In my last post, I wrote about social distancing and how it has lead many of us to realize that being at home away from distractions tends to make us very restless. We tend to seek out things to do to pass the time and perhaps fill the void within. Today, I want to elaborate on the void I was talking about.
Ever since I was a little girl, I always felt an emptiness inside. Like something was missing. It would be such an intense feeling that at times it would lead me into bouts of intense crying. My mom would often ask me what was wrong as she tried comforting me and my answer was always the same. "I don't know".
As I grew older, the emptiness started to really manifest itself as what it was: a void in my heart. Like there was a piece of it missing and I just couldn't find out what it was. It may be that my experience with emptiness doesn't resonate with you and that's ok. We are all different creatures and have had different upbringings that cause us to feel and think in a certain way. Nonetheless, I believe with all my heart that no matter what your upbringing is, at some point or another, you too have felt that sense of emptiness - of something missing. There is something that all of humanity is longing for deep within their hearts.
So what is it that we long for?
The only one that can truly satisfy the longing of the human heart, is the one who made it. Our void cannot be filled by the created but by the Creator.
The Bible teaches us:
"For He (God) satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness." Psalm 107:9
There's a popular story in the Bible where Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well and asks her for water. The custom was back then that the Jewish people and the Samaritans avoided contact with one another. So, being asked a favour from a Jew, which is uncommon, the Samaritan woman asks Jesus: "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?" (John 4:9) to which Jesus responds "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." (John 4:10). In other words, Jesus explains to her that if she were to ask Him for water He would have given her even better than that: living water.
Ellen White, a prolific Christian author, explains this best. "He who seeks to quench his thirst at the fountain of this world will drink only to thirst again. Everywhere men (humankind) are unsatisfied. They long for something to supply the need of the soul. Only One can meet that want. The need of the world, "The Desire of all nations", is Christ. The divine grace which He alone can impart, is as living water, purifying, refreshing, and invigorating the soul" (Desire of Ages, Chapter 19).
So what is grace? Surprisingly, wikipedia has a great answer to that:
Grace is "the love and mercy given to us by God because God desires us to have it, not necessarily because of anything we have done to earn it". It is not a created substance of any kind."Grace is favour, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life." Wikipedia
After the fall of man into sin, we've become slaves to wrong doing and we desperately need Jesus to transform us back into His image. Our nature is now inclined to wrong doing and without the grace of God, helping us to be renewed, it is impossible for us to be restored. We need His Spirit that we may bear fruits of "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Galatians 5:22-23). We need Jesus, a Saviour, to save us from our sins.
God is waiting for us to accept our need that He may start filling our void. He tells us:
"I am the Lord your God,
Who brought you out of the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."
"And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."
The invitation has been given. Now the question is, will you accept it? I'm sure this might sound strange for many or simply hard to believe but I'm not asking to take my word for it. I'm asking to take God at His word. To let give Him the opportunity to present Himself in your life. You can learn of Him through His written word, the Bible as well as through prayer or simply talking to Him. After the woman finished speaking with Jesus, right away she went to share the good news with her people. However, they didn't just take her word for it, they went to Jesus themselves to confirm whether or not it was true. They said:
"Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." John 4:42
So I invite you to do the same, search for yourself with an honest desire to know the truth and God will work mightily if you open that door for Him to show you all truths.
I leave you with this verse and some tools:
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13
Practical tools?
Acknowledge your need of a Saviour
Read the Bible to find out all the beautiful truth that it holds, it is precious treasure and holds information that is vital to our eternal life, of much more worth than the one on earth. For Bible studies or tools or just to chat more about this topic, don't hesitate to contact me. You can find great Bible Studies here to start with.
Start talking/praying to God and ask Him to guide you and help you to get to know Him better and His plan for your life.
Much love and smiles,
Nahisha :)
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