God-shaped Void
"There’s an emptiness inside her/And she’d do anything to fill it in" - Dave Matthews Band
There is a theological concept that every person is created with an internal, spiritual vacuum, a void, which nothing can fill completely or satisfactorily except God. This vacuum creates a hunger in the person's life; it is a hunger to know his or her Creator, but the true nature of this need is often obscured by the lies of the world. In our deceived state we look to anything and everything but God to satisfy the longing. It is so rooted in the core of our being that is manifests itself not only spiritually, but physically and psychologically. People gorge themselves on food, sex, mood-altering agents, even their jobs, in increasing measure because the hunger doesn't seem to go away.
I've heard it said that the concept of a God-shaped void is not biblical. I disagree. I believe Jesus speaks to it directly in John 6: "Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him'" (v. 53-56). The disciples called this a hard teaching, and many fell away because they did not understand it. Jesus was not advocating cannibalism here. It's as if He were saying, "I know you're hungry. The reason I came into the world is to satisfy that hunger. Stop looking to the things of the world to fill you up; fill yourself with me and your longing will be enduringly satisfied."
As is typical of any generation, God is usually the last Person people look to in order to have their needs met. That's because when you find something, you generally stop looking.
"The only thing I need is a void that You can fill." - Caedmon's Call
"'DRINK ME'... 'EAT ME'" - Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland