everything that we can to think a certain way and to look a certain way.  And we are all caught up in this, myself included.

The Babylonian mentality is shown in our culture with our overwhelming amount of choices.  I can get my coffee any way I want it.  I can buy any vehicle the way I want it with the features I want it to have.  But the increase in choices isn't making us as Americans happier.  Gregg Easterbrook explored this gap in perceptions about money and happiness in his book Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse. "Envy and dissatisfaction come from lacking what others possess, but coming into possession of those things does not confer happiness.  Seeing the BMW may make you feel unhappy, but psychological studies show obtaining the BMW would not make you happy."  It's not where our satisfaction comes from.  I was hugely convicted here.  Dean and I want a house so badly.  We are saving every extra dime we have because we "think" that will make us happier just to have something to call our own, somewhere we don't hear our neighbors talking and a safe place to call home.  The bottom line is - we are already happy.  Granted I still want a home big enough to raise our children in one day - but the overwhelming feeling of wanting a house and wanting one now needs to subside.  God will bring us the perfect home in his timing - I just know it.