Psalms 107:9

For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

The longing soul satisfied

I. The source of true satisfaction is God.

1. The soul being made in His image has infinite yearnings which nothing finite can satisfy, and powers which can only find their due exercise in Divine worship and service.

2. The soul is fallen and therefore has need of restoration which nothing finite can accomplish.

II. The recipients of true satisfaction. Longing souls--men and women who realize their celestial origin. In time past, they may have turned to the world for satisfaction, they may have hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water, but now they seek to slake their thirst from the fountain of living waters (Jeremiah 2:13). They may in the past have been among the dissatisfied, saying, “Who will show us any good?” (Psalms 4:6). Now they know that blessedness consists in having the light of the Divine countenance shining upon them.

III. The condition of true satisfaction. Obedience. The obedience which springs from filial trust and submission to the will of God. To those who hearkened to the Divine commandments the promise is (Isaiah 48:18). They shall be God’s people, and He shall be their God. God for them, and with them, and in them shall be a source of perfect and eternal satisfaction. (H. P. Wright, B. A.)

A longing soul satisfied

I. What is implied in a longing or hungry soul.

1. That it wants something which it has not got. Pardon, peace, purity, God.

2. That it wants something which it cannot provide for itself.

3. That the want of this something unsettles and makes it discontented.

II. What is the satisfaction which God gives to the longing or hungry soul. The gifts of God to the soul, of pardon, health, and life, are its coronation; its honour and glory; its satisfaction. Beyond this it cannot go on earth. This is being filled and satisfied with goodness. (Anon.)

The soul’s thirst and satisfaction

(with Psalms 143:6):--Man has a threefold nature--physical, mental, and spiritual. The soul is the nobler part of man, and needs a nobler satisfaction than the body.

I. The soul’s thirst.

1. The soul comes from God, and its happiness is inseparably connected with obedience to the Divine will.

2. It is immortal.

3. It was made for God, in whom alone can it find true satisfaction.

4. It needs God, His smile, favour, and companionship.

5. How do men try to gratify this desire of the soul?

(1) Some force the body to do double work to make up for the lack of spiritual food. But the body resists excess. Man was made to be something nobler than a mere eating and drinking apparatus.

(2) Some with money--business. But the man who thought fifty pounds would give him complete satisfaction was unsatisfied with five hundred. Man should be better than a money-making machine, a slave to business.

(3) Some with worldly pleasure, drinking constantly at the wells of worldly bliss, which only increases their thirst. You may as well strive to catch the east wind as try to satisfy immortal hunger with sensual pleasures.

II. The soul’s satisfaction.

1. The world can stimulate and excite, but cannot give rest.

2. How may the soul be satisfied?

(1) In being at peace with God (Romans 5:11).

(2) In mutual sympathy, reciprocal affection.

(3) In regeneration, sanctification, moral likeness to God.

(4) In doing God’s will. “To do the will of Jesus: this is rest.”

(5) In constant communion with God. Through Christ we have access by the Spirit unto the Father. (C. Cross.)