Why does life sometimes seem so empty?
1 Samuel 12:21Don’t go back to worshiping worthless idols that cannot help or rescue you—they are totally useless!
Proverbs 22:8Those who plant injustice will harvest disaster, and their reign of terror will come to an end.
Hosea 4:10They [sinful people] will eat and still be hungry. They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it, for they have deserted the Lord
Micah 6:13-14“I will wound you! I will bring you to ruin for all your sins. You will eat but never have enough. Your hunger pangs and emptiness will remain. And though you try to save your money, it will come to nothing in the end. You will save a little, but I will give it to those who conquer you.”
One of sin’s great deceptions is that just a little more will satisfy us, but it never will. It grows our hunger and shrinks our fulfillment.
Judges 10:14Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!
Isaiah 41:27-29“I [the Lord] was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look! Help is on the way!’ I will send Jerusalem a messenger with good news. Not one of your idols told you this. Not one gave any answer when I asked. See, they are all foolish, worthless things. All your idols are as empty as the wind.”
Isaiah 44:17-18He [the blacksmith] takes what’s left and makes his god: a carved idol! He falls down in front of it, worshiping and praying to it. “Rescue me!” he says. “You are my god!” Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see. Their minds are shut, and they cannot think.
Isaiah 46:7“Some people pour out their silver and gold and hire a craftsman to make a god from it. Then they bow down and worship it! They carry it around on their shoulders, and when they set it down, it stays there. It can’t even move! And when someone prays to it, there is no answer. It can’t rescue anyone from trouble.”
Jeremiah 10:3, 14“Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.” . . . The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power.
Romans 1:23Instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
Feelings of emptiness come when we have neglected to let God’s presence fill us. This happens when something else becomes more important than him. God created us to have a relationship with him. When we push the Creator into a corner of our hearts or push him out entirely, we leave a gaping hole. A heart without God is an empty heart.
Psalm 39:6We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.
Haggai 1:5-6, 9“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! . . . You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses.”
Feelings of emptiness come from confusing accomplishment with purpose. We may do a lot and accomplish much, but after a while it all feels hollow and meaningless if no eternal purpose is behind it.
1 Corinthians 13:3If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Feelings of emptiness come from living without loving. Nothing feels emptier than life without love.
Proverbs 11:7When the wicked die, their hopes die with them, for they rely on their own feeble strength.
Feelings of emptiness come from thinking that we don’t need others and can rely on our own strength to make it. When our strength fades, we may feel like we have nothing left.
Proverbs 21:17Those who love pleasure become poor; those who love wine and luxury will never be rich.
Proverbs 27:20Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-3, 25I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?” After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. . . . For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him?
Feelings of emptiness come when seeking pleasure is our top priority. Pleasure feels good, but for only a short time. The more we seek pleasure, the more frequently we need it to satisfy. The satisfaction is short lived until we need our next fix of it. Then we are caught in a meaningless cycle.
Ecclesiastes 4:16Endless crowds stand around him [the foolish king], but then another generation grows up and rejects him, too. So it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Feelings of emptiness come from seeking popularity. People are fickle and the praises of today can turn into the mocking of tomorrow.
Job 15:31Let them no longer fool themselves by trusting in empty riches, for emptiness will be their only reward.
Proverbs 23:4Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit.
Ecclesiastes 5:10Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
Luke 12:15He [Jesus] said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
1 Timothy 6:9-10People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
Feelings of emptiness can come from chasing money. Wealth is uncertain. It doesn’t bring lasting joy, it’s easily lost, and you can’t take it with you into eternity.
Job 8:13-15The same happens to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate. Their confidence hangs by a thread. They are leaning on a spider’s web. They cling to their home for security, but it won’t last. They try to hold it tight, but it will not endure.
Psalm 49:16-17Don’t be dismayed when the wicked grow rich and their homes become ever more splendid. For when they die, they take nothing with them. Their wealth will not follow them into the grave.
Proverbs 11:4Riches won’t help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death.
Ecclesiastes 5:15We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us.
Ecclesiastes 6:9Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
1 Timothy 6:7We brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.
Feelings of emptiness can come from seeking material possessions because we realize they don’t really satisfy like we thought.
Ecclesiastes 4:7-8I observed yet another example of something meaningless under the sun. This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can. But then he asks himself, “Who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?” It is all so meaningless and depressing.
Ecclesiastes 6:7All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough.
Psalm 127:1-2Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.
Feelings of emptiness can come from seeking our main satisfaction from work. Work can satisfy and fulfill for a time, but even rewarding work cannot ultimately satisfy. Someday our work will come to and end, or it might be taken away from us for various reasons. We need to find our satisfaction in something deeper than our work so that when it’s gone, we won’t find ourselves in despair.
