At the beginning of the Scriptures, God created the Heavens and the Earth, and somewhere between the two, a garden was planted, a place in which man could mingle with the divine in fullness. This garden, aptly named Eden (meaning pleasure or delight), was a place void of wanting, longing, or aching, but instead, the men whose feet tread upon it, worked it, tended it, and cared for it tasted of total fulfillment.
There's a line I hear often that speaks of "a God-sized hole in the heart". In Eden, this hole was filled and pouring over.
The human soul knew no thirst for God before it was quenched, hunger for Daily Bread was satisfied before the stomach was hollowed, and identity was not a source of confusion, but validation. The presence of Jesus makes very clear who we are, and in Eden, the glory and weight of God rested with such an assurance over the human heart that we could only see ourselves through the eyes of our Creator Himself- to taste ultimate fulfillment is to feel and know you are seen, known, and loved by Him.
Our identity, the way we saw ourselves, was secondary to how we saw Jesus.
The fall of man sent us all into a war over, among many other things, our identity.
We are in an identity crisis. We are in a war over who we are because we do not know Who God is.
Because anywhere the absence of God is in the heart, a pathway is all too easily paved for confusion- a fuel that when thrown on the fire will burn everything in the human soul until who we were created to be is, sadly, charred, scorched, and unrecognizable. The enemy steals, kills, and destroys, and he often uses confusion as a pathway to do this.
Back to the "God-sized hole in the heart", a condition that began with the entering of sin and was previously unknown in the garden. This hole is a gaping reminder of the distance between God and man that wasn't intended to be there, but here's the deal:
This hole is not empty, and it is not stagnant, instead, it festers with longing and desire- this strange tug that mankind had never felt pre-fruit now totally consumed them.
We are creatures of longing, and now we are placed in a time of waiting for that longing to be fully satisfied - We are all longing for what we had in Eden.
The fall bent the human condition so that we were no longer to be fulfilled but to desire fulfillment. I would go as far as to say that desire is the main motivator behind much of human behavior. My point is, however, the fall cursed us with a lovesick aching for God that sent us turning to lesser loves to ease the heartbreak.
And the hole in us is only a symptom pointing to the huge chasm between us and the One we were created to love and be loved by. No wonder we live in such an identity crisis!
I'm sure all of you are thinking, wow, Lydia, this all seems super dark and I have no idea where you're going with this.
Here's where I'm going with this, guys- I mentioned earlier that the hole of the heart is filled with longing and desire for the presence of our Lord. Lovesickness. And then I mentioned that this is merely a symptom of something much larger, and that is the chasm between us and God caused by our brokenness- our fall.
What if- in the same way that the hole in our heart is not empty but is full of longing, what if the chasm between us and our God isn't empty either...
but full of God's longing for us?
Thus far the primary focus of this post has been human longing for the presence of Jesus, but how much more Jesus longs for us. He desires us in a far richer way than our empty little hearts can even comprehend. And that is why Jesus encourages us time and time again to be alert because He is coming back.
"Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks." - Luke 12:36
"Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." -Matthew 24:42
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." - Matthew 25:1–13
So, why is Jesus coming back? Because He is a bridegroom that longs for us. When we hear that Eden was a place of pleasure and delight, we often think of that as our pleasure and delight- but if we could only see how much we are loved by our God, how much He delights in us, our identity crisis, our emptiness and aching, would be healed.
Jesus is coming back because He longs for us. He desires us. He loves us.
The God of the universe clothed Himself in flesh so that He might end our waiting and fulfill our desire and...dare I say it, fulfill His desire too.
Because the chasm between us and our Bridegroom is full of longing, we can have hope for our longing's fulfillment. The space between us is not void, and so our hope is not in vain!
So I would like to encourage you all. That in your aching for Jesus, in the longing of your little hearts, in the long days and nights of crying out, God where are You!, know that you are not crying out to a lofty and immovable God but one who is saying I want you and long for you, too.
And so embrace this aching. Embrace this longing- it is holy. This is a feeling you will not have in the coming age when we look into the eyes of your Bridegroom, so lean into it and savor it now so fulfillment will taste even sweeter. The lovesickness within us is the groaning of the Holy Spirit. It is a cry for Your kingdom, come! It is Maranatha! It is the cry of the human heart for fulfillment of all desire, and that is Jesus.
Let not our oil burn out, let not our first love die, let not our souls fall into lesser desires.
Let us not forget that while the age we are in is one of waiting for the return of our King, our fulfillment is imminent. He is coming back. Let our souls rest in our temporary unfulfillment, for our hope has substance. Don't grow comfortable. There is so much more to Life than this.
Don't stop longing. The King is coming!
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." - Matthew 5:6
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