Our desires in life continuously change over time. We might desire something eagerly right now and spend all our effort to achieve it. But after possessing what we have desired, our hearts will not get satisfied. Even worse we may not value what we already achieved. We might look for something more, something different and something big. Human desires are fleeting and ever-changing. We can call them crushes, fascinations, passions, or infatuations. It makes us run and chase all through our life. Some might also call their desires their purpose and goal in life. While for others desires can turn into an obsession and entangle lives deeply in disappointments and sorrow.
The desire for money, greed, comfort, lust, and security has no limit. How much money in our life can make us happy? How much comfort is enough? Is there a limit to greed? The answers to all these questions are not finite but infinite. The limits of expectation expand as we move closer to the desired level. Life becomes tiresome as anxiety fills in when someone fails to achieve what they have desired dearly.
Is our desire the root cause of all disappointments?
Our heart has become a hollow bag. The more we try to satisfy its desire, the more it asks for it. Does it mean we should control our desires? Does it mean the desires of human life are the root cause of all disappointments? All of us were born with desire. The desires are embedded within the heart of every man. We can not alter our fundamental thought processes and take away the desires from our minds. If so is there a solution to our problems?
It is not the problem of desire but it’s more about how we answer our heart’s search for fulfillment and with what we fill our heart.
To solve this problem, we need something that fulfills all our desires in life. We need something that satisfies our hearts completely. So that our soul gets fully quenched and free from all its wants. The solution to human desire should be available to everyone, rich or poor, educated or uneducated. It should be easily attainable and free of cost with an unlimited supply. What could that be?
Search for a solution
The search to control and conquer human desire led many saints to deep meditation in seclusion. Many of them try to earn it through human discipline, determination, fasting, and obstinance from all pleasure.
A famous mathematician Blaise Pascal came up with the following conclusion. He said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every [person] which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” In other words, our heart burns with natural desire until it is satisfied by its creator.
The wisest man king Solomon after enjoying all the pleasures of this world described life as meaningless. Solomon with his great wisdom conquered nations; built great buildings, acquired many slaves and wives, and then in his old age summarized his life experience as follows.
“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.” (NIV)
The great Solomon concluded his research by following a theory of exclusion. He tried every pleasure and enjoyed them. But none could satisfy his soul. After testing them, he excluded all human desires as meaningless except one. In other words, our hearts can never be satisfied by worldly pleasures. Solomon could have gathered approximately around 1000 tons of gold during his 40 years of reign. But that did not give him any satisfaction or fulfillment in life.
Here is his final word: “The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you.”
How to quench our human desires?
An owner of a car was trying to fix his car which broke down mid-way through his journey. He was desperately trying to fix it without much success. Then a passerby stopped and saw the man trying to get the car started. The passer-by made a few adjustments and the car started immediately. The car owner asked, “How did you do it?”. The passerby politely replied, “I know how to fix it because I created this car.” He was none other than Hendry Ford, who invented the car.
Similarly, the God who created and designed us has the perfect solution for all our problems. He knows how to quench our heart’s thirst and fulfill all our desires.
Jesus said, “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
When Jesus made the above statement, He was talking to a woman who has gone through five failed marriages. In today’s context, we could easily judge the woman as a perpetual sinner. But Jesus did not judge her past mistakes. Instead, He pointed out the reason for her sin. Her many failed marriages indicate a lack of fulfillment and disappointments in life. Her life can not be complete without God’s fulfilling living water. As Pascal mentioned the heart will continue to have a vacuum that can never be fulfilled by any other means apart from God himself.
Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
The living water in the above statement indicates the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised Holy Spirit to everyone who believes in Him. The Holy Spirit fills a man’s heart with peace and joy all through the ups and downs in life.
The Bible says, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,“
Independent of our life’s circumstances Holy Spirit can fill our hearts with heavenly peace.
Dear reader, we are not sure from which part of the world you are reading this message. Jesus knows your heart. He is with you right now. He knows all about your past and disappointments in life. He wants to heal your heart from all disappointments and fill your life with peace. Let’s go to His presence with a humble heart. He will bless you and lead you.
Please place your hand on your heart and call upon the name of Jesus. Pray the below prayer in your own words from the bottom of your heart. We are praying along with you. Jesus is listening to your prayers.
Dear Jesus, I come to you with a humble heart. You know my heart. You know all the desires of my life. Please come into my life. Quench my heart. Let my heart thirst for you. You alone can satisfy my life. You alone can fulfill all my desires and pull me out of my disappointments. Jesus, you are my hope. Let my eyes seek you. Let my heart follow you all through my life. Please come into my life and lead me. Fill me with your holy spirit. Let your goodness and grace follow me. I pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear Friend, we are praying for you. Jesus loves you. He will surely lead you and lift you out of all the disappointments in life. We are praying for you.