(Grandpa Dave - I love this picture :) ) What is our inner heart's cry... what is our longing? What do we strive for in this world, and what will bring us satisfaction?
We constantly aim for satisfaction - yet nothing is ever enough. No riches, popularity, or success is ever enough, we push on, we want more. We climb higher on the ladder, yet never quite reach the end.
An author, Jack Higgins, was asked what he would have liked to have been told when he was a boy. His answer: "That when you get to the top there's nothing there." There isn't.
No worldly satisfaction is enough. Marie Antoinette, the queen of France, with riches, amusement and maids at her beck and call, said despairingly "nothing tastes." Nothing does.
King Solomon wrote life off as meaningless . "Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless." -Ecclesciastes 5:10 . Meaningless... how depressing it sounds.
Why do we strive, when nothing can ever satisfy? What is our heart's cry and longing that is never filled with all the world has to offer?
"My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God."
-Psalm 84:2
Our hearts cry out for the living God. Yet our hearts deceive us into thinking that if we only keep striving for more on earth we will eventually reach satisfaction. It doesn't happen.
"He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him;
He cannot save himself, or say,
"Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?"
-Isaiah 44:20
Isaiah 44 speaks of those who worship idols of their own making. It seems so ridiculous to think of a man chopping down a tree, using part of it to cook his supper, and then using the rest to fashion an idol. His own deluded heart misleads him.
Doesn't this make sense still for our day? Our hearts are crying out, longing for our God, the living God... yet we misunderstand this intrinsic need, thinking instead that we can reach satisfaction by our own pursuits. Still in our own helpless strivings we find nothing but emptiness. We build our lives, our fortunes, our social acceptance and popularity... only to find ourselves in the same position as this man from Isaiah 44. We worship an idol of our own making.
"And I—in righteousness I will see your face;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness."
-Psalm 17:15
It is His likeness that brings satisfaction. We long to gaze on His beauty, to know Him, to share His sufferings, to be conformed to His likeness, and to worship Him all of our days. This is our inner heart's cry.
"As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?"
We constantly aim for satisfaction - yet nothing is ever enough. No riches, popularity, or success is ever enough, we push on, we want more. We climb higher on the ladder, yet never quite reach the end.
An author, Jack Higgins, was asked what he would have liked to have been told when he was a boy. His answer: "That when you get to the top there's nothing there." There isn't.
No worldly satisfaction is enough. Marie Antoinette, the queen of France, with riches, amusement and maids at her beck and call, said despairingly "nothing tastes." Nothing does.
King Solomon wrote life off as meaningless . "Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless." -Ecclesciastes 5:10 . Meaningless... how depressing it sounds.
Why do we strive, when nothing can ever satisfy? What is our heart's cry and longing that is never filled with all the world has to offer?
"My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God."
-Psalm 84:2
Our hearts cry out for the living God. Yet our hearts deceive us into thinking that if we only keep striving for more on earth we will eventually reach satisfaction. It doesn't happen.
"He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him;
He cannot save himself, or say,
"Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?"
-Isaiah 44:20
Isaiah 44 speaks of those who worship idols of their own making. It seems so ridiculous to think of a man chopping down a tree, using part of it to cook his supper, and then using the rest to fashion an idol. His own deluded heart misleads him.
Doesn't this make sense still for our day? Our hearts are crying out, longing for our God, the living God... yet we misunderstand this intrinsic need, thinking instead that we can reach satisfaction by our own pursuits. Still in our own helpless strivings we find nothing but emptiness. We build our lives, our fortunes, our social acceptance and popularity... only to find ourselves in the same position as this man from Isaiah 44. We worship an idol of our own making.
"And I—in righteousness I will see your face;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness."
-Psalm 17:15
It is His likeness that brings satisfaction. We long to gaze on His beauty, to know Him, to share His sufferings, to be conformed to His likeness, and to worship Him all of our days. This is our inner heart's cry.
"As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?"
-Psalm 42:1-2
It's when we quench this thirst with our Lord that we finally find that life has meaning, life"tastes," and when we get to the end it won't be empty and barren. For He will be there.
You scored as Jane Bennett, Pretty and good-natured, you see the best in everyone and would make an ideal partner. However, you take a long time to recover from emotional upsets...
1 comment:
Jennifer,
you've been tagged! If you want to play, details are on my blog!
Love, Mom
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