Acts 27 : 20 – 26, Now when neither sun
nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope
that we would be saved was finally given up. But after long abstinence from
food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, "Men, you should have
listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and
loss. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among
you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God
to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be
brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.'
Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was
told me. NKJV
Every person comes into the world with a void in their heart.
Consequently, we set out early in life looking for someone or something to fill
the emptiness. Perhaps you have sought to discover who you are by entering
relationships, but later found that they didn’t meet the need. Some have sought
to fill this mysterious void with fortune and fame. However, they realized that
neither came close to answering the nagging question of who they are. Let’s
look at someone from the Bible that will help us in our search to be made
complete.
In Genesis 3, the serpent approached Eve and enticed her to
discover her true identity by committing sin against her Creator. Satan found
or uncovered a void in Eve that, at first, she may not have even realized was
in her heart. Too many times, humans discover they have a need long before
they have the opportunity to know how to fill the void, and it can lead them into
making destructive choices. Eve is a prime example of what happens when
people want “good” things, but choose wrong ways to acquire them.
Satan awoke a need or desire in Eve to be like God, and then
he exploited her ignorance and gullibility in order to seduce her into sinning
against the Lord, in an attempt to be like God. She had a legitimate need in
her heart that began as a godly one; nevertheless, Satan perverted it and
captured her attention before she knew the truth. He introduced her to a way of
“filling that void” apart from God’s help. Someone might be thinking, “What is
so wrong with her desiring to be like God and trying to find it on her own?
Didn’t God give her freewill to do just that?” To answer those questions let’s
look deeper into what happened in Eve’s life after she sought to become like
her Creator and Father through sin. The result of Eve seeking to fill the void
in her heart through her own acts of sin caused her great sorrow and emotional
anguish in her heart and life (Genesis 3 : 16). Have you ever wondered why
people hold onto people and things that cause them pain? It is because they
don’t want to experience an even greater pain called “rejection.”
Did you know that Satan loves to rob us by preying on the
ignorance that we have concerning our “spiritual identity”? Why does Satan seek
to awaken desires in our hearts that begin innocently, but quickly turn into a
lifestyle that is fraught with pain and rejection? He wants us to ignore God’s
truth and His guidance, so that he can lead us on a destructive path FULL of
pain, sorrow, and rejection. You see; rejection is the opposite of affirmation,
which is exactly what Eve was after when she considered eating the forbidden
fruit. What do you do when you have a need or void, and everything you do only
makes life worse?
Because Eve had chosen to become like God by filling the
void in her heart apart from going to God, Satan led her to make decisions that
would only cause her heartache, regret, and sorrow of heart. When we fill the
void in our hearts with “wrong people and things” it just causes pain. When we
hold onto that pain, instead of turning our lives over to the Lord, the enemy
continues to exploit the pain and causes us to make “poor or wrong” decisions,
which then exacerbates the dysfunction and confusion.
If we seek to fill the need in our hearts, which is to be
affirmed by our Creator, without turning to God, then we will live in bondage
to the pain of rejection. God doesn’t want anyone to live in bondage. It was
because of sin that He sent Jesus to earth to die on our behalf. Instead of
condemning us for the sin in our hearts, God through Christ has chosen to
forgive us and ACCEPT us in Christ. You and I don’t have to turn to the world,
bad relationships, or bondage in order to find acceptance. It’s free, and it’s
ours, if we will only accept it.
Complete In Christ, Pastor Asa Dockery
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