My wife makes the best soup I’ve ever eaten. Anywhere. Ever. I’ve not had better soup at nice restaurants, church potlucks, or friends’ houses. (Apologies if you’ve had us over recently, but, you know, Proverbs 31:28). Her soups are so good we’ve created a new term for the feeling we get when we eat it: “soup-satisfied.” It’s a unique feeling, and I don’t get it from any of my other favorite foods. It usually comes toward the end of the second bowl as I’m drinking down the broth. A feeling of deep satisfaction washes over me, from tongue to toe, a feeling of transcendence and weightedness at the same time, a feeling of peace, fullness, wholeness. My eyes roll back just slightly, and a deep content sigh escapes my lips. Soup-satisfied!
I never really understood Psalm 63:5 before when I read it in the old KJV: “My soul shall be satisfied with marrow and fatness,” I just couldn’t relate. It sounds kind of gross, actually, but when the psalmist was looking for an image to describe the deep satisfaction to be found in God, the best picture he could find was that of marrow and fatness. After eating my wife’s soup, I think I understand.
She can’t make this soup in five minutes. She can’t even make it in an hour. It takes up to full day just to make the broth, simmering the soup bones in order to pull out, guess what, the marrow and the fat. That’s the first batch; then she repeats it again and even a third time. There’s a lot of dense nutrition to be found in those bones! At that point, she can flavor it however she wants: vegetable soup, lentil soup, chicken noodle soup, minestrone. It doesn’t matter, the foundation has been laid, and now it’s just a matter of which variety she wants. Her soup is so dense with nourishment that it fills us up after a long day of work, it restores our bodies when we’re feeling sick, and it’s perfect for lazy Sunday afternoon lunch. The smell is delightful, but we have to actually taste it, drink it in, to get the true satisfaction. My children and I all know the feeling, though we struggle to put it into words. Usually the best we can do is to sigh, “I love soup!”
In the same way, soul satisfying delight in God rarely happens in an instant. It takes time, extended meditation on the words and the works of God, steeping our minds in his truth, meditating on Scripture. “God is good!” — that’s foundational, but we taste that goodness in a variety of flavors. We taste it in Scripture, in the church, in work, in worship, and even in trials. The soul-satisfying goodness of God fills us up after a long week of work; it restores our souls when our hearts are downcast; it’s perfect meditation after that Sunday afternoon lunch. Sometimes we struggle to put it into words, but this soul-satisfaction inevitably pours out in praise.
Daniel Kleven Director of Admissions
“My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.” Psalms 63:5
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for our new college and seminary students who are moving to Minneapolis, finding housing and searching for part-time jobs.
2. Pray for the new cohorts in both the college and seminary, that they will form relationships that will be fruitful for the Kingdom for years to come.
3. Pray for our faculty as they prepare for classes in the fall.
4. Pray for new staff members as they learn their new roles and responsibilities.
5. In all these things, join us in thanking God for His mercy and provision every step of the way.
