Satisfied at the Waking

Satisfied at the Waking

A monk who had lived in community for fifty years was asked what he had learned. He thought for a long time. 'I have learned that what I wake up for determines everything about the day,' he said. 'For years I woke up for my duties, my schedule, my prayers as obligations. Then I learned to wake up to see God's face. The duties and the schedule remained exactly the same. But everything about them changed because of what I was waking toward.' He kept a small card by his bed: 'When I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing Your likeness.' He read it before he got up every morning.

Psalm 17 is David's prayer for vindication — surrounded by enemies, confident in his integrity, appealing to God. And the psalm ends not with a triumphant declaration of victory but with a simple, intimate statement: when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing Your likeness. The ultimate satisfaction David anticipates is not the defeat of his enemies or the vindication of his reputation — it is the sight of God's face. The word 'satisfied' (sava') means to be completely full, to have had enough in the best sense. And the context — 'when I awake' — points beyond the morning of each day to the final waking of resurrection morning. The satisfaction of God's face is the end toward which everything else is moving.