1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
    my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1 ESV)

Religious philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote: “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him … though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words, by God himself.” (From Intouch.org)

Why does man search in this dry and weary land for that which will fulfill the thirst of his soul? Because we do not make the connection between the gaping hole and void within us with a need for divinity. We equate it with wants for things or experiences and do not see it for what it is, a desire for God.

This empty space is, as Pascal wrote, “the empty print and trace.” What we long for can only be filled by God because it is His print and trace left behind in each of us. Many is the man who has achieved all he ever desired, was successful beyond measure who said, “is this all there is?”

In coming to God we finally fill that void and in doing so all of the successes of life falls away.