The Big Emptiness

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Desiring God, John Piper

I was lonely when I was a young child. I'm not saying that to make anyone sorry for me. It's just that the days in the schoolyard and in the neighborhood didn't bring me happiness. It brought me a slew of stomachaches and moments of rejection I found difficult to recover from. What brought me happiness were the times I had in my church where they taught me about the Father God who loved me, and the Savior who stretched out His arms for me and died a terrible death because of love. This is the Love has drawn me for years. I know the Christian walk brings more things into the picture, but if this element is missing (as I found for myself), it makes everything else...empty and lonely. What is the reason for it all if there is no Father who loves me? No Son who died to make a way Home for me? No Holy Spirit who brings the living comfort of life outside the shell of flesh, the ability to see His kingdom advance through us, His people?

"Can you imagine what it would be like if the God who ruled the world were not happy? What if God were given to grumbling and pouting and depression like some Jack-and-the-beanstalk giant in the sky? What if God were frustrated and despondent and gloomy and dismal and discontented and dejected? Could we join David and say, "O God, thou art my God, I seek thee; my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is" ( Psalm 63:1)?
I don't think so. We would all relate to God like little children who have a frustrated, gloomy, dismal, discontented father. They can't enjoy him. They can only try not to bother him, and maybe try to work for him to earn some little favor."
Desiring God, John Piper

My prayer for my children is that they come to relationship with a loving God and that this Love and relationship will be the thing that motivates them and keeps them throughout their lives. I've heard a statement by a pastor I have carried in my heart, that cries out louder and louder as the days go by,
"Daddy's not angry anymore..."