So I got back from a party and I couldn't hold back the tears and the prayers as the Lord visited my heart with a revelation of the loneliness of the human heart. It was as though the Lord let me peek through a foggy window to behold an upsetting existence that stares back at Him all the time. Being that I saw it so clearly, I set out to document the findings and journal my reaction. It seemed so pitiful and so obvious.
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Spitzer Space Telescope infrared view of the W5 star-forming region,
about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. |
Oh how we run away from emptiness! We fill our ears with sounds and noises, our eyes with movies and pictures, our thought-life with conversations on Facebook, Twitter, texting, distracting us from the great void of self-awareness. We call it "snacking" and "chilling" or "relaxing", "just watching tv", more like a desperate attempt to numb the growls of solitude churning within the second we have a minute to ourselves. We flee the chance of an unoccupied moment as silence screams. The screech is our conscience exposing a hollow heart. We are suffocated in the company of Self, running away from "by myself". Alone. We search aimlessly for cheap attention, prompt recognition through updated statuses and uploaded pictures. It's the social network epidemic! There is no cure but the "off" button! What is it about the human heart that seeks to fill this void... a great black hole of affection? By the way, I'm the first one that's always on the book of faces though it's the Book of Life I shouldn't close. ; )
The human heart was made for Love and how we ache for it continuously! We are beggars of affection and attention whether surrounded by relatives, friends or strangers. But there's only One that can truly satisfy. It's a loophole, you see, a disclaimer God wrote into the very fabric of human existence. It goes like this, "You shall Love the Lord your God with your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength." My advice? Read the small print... pong intended. There is only One that fulfills, replenishes and nurtures the human soul ever so Selflessly. How pathetic we are running to broken cisterns when there is a vast, fresh Spring of Life right up ahead! All He desires to do is release to us that which we crave for, what we were made to contain, to carry, to posses - His great Love for us, His affections towards us, His words and thoughts for us which outnumber the grains of sand, Psalm 139. That's all He wants!
That we would run to Him first when we are discontent and confronted by our needs, be it emotional, physical, material or spiritual. We were meant to walk through life hand in hand with our Creator. That we would yield to our hunger pangs and the cries of our empty soul, lifting our eyes to the right One, the only One that can save us from ourselves. How poor is the human heart and how willing is He to lavish Love upon us, in us, even as we pour it over others.
That we would run to Him first when we are discontent and confronted by our needs, be it emotional, physical, material or spiritual. We were meant to walk through life hand in hand with our Creator. That we would yield to our hunger pangs and the cries of our empty soul, lifting our eyes to the right One, the only One that can save us from ourselves. How poor is the human heart and how willing is He to lavish Love upon us, in us, even as we pour it over others.
This kind of loneliness, unnecessary, useless, wretched loneliness, I never want to "see" again! ...And awake from this reality back into the dream (or nightmare) of the selfish love-leech limbo? ...The more God reveals about the human heart, the more I appreciate His divine compassion for me. Oh God, how we need you! Help us see it! That our cries to be rescued would turn up no other Savior but the original LifeSaver! Let this be the prayer of every heart-shaped black hole. Amen.
"But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him
will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
Excerpts from Mike Bickle's sermon notes on Song of Songs, Session 5, pg.2:
These longings are: the longing for the assurance that we are enjoyed by God, the longing to be fascinated, the longing to be beautiful, the longing to be great, the longing for intimacy without shame, the longing to be wholehearted and passionate, and the longing to make a deep and lasting impact.
They are cravings put into us strategically by God. They will never ever go away. The reason God satisfies us with pleasure is because He created a hunger for pleasure in us. They each have an element of delight, pain and ache as they woo us into God’s presence. The enemy uses these cravings to woo us into darkness as well. When these longings are not touched in the grace of God they leave us empty; they leave us with pain, mourning, and dissatisfaction. God created us with a “God shaped vacuum” (gnawing emptiness) in our heart that can only be filled by God.
Excerpts from Mike Bickle's sermon notes on Song of Songs, Session 5, pg.2:
God created the human spirit with seven longings that draw us to Him and reflect His glory in us. These longings are common in all of us. Each longing is a reflection of God’s personality. We are made in His image, thus, we have these longings. We feel delight because He is filled with delight, we have happiness because He has happiness. (see the book: 7 Longings of the Human Heart by M. Bickle and Deborah Hiebert).
These longings are: the longing for the assurance that we are enjoyed by God, the longing to be fascinated, the longing to be beautiful, the longing to be great, the longing for intimacy without shame, the longing to be wholehearted and passionate, and the longing to make a deep and lasting impact.
They are cravings put into us strategically by God. They will never ever go away. The reason God satisfies us with pleasure is because He created a hunger for pleasure in us. They each have an element of delight, pain and ache as they woo us into God’s presence. The enemy uses these cravings to woo us into darkness as well. When these longings are not touched in the grace of God they leave us empty; they leave us with pain, mourning, and dissatisfaction. God created us with a “God shaped vacuum” (gnawing emptiness) in our heart that can only be filled by God.
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