A God-Shaped Vacuum

I went to Bible Study at Wallen Baptist Church last night with Miss Bowles and I really enjoyed it. We talked about chapter 2 in Tommy Nelson's A Life Well Lived which focused on Ecclesiastes 2.

Humans are creatures who consistantly pursue pleasure - not necessarily just sexual pleasure, but pleasure in general. We desire to feel satisified and find things or activities to do in which fully fulfill us. We get caught up in materialism, sexual pleasure, our work and many other tempting things in order to fulfull that looming emptiness within ourselves.

But why, at the end of the day, are these things so unfulfilling?


....


It's because we are looking to the wrong things to fulfill this void.

Blaise Pascal said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man that cannot be filled by any created being, but by God alone made known through Jesus Christ.” THIS IS SO TRUE! It's like trying to shove a square peg into a circle hole. We try so hard to fill this "God-shaped vacuum" with the created instead of the Creator. But nothing else fits.

God wants us to pursue Him because He is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him. It's not that pursuing pleasure is wrong, it's just that so much of the time we pursue the wrong pleasures.

Knowing and pursuing the Lord and feeling His love is the only thing that can fully satisfy us. It is the only thing that can bring true joy and fulfillment within our lives.

Everything else is just mediocre. It satisfies us only temporarily.

I'm not saying that it's easy to remember this because it's not. It's so much easier to just pursue whatever we feel like. It's so much easier to trust in our own selves to find earthly pleasures to fulfill ourselves.

But in Ecclesiastes 2:26, it is promiesd "to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness" and what else do we really need? As a Christian, it seems to me that our efforts to please ourselves stem from a lack of trust in God. We want to control our own lives instead of trusting the Lord to fulfill our needs. We just get so caught up in our wants, and we forget that everything is truly a gift.

For non-Christians, there is no reason for them not to pursue whatever pleasures they desire, and that is scary to me. I know what it's like to have no reason to do the right thing [whether you choose to or not]. Before I accepted the Lord, I did things to try to be a good person. There was no overarching purpose for anything I did, no ultimate need to act in ways that would glorify God. Looking back, that's really scary.

If you don't know God, I urge you to start exploring for yourself. It's scary and hard, but it's worth the eternal joy and fulfillment that you can only receive as a precious gift from Him. And believe me, people WANT to help you understand...I do.

And if God is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful...why wouldn't we be excited to have Him in control of our lives?


Love,

Steph