"The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the stomach of the wicked is in need"
This proverb is an interesting observation on the different levels of satisfaction of life in the perspective of the righteous and the wicked. The righteous person – who is always looking to bless others and lives within the boundaries of the Ten Commandments – “eats to the satisfaction of his soul" (which is the literal translation of the Hebrew phrase) while the wicked person never has enough and is in constant "need" of more to satisfy his insatiable selfishness. They may have the same amount of goods, but the one is filled up by life while the other always needs some new thing and can't get enough. There is even a hint that the wicked person with more goods is not as satisfied as the righteous with less.
The soul of the righteous is filled up and he finds joy and pleasure in his life. His soul is content. The belly or stomach (Hebrew word beten) of the wicked is never full. It has a hole in the bottom of its container and will never be filled up. When you choose the selfish path of no moral boundaries, you do it to gain what you want. But what most people do not understand is that they make their selfish desires king of their life, which means they will never be satisfied with life. When selfish desires are your ruler, they will never give up that place of authority. So your life will never be enough no matter how much you achieve or accomplish or have. The wrong thing is running your soul.
If you listen to people carefully, you can see who has this problem and who is truly able to be content. The wicked, who will break all kinds of commands to get what they want (even if they seem respectable), must have some new thing. They are fixated on it with no ability to recognize that it is a want and not a need. The righteous person, who has been blessing people and therefore building up lots of relationships, finds that they are filled up with solid enjoyable friendships, connections, and love so that they can distinguish wants from needs and can say no to themselves.
Can you say no to yourself? Do you look to bless others as much as yourself? Are you consumed with what you want no matter how you have to get it?
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz