March 8, 2015

Insatiable

He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity

(Ecclesiastes 5:10).

Most people recognize at least something of the uniqueness of human nature. We are personal beings. Among all the many forms of life on our planet, even the higher forms of animal life, we are distinct. We can have relationships with other beings, especially those of our own kind, that are richer and deeper than the relationships any other creatures are capable of. For better or worse, we are “people,” and we have needs that can only be filled by other beings of a similar nature. A human being who spends his life dealing always with “things” and never with other persons is almost always going to find life flat and unfulfilling.

Yet we are more than personal beings: we are also spiritual beings. There is a need within us for something beyond what even the other personal beings in this world can provide. That need, of course, is for the God who created us, the God who transcends the limits of the physical universe in which we live. Having been created by God, we need God. This need is not optional. It is not something we decide to have or not to have. It comes as a part of our creation in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

We can no more eradicate our spiritual nature than we can eradicate our personal nature. We can’t do away with our need for God without destroying ourselves. We can, however, ignore that need and waste our lives attempting to quench our thirst with other satisfactions. In the long run, it doesn’t work, but many of us spend our lives doing it anyway, and a sad emptiness is the result.

We need to pay more attention to the spiritual yearnings that tug at us. That nagging feeling that there must be “something more” to life than what we’ve experienced is an important clue to the meaning of life. There is a great deal more to life than the physical fulfillments – even the personal fulfillments – that are available to us now. Eternity is in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and without God our desires will always be . . . insatiable.

Nothing less than God can fill our soul. Its capacity is designed for God alone. If we try to fill it with earthly things, we will never be satisfied. Lovers of God will be at peace when they are filled with God through desire and meditation. 

Richard Rolle