Human beings are spiritual beings. It’s one of the most obvious proofs that God exists – our notion and need of him. Who thought up the idea of God anyway? No one needed to because we’ve always had it. We have been designed with the logic and the capacity for God. It’s as if God wired us for himself and ripped out the battery, or gouged out a gaping hole in the center of our existence for him.
It’s been called a God-shaped vacuum, most eloquently expressed by Blaise Pascal, that seventeenth century mathematician/philosopher who actually discovered the vacuum, when he wrote:
What does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object – in other words, by God himself.
It’s why we worship. It’s why we create. And I am convinced it’s why we have art. The whole field of art and artistic endeavor is nothing more than our human attempts to explain and contain this void that God put in us.
The practical application of this truth is twofold. First, that we tend to this need in our own lives. Knowing God through Christ Jesus doesn’t solve the mystery. It’s a present tense longing. Even in knowing God we are not fully satisfied. Paul made it his ultimate goal to know God, and he stated it as something yet to be acquired. It’s a seeking that is not fully satisfied in the finding, or maybe better stated that the finding is a long-term process. It’s not a static, one time thing to find God. It’s a lifetime of finding him.
Second, this knowledge gives us a way of understanding our fellow man. A good deal of man’s efforts can be explained by Pascal’s “seeking in things that are not there the help [we] cannot find in those that are.” It’s a place of identity with others – a commonality we share with everyone regardless of race, culture or religion. It’s a universal truth and a starting point for addressing everything spiritual.
I heard that one of our friends who is not a Christian recently went to hear the Dalai Lama speak. Why did she go if it wasn’t that she was seeking? I am eager to talk to her about it because we can now connect on a spiritual level. I am not threatened that the Dalai Lama is a Buddhist. I am excited that my friend is seeking. This is a flame I want to fan, not put out.
John Fischer The Catch 
True. See Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill (Acts 17). God also has “set eternity in (our) hearts” (Ecclesiates), and left us searching for Him in all things unanswerable to our human “wisdom” (cf. Rom. 1 – “wisdom of God” is “foolishness” to the “wise” of this world).
This morning I was struck by the intensity of my upset about marketers, politicians, & others trying to manipulate us and drag us away from God’s world. Then I calmed down and looked at my own behavior in this area. I have done exactly what I am so upset about. I am not immune to greed. I began to be willing to forgive us all. We ARE all human, all seeking. Those I am upset with have been diverted from their search, I suspect, by the glitter of more worldly things. But, as you wrote yesterday, if I can be saved from my wrong-headed notions, then so can they. I continue to need that connection to God through creativity in my life to continue to draw closer to Him. And He can use anything to reach us – our creativity, our misguided longings. Anything. I’m so glad.
Was reminded of these verses, also indicated by Mr. Wermuth above:
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;” (Acts 17:26-27).
“Trust those who seek the truth; doubt those who find it.” (Andre Gide)
As a seeker my mind resonates with the sentiments of Pascal and Gide, though they are way beyond me philosophically. More simply, I sometimes enjoy the definition of Christianity as “One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
In my youth I had a clearer handle on who was and who was not a Christian. But as one of the spokesmen of that time wrote: “Ah, but I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now.”
So true.
Looks like this guy sang about that “beggar” you mentioned, Bob—
“Beggar”
Words and Music by John Fischer
I know where the food is
And it isn’t very far away
Doesn’t cost much but an empty soul
And the pride that stands in the way
I’m not one who’s got it all in place
Telling you what you should do
No I’m just one old hungry beggar
Showing you where I found food
Have you found the water
That will never make you thirst again
Jesus is a well of water springing up
Into eternal life from within
I’m not one who’s got it all in place
Telling you what you should do
No I’m just one old hungry beggar
Showing you where I found food
Maybe you aren’t hungry
And maybe you don’t thirst at all
But maybe the years have hardened the tears
And you really are a beggar after all
I’m not one who’s got it all in place
Telling you what you should do
No I’m just one old hungry beggar
Showing you where I found food
Any plans yet to offer mp3 downloads for the “Dark Horse” album, John? (As you have with “Still Life” recently)
I have been wondering for years who wrote this song! So glad I finally know. Used to sing this in youth group 25 years ago. It stuck with me. Is this on a cd or something? I’d love to hear the original.
To Bob Gill,
Your must be a Dylan fan as well.
I have used that quote many times. Most people understand others think I’ve lost my mind.