- Long Life
Psalm 91:16a
With long life will I satisfy him,
A further conditional promise for those who dwell in the Presence and make the Lord their trust and call upon Him is that they will be satisfied with a long life. We cannot know how long is “long,” for length of days is totally in God’s hands, and it is not according to our own desires for numbers of years but God’s desires for quality of life. The Lord does not count time as we do.
In the context of the promise “long” means good, rich, full, abundant, and satisfying. The important word in this promise is satisfy: God will satisfy the individual person with everything needed to make life good and happy; God will satisfy the “truster in God” so that he can say, “I’ve had a good life” no matter how long or short in years it is. Satisfaction also has the connotation of “not lacking any good thing” even to the point of contentment. Satisfied means never saying, “I need just a little more,” or “I only want one more thing,” or “If I only had such and such I would be happy.” This contented state may be nearly impossible to achieve, but it is not because God didn’t promise it. He says. “I will satisfy you with long life.” The promise stands.
Finally, eternal life is long life, very, very long; that’s a guarantee we can believe.