“Then Samuel said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn away from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for at that time you will pursue worthless things, which can neither profit nor save, for they are nothing'” (1 Samuel 12:20,21).
Like the people of Samuels Day, we need to be careful of “going after empty things that can neither benefit nor deliver.” Hollow things are those that are fruitless and ineffective. They promise great thirst quenching supplements but in the end deliver nothing but dryness and dust. And if we “cease to follow the Lord” we can only pursue empty things.
God himself is what we were created to seek. When we reach out to Him, we are doing the most natural thing in the world. “Eternity” is planted in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and it’s true, we really can’t No Need God. But if God is all we need, we must be careful to give our hearts what they need and nothing less. Hollow things will leave our hearts empty!
But as determined as we are to reach the right things, sometimes it’s hard to be honest about what we’re really after. We tell ourselves we are reaching out to God when in reality it is a definite blessing. From The God in whom we are primarily interested. It is not God Himself that we seek, but rather a sure way to God. And if our path to God turns out to be different from what we had in mind, we sometimes falter in our faithfulness. But we need to be like Job, who was just as willing to trust God then as he was even if he didn’t “pay.” It must be God we want, period.
It’s true that we are “reach people.” By our nature, we move forward, eager to come into contact with something that can satisfy our needs. However, foolishly, we often reach for the wrong things, things that cannot satisfy us in the long run. And this is no small problem; It is a matter of life and death. If we misunderstand things when necessary, we will kill ourselves. So the question isn’t really whether we’ll get ahead or not – we’ll get our desires met, one way or another. The only question is whether our “satisfaction” will kill us or not. A thirsty man must be very careful what he allows himself to drink.
“Thirst must be quenched! If our desires are not satisfied by God, we will quickly find something else to quench our thirst” (Erwin W. Lutzer).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
