Is there truly something in this world with the potential to satisfy those sometimes implacable longings and desires hidden in our hearts?
If I succeeded in my job and got the raise I'd hoped for and the position I worked so hard to attain, would I be happy?
If I gave away just a small amount of my purity so that another would love me, would I be happy?
If I worked exceedingly hard at being good and kind to people and gained approval and love from others, would I be happy?
If I found real love, got married, had children and raised them well, would I be happy?
St. Augustine said it well when he said that our hearts are restless till we rest in Him. Our hearts search and search for even an ounce of fulfillment and when the object of our searching does not satisfy, we move on to another, only to find that it too could not give us what we need.
Jeremiah 2:13 says, "For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns- broken cisterns that can hold no water."
These people did two things: 1. they forsook the Lord, the fountain of living waters. and 2. they attempted (and failed) to build for themselves cisterns to hold the water themselves. Of options one and two, which would you choose? The broken cistern with leaking water? The result there is inevitable. The water would run out and you would have to run back and forth in order to survive, exhausting yourself in the process. Or would you choose the fountain of living water?
The choice seem obvious. But how often do we choose the worse option?
Dear friend, you need to know that there is something with the potential to satisfy our every longing and need and it is in Christ alone that all fulfillment is found.
Jesus answered and said to her, "whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life," (John 4:13-14).Your searching needs to go no further than the cross. His grace is sufficient for us. He is our shepherd, we have all that we need. He is Himself the spring of living water.
You searching for fulfillment in the world will only ever lead to disappointment and exhaustion. There is not enough money in the world, not a perfect love, not a great position or enough admiration from others that could ever satisfy the empty space in your heart. Only Christ can do that.
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail, (Is. 58:11).
