Filling the Hole

Photo by Leon Ephraïm on Unsplash

Human nature is a curious thing. If you do any research on it, you can easily become overwhelmed with all the information and schools of thought on it. Just reading the Wikipedia write up on it has caused my brain to hurt. Nonetheless, I would like to talk to you today about human nature, but it is MY version of human nature. (Which, has nothing to do Greek philosophy, Chinese thought, or even Christian theology.) My version of human nature is simply what I have noticed for myself in my 42+ years of living life on this planet.

No matter where we are or what we do in this life, we all will meet and interact with other people. These people are either family, friends, strangers, or acquaintances. And, while we can have various things in common, I feel pretty confident in saying that, besides the obvious things that make us human, we all share something else in common; an emptiness inside. (We are kinda like an empty jelly donut with no filling in this way!)

Okay, I know you are asking yourself, “What is she talking about?” Well, whether you realize it or not, I think we all feel like something is missing from our lives. You might think of it as an emptiness inside, or a hole in your life, or an innate longing for something else.

​Basically, I think that we all feel like there is something we need, or need to accomplish, to make our lives “whole”. Surely, you know what I am talking about. It is that thought or feeling that if you just got that ideal job, or meet the right person, or have that child, or could lose that weight, or could afford that dream house, or “fill in the blank” that your life would perfect. I think this is just a feeling that is universal to all humans.

I believe that all of us feel incomplete somehow and we spend an awful lot of our time trying to “fill the hole”. We want to be complete, to feel happy and content. (We want that jelly filling!) I have also come to believe that many of us try to fill this hole with things that do not work or make us happy. Things like food, alcohol, drugs, sports, or sex. Sure, these things can give us some happiness, but only for a little while. It is not lasting.

Or, we start making idols out of things in our lives. We find something and we put all our focus on it, and it therefore becomes an idol. And, our idols don’t have to be golden calves! We can do this with anything. I have witnessed family, friends, and co-workers do this with their kids, their marriages, their work, or hobbies. We do things to occupy our time and our thoughts. All ultimately with the goal of filling this gaping hole. (Or, at the very least, to divert our attention away from it.)

I have personally done this with a myriad of things throughout my life. But, two areas really stand out. I have done it by trying to find my purpose in life job-wise. And, subsequently, wasted at least 15 or so years on trying to find fulfillment in my job.

I have also done it by being super focused on my health. I have what I refer to as a mystery illness. I have struggled with this illness for about eight years now. I have gone to more doctors than I care to think about. I have searched for answers about what is wrong with me far and wide. I have spent a lot of time, energy, effort, and money into trying to get to the root of my illness; all in an effort to get better. I have not found a satisfactory answer yet. But, I have succeeded in making myself crazy in my attempts to find said satisfactory answer. (And, I think I have driven my hubby crazy too!)

And, guess what? Nothing works. Not the job searching, not the obsession with what I am eating, not the TV shows I watch, not any of the books I read. Not of any of the things I mentioned above works. It hasn’t worked for me and, if you are honest with yourself, nothing you have tried has worked for you either. Why? Because we are looking for the wrong thing in all the wrong places! (Cue the old country song by Johnny Lee, Lookin for Love.)

But, I have some amazing, life-changing news for you. I know who can fill that hole: God!

Doesn’t it just make sense that the one who created us, created us with a void that only He can fill? This emptiness we have inside, this hole that we want to fill, it was put there by God. I believe that He put it there so that we would search Him out. Sadly, most of us try to fill this hole with things other than God. (As I have been talking about above.)

However, once you seek God and find Him, you will start to feel whole. I am sure it is different for different people. It could happen right away, or it could take some time. If you have been following along in my posts, you know that I am a slow learner. It has taken me a while to put these puzzle pieces together. But, the Bible tells us in Matthew 7:7 seek and ye shall find. And, I have finally realized that what I have been looking for, what I have been seeking, this longing that I have had for so long—it has been God all along. He is what I have been searching for. And, it is He who has made me whole.

I know that you are in the same boat. And, I am here to tell you that God can and will do the same thing for you. When you enter a personal relationship with God through faith, He will make you whole. He will fill that hole, that longing. And, you will no longer need to seek it elsewhere. It is the most glorious, freeing feeling in the world. This is when you will get the peace of God, the peace that surpasses all understanding. (See Philippians 4:7)

Don’t you want that for your life? I know you do. If you don’t yet know God as your personal savior, I implore you to seek Him out right now. This PeaceWithGod.net website shows you how. I am praying for you every step of the way!