THE HOLE WE CAN’F FILL....Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Ecclesiastes 3:11  NKJV

 Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

It is dangerous to teach from Ecclesiastes.  Understanding here is like holding water in your hand.  You’re never sure you have it and if it is going to get away.  I have studied Ecclesiastes, read commentaries, both old and new, which attempt to explain the method and the message, but there is little certainty in all these attempts.

In Ecclesiastes 3:11 quoted above, we find a hint of a great truth.  It is at least some insight into the Image of God man retains.  The Image has left an unfillable hole in man’s life that nothing less than God can fill.

It is a question whether man is motivated by greed, desire for power, or lust.  In every instance of man’s extreme ambition either one or some combination of these factors are found.

Hitler wanted to rule the universe.  Rockefeller wanted some more.  All the purveyors of hedonism seek to fulfill their lives with the satisfaction of their lust.  But always there is a hole that can’t be filled.

Eternity by definition falls into the category of the infinite.  Whatever is infinite can never be satisfied by the finite.  There is no amount represented by numbers that reach to infinity.

It seems as if St. Augustine has an inkling of this when he uttered that famous statement that is quoted so often, “You made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it reposes in You”, The Confession of St. Augustine.  The emptiness of the heart cannot find anything to fill it until God resumes His residence there.

 The heart that God fills is like a container dropped into the ocean, it can never be empty again.  The need for eternity has found the Infinite and it is enough.