We were singing a song in worship tonight that had the line:

Only things that satisfy come from You.

Or maybe it was:

The only things that satisfy come from You.

I don't really know. I realized that I'd always heard it sung (or maybe I just sung it wrongly) as the former, but the worship leader tonight sang it as the latter. I pondered the difference between the two statements while singing continued all around me...

Only things that satisfy come from You implies that only good things come from God. Only good things. Meaning no bad things. From the hand of my heavenly Father comes neither sickness, curses, calamity. By His own hand He uses those things to bring glory to Himself and to miraculously bring benefit to my life, but His hand doesn't deliver the blow. Only good things come from Him. Only things that satisfy. There's a difference between something that's good and something that's satisfying. God only gives me things that will bring true satisfaction: that which makes me feel fulfilled, content. What a promise.

The only things that satisfy come from You implies that these satisfying things come from no one and nowhere but God. Anything good in my life, anything that is fulfilling or satisfying in any capacity, has come directly from God. From Him to me. It's easy at times to forget this. To think my own efforts, or the love and generosity of others, or even a good meal is the source of my satisfaction. I'm not looking deep enough when I stop there. God is the source of all satisfaction.

So, all that to say -- I'm not sure what the real words to the song are. But either way, I like it...

And who knew a "the" could make such a big difference.