Most people have probably met the person who could never seem to be satisfied no matter what. Everybody else may be perfectly content, but this one individual finds something to complain about. The prototype of all such people is Satan himself.
Satan and the angels he influenced once experienced the joys and bliss of the heavenly realm. What could possibly be wrong or even less than adequate in God’s perfect kingdom? Heaven is usually described as a place without pain, sorrow, or death (Rev. 21:4). We also know that God is love (1 John 4:8).
The vision of eternal life set forth in the Scriptures has sustained many a Christian in overcoming sin and in facing persecution or death. How faithful Christians long for the day! The apostle Paul had “a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:23). He certainly was not averse to mortality being “swallowed up by life” (2 Cor. 5:4). And when the time of his departure was at hand, he was looking forward to receiving a crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8).
Satan, however, was already in that place that most of us only have an imperfect glimpse of–but he grew dissatisfied. Then he originated sin. Without anyone to tempt him, he became convinced that despite what God had blessed him with, he should have more. One of the qualifications for the work of an elder is that he should not be a novice, lest “being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil” (1 Tim. 3:6). Most commentators hold the interpretation that the devil acted out of pride and was condemned because of it.
Did Satan think that he should even be more highly exalted than what he was? Perhaps he reasoned, “God is holding out on me; I am worthy of greater honors.” Or maybe he envied someone who possessed greater honor than had been bestowed upon him. Whatever his thinking was, he was wrong, for God is always just and fair.
He was not content, however, to rebel against God all by himself; he enlisted the aid of other angels to back him up. God “did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment” (2 Peter 2:4). Jude also mentions these angels who did not keep their proper domain (“their first estate,” KJV) but left their own habitation (v. 6). Jesus taught that God created eternal fire (elsewhere referred to as hell) for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41).
When God created the earth and put mankind in the Garden of Eden, Satan hesitated not to enter there and sow seeds of dissatisfaction before our human parents. Having been lifted up by pride himself, he knew exactly how to tempt others. He communicated to Eve the same sentiments he had developed while in heaven. “God is holding out on you,” he told her in so many words. “God forbade you to taste of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil because He knows that if you gain this information, you will be like Him” (see Genesis 3:5 for the exact wording).
Undoubtedly Eve thought that this was an unfair situation; so she ate of the fruit. She had allowed herself to be deceived into thinking Paradise could be improved.
Rebellion
The history of mankind is one of perpetual discontentment. God did not accept Cain’s sacrifice because it was not according to what He commanded in that there was no blood shed to atone for sins (study carefully Heb. 12:24 on this point). We can almost hear Satan saying to Cain, “How dare God not accept your offering? It was just as sincere a sacrifice as your brother’s. God is just not fair; he’s partial to your brother even though you’re the firtstborn. First of all, He threw your parents out of Eden, and now he won’t accept your sacrifice. But you don’t have to take this kind of treatment. You can do something about it.”
The devil always misrepresents God to us. He tries to get us to think that God does not care about us, that He is unfair to us, or that He is holding us back from something that is really great and beneficial to us. These are all lies, “for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). Another fact about Satan which this verse teaches is that “there is no truth in him.”
But the insidious thing is that Satan allows us to imagine that we are “free thinkers”–that the ideas of rebellion we have are our own. Thus we arrive at the same erroneous thinking that Cain had about worship (“I know what God commanded, but I don’t see what’s wrong with doing it this way”), and the devil lets us think we are original with a philosophy that is nearly as old as the world.
Mankind continually falls for the pompous notion that, despite what God has commanded, He will be satisfied with what we give Him. It did not work at the very beginning with Cain; Nadab and Abihu were destroyed by fire from the Lord when they tried it (Lev. 10:1-2); Jeroboam caused Israel to offer up vain worship for over 200 years to golden calves that were supposed to represent Jehovah, which is called “a great sin” (2 Kings 17:21); the Pharisees in the first century were worshipping God in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men (Matt. 15:1-9).
People are no different today. Many Americans see no point in worshipping God at all; they think that spending time “in church” (not a Biblical phrase) is a waste of time; of course, that idea came from Satan, not the Scriptures (which exhort Christians not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together–Heb. 10:25).
But even among those who know that weekly worship is essential, there are many who allow false ideas to govern their actions. Some think it is a time for entertainment (an occasion to receive instead of to give). Others will not complain if the Lord’s Supper is omitted. And the majority of those calling themselves Christians want instrumental music (even though God does not authorize it) because they like it.
People apparently have a difficult time seeing that worshipping according to what pleases us (instead of the way God commands) constitutes rebellion. But, although the particulars of man’s disobedience may change, the attitude is essentially the same one possessed by Cain. Mankind has seldom been content to worship God just as He commanded.
Discontentment
Even God’s own people have worked themselves up into various levels of dissatisfaction (with Satan’s assistance, no doubt). God saved Israel from Egyptian slavery. He delivered them from Pharaoh; their salvation was procured when they crossed the Red Sea on dry gound and God closed it upon the Egyptians who had foolishly pursued them.
Were the people grateful? Absolutely! They sang praises to God concerning His great salvation. Did the people remain grateful? No. [How soon they forgot. How soon Christians forget the great joy they felt when they obeyed the gospel and their sins were forgiven.]
After being in the wilderness a few months the people grew discontented. Why? Satan probably sowed some seeds of dissatisfaction. “Say, is it possible that God brought you out here to die?” he whispers. “When was the last time you ate meat? Have you noticed how thirsty you get out here in this hot sun? How long should it take to get to Canaan?”
God’s attitude toward complaining is made known at the outset. “Now when the people complained it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused” (Num. 11:1a). Ingratitude in response to His loving care is not acceptable. Notice: 1) The complaining displeased Him; 2) He heard it; 3) He did not ignore the comments; His anger was aroused, and He punished them by sending among the people fire, which consumed some of them (Num. 11:1b). Neither the dissatisfaction nor the rebellion it led to diminished, however, and God destroyed that entire generation in the wilderness.
Has the church in this century fared any better than our spiritual forefathers did? No. Some have not been content with adhering to what the Scriptures teach; they want to bind their opinions and interpretations upon others–even if the entire basis for their doctrine is based upon one passage of Scripture easily subject to equal or better interpretations.
Others have become dissatisfied with teaching what several passages of Scripture repeat–such as baptism for the remission of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Peter 3:21). They want to take liberties God has not granted: moral liberties, such as divorce for every cause; doctrinal liberties, such as fellowshipping those whom God has told us to avoid.
Should we not all learn that it is Satan sowing the seeds of dissatisfaction? God has given us perfect salvation, the perfect Christian system (Heb. 8:6-7), the perfect promise of the perfect after-life (1 Peter 1:3-9). Can we not learn to be content with what God has done for us, as well as what He will yet do for us? Or will we pay heed to the voice of the one that could not even be satisfied with heaven itself?