Teresa A. LeNeave

"I don't know what's wrong with me," my friend said. "I get one thing and then immediately I want to go shopping for something else. I can't even afford it anymore! What makes me never feel satisfied? I've even prayed about it, but it hasn't helped." Do you ever feel you don't 'have enough'. You get one thing and you want something else?

In our world, everything from cancer to anger is blamed on our DNA. Now, I'm wondering if we can blame dissatisfaction on our genes? Do you notice that some people are just never satisfied? They think they want a new truck, but when they get it, they want a motorcycle. They think they want a new, bigger home, but when they get it, they want to remodel, change the carpet, paint, or knock out a wall.

They think they found the 'perfect' church, but after a few months they decided that wasn't the right church after all and away they go to find another church to feel the void.

They want a new diamond ring, but by the next Christmas they've found a bigger one that they want even more. And, that old bedspread is just not good enough anymore either.

Books. That's me. I never get enough. I can't even go to Books-A-Million without buying several books. I was thinking about children and how they constantly want "more". Teenagers (and most of us women) never have enough clothes. We have everything and yet we get bored so easily.

In Genesis, we read how God formed the world and all that's in it. He created the perfect 'Garden of Eden' and placed Adam and Eve there to prosper and tend the garden. (Notice I said "tend"? From the very beginning of time, God never intended man to be lazy, but to work). The garden had to be tended even before the curse that produced the thorns, weeds and back pain.

We all know, Satan tempts us in our weak areas. He knew Eve had a weakness for thinking, "I don't have enough". Here she was in the middle of the most perfect place on earth, the Garden of Eden. Everything was at her disposal, but Satan knew she could be tempted by telling her, "You don't have enough. Isn't there something God said you couldn't have?"

"Yes," she replies, "he said we could eat anything here except the fruit from one tree over there in the middle of the garden. We can't even touch it or we will die."

"That's not really true," Satan argued. "God just doesn't want you to know all the things He knows. If you ate of that tree, you would have wisdom; your eyes would be opened and you'd know as He does ... knowing good and evil."

Maybe Eve thought about that for a long while. Finally, she came to the conclusion, "You know, I don't have enough. I want more. I'm not satisfied with the way my life is. I'm bored with things the way they are. I need a change. It would be nice to know more." In my imagination, I can see her contemplating how good it would be to know everything and the next time Satan came to tempt her, she agreed with him when he said, "You need more. Don't be satisfied with just what you have here."

Dissatisfaction led her down the road of pain and sorrow. What looked like the perfect dream in the beginning led to the worse nightmare in the end.

Obviously, Adam and Eve were not satisfied and wanted more. Dissatisfaction made their eyes and minds wander. Had they been 'satisfied' they would have said, "No, we don't want things to change. We love it like it is. We don't need anything else."Let me ask you this: As a wife or husband, are you satisfied with each other? As a church member, are you satisfied with your church? As an employee, are you satisfied in your job? I believe God built into our DNA the drive to explore the universe; a desire to constantly learn and experience more in life; the desire to want more is built-in to us, so we would push toward more growth.The problem comes when we let our dissatisfaction drive us.

As Christians we cannot allow dissatisfaction to drive us. Satan still tempts us today, just as he did Adam and Eve thousands of years ago. He attacks at our weakest point. The weakest link will always break. Harnessing dissatisfaction will keep us from a lot of problems. God gives us strength to do that.