“Lord, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to be corrected. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.” Jeremiah 5:3
Jeremiah appealed to God who saw and cared about truth among men. He prayed with a sense of amazement at the hardness and stubbornness of heart among God’s people. Jeremiah mourned over the lack of repentance and brokenness over sin among the people of Jerusalem. They were stricken, yet not grieved; consumed, yet not corrected. Despite all they had and would endure, they have refused to return. No more hopeless condition can be found than pleasure or indifference in sin. These people were not dissatisfied with their lives. They were enjoying their sins too much so they hardened their heart to God.
“The dissatisfaction with my condition is sometimes sharpened by a sudden awareness of my contingency, that I am living a life of no great moment and on borrowed time. The pride that I had taken in earthly accomplishments suddenly seems foolish and I begin to look elsewhere for fulfillment. There is a sudden and unexpected development of humility when I recognize that, indeed, I am not in charge of the universe, that I do not have all the answers to life and death. It is only then that I may begin to turn away from what was to what might be.” (Augustine)
The process of searching for satisfaction must begin with dissatisfaction. If you never sensed the hollowness of your life, you would never feel the need to be filled. If you were not dissatisfied with what you have and who you are, you would never reach out for something more. You would never start your search for God. Everyone has that point in their lives when they find that nothing we have done or can do will fill that place in our lives that feel so empty. This is our bottom. This is the point that we start our search for God. God is the only thing that can fill that empty spot in our life. God is the only place that can give you the satisfaction of life.
My soul was panting for God when I did not even know what I was looking for. Today if you are feeling empty and you don’t know what you need, maybe you need to look to God or maybe you just need to draw closer to Him. Nothing in this world will ever fill that emptiness, but God.