Good things that satisfy

Psalm 103:5-8 ~ "Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits; Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
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I read these Scriptures out loud in my prayers almost every morning ~ "Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." Everyday I pray that God would teach me to be satisfied with His good things and not the things of this world. Some days are better then others; some days I rest in His strength and some days I rely on my own and undoubtedly wind up doing and saying things I wish I could take back.
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Interesting that David places "Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" after he has spoken about our iniquities, diseases, and destruction. Why does David now discuss satisfying our mouths with good things? I believe it is because he realizes that our mouths are so often an entry point for sin, disease and destruction to enter our bodies and therefore into our lives. David is trying to draw our attention to the incredibly destructive forces that lie behind so many of our habits and then to show us what our alternative is ~ God's good things that will restore our youth like the eagle's.
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Iniquities, disease and destruction ~ are always the outcome of the things we put into our mouths or let escape from our mouths when we are not completely dependent on God as our source. When we abide in God, when He is our Source we are satisfied. When God is not our source things begin to look a little different; we are unsatisfied, constantly trying to fill cravings and voids that can not be filled by anything found on this earth. We begin to fill those voids and subsequently our mouths with things He never intended for us to consume ~ cigarettes, alcohol, our modern day food, pills, gossip, slander, hateful speech, etc. God desires to fill us with His goodness but He often finds us in a state of already full. He is unable to give us "life and life more abundantly" because there is no room in the inn. We have already crowded our mouths and our bodies with things that bring disease and destruction and then we wonder why we are tired and weary.
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Every morning I pray those Scriptures aloud and every afternoon after hours of Algebra, Grammar, History, adding and subtracting, hours of dishes and cooking, answering the same question potentially dozens of times and refereeing the same fight over and over again I find that sugar, mass quantities of sugar are calling to me. "Jennie, oh Jennie, you need me, you deserve me and I will be a sweet get away right here in your own living room." These are the lies sugar tells me in my weak moments. And then sugar's evil twin, fast food, starts to call out too. "Jennie, do you really want to cook a meal, yet again? No, you don't, you want to spend your hard earned money (ok, Will's hard money) on a heart attack in a bag and then you want to share that heart attack with your beautiful children." And then if I am not careful another ugly voice begins to sound in my head and unfortunately this ugly voice enjoys spilling out of my mouth and into my children's ears. And this ugly voice says words in anger and frustration that they never deserve to hear. At this moment I have a choice ~ pray Psalm 103:7 aloud and use the Sword of the Spirit to destroy the lying voices in my head OR bring iniquity, disease and destruction into my body and family.
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He has good things to satisfy us but only if we are empty and available and we ask; so whatever iniquity or disease you are allowing into your life or whatever destruction you are allowing to spew from your mouth, let us lay it aside and instead take up the Sword of the Spirit and claim the promises He has laid before.
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The next time that cigarette begins to speak lies to you remember and say ~ "And forget not all His benefits" and when the bottle calls your name remind it that He is the one "Who forgives all your iniquities" and when the McDonald's drive through beckons you REBUKE it and firmly remind the McD that He "redeems your life from destruction" and when the sugar whispers sweet lies in my ear and angry words beg to come out of my mouth I will stand my ground on the Word of God and claim His promise to me ~ for He "satisfies my mouth with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle's."
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He never intended for us to live from one addicted moment to the next, He intended for us to live this life abundantly blessed with His good things. God, grant us the strength to give you all the space to fill us with all that You are.