St. Augustine once wrote, “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” Centuries later Blaise Pascal wrote that there is a “God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God.” These are well-known quotes, but I continue to be amazed at how often this idea comes up in Scripture. In 2 Chronicles 28, King Ahaz is seeking fulfillment in other things and is serving other gods. And when God brings judgment to get his attention, Ahaz only calls on help from another country, Assyria. But in verse 20, “the king of Assyria came to him, but he gave him trouble instead of help.”
God, how often do I run to anything else for help, besides you? When will I learn, when will we learn that we will never be satisfied; things will never go well when we are working against you? When will I learn that when anything is more important than you it is simply not going to work out?
Two verses later Ahaz becomes “even more unfaithful to the Lord.” He offered sacrifices to the god of another country who had defeated him, thinking they would help him. This is nothing short of desperation; a last ditch effort at success, pleasure, satisfaction.
We will try anything, won’t we? We will look anywhere else for life-anesthesia, we’ll try any activity, any distraction, any sport, TV show, or drug. We have spiritual ADHD, with our attention jumping around to anything or anyone that will soothe our problems for a moment. Just as long as we don’t have to make the effort and swallow our pride, and bow the knee to the one true God. The sad irony is this: that is the only place where real rest, and pleasure, and satisfaction exist. God, help me to find my rest, my life, my all in you.
1 comment:
Maybe I can be your first cornerstone comment; but not sure as I am not a good blogger; yet. So true about spritual adhd and it brought to mind that we are bombarded with places to turn other than God and I too learned the hard way. How freeing it can be if we just "bow the knee to our one true God".
I was recently reading and found great comfort in Psalm 31:14-15
14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."
15 My times are in your hands;
deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.
So if we will simply trust God as all things are in His hands; He will deliver us according to His perfect will.
Charles Spurgeon once gave a sermon on Psalm 31 and had some great insight. He wrote:
"The great truth is this — all that concerns the believer is in the hands of the Almighty God. “My times”, these change and shift; but they change only in accordance with unchanging love, and they shift only according to the purpose of One with whom is no variableness nor shadow of a turning. “My times”, that is to say, my ups and my downs, my health and my sickness, my poverty and my wealth — all those are in the hand of the Lord, who arranges and appoints according to his holy will the length of my days, and the darkness of my nights. Storms and calms vary the seasons at the divine appointment. Whether times are reviving or depressing remains with him who is Lord both of time and of eternity; and we are glad it is so."
I am so glad it is so! God you are my God and may we all trust in you. Our times are in your hands. How comforting is that???
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