"Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" - Job 1:20-21
"I say to the LORD, You are my Lord - I have no good apart from You" - Psalm 16:2
"You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you...Say to my soul: I am your salvation. Say it so that I can hear it. My heart is listening, O Lord; open the ears of my heart and say to my soul: I am your salvation. Let me run towards this voice and seize hold of You" - St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessions.
The beautiful quotation above by St. Augustine was one that came at the end of many years of confusion and rebellion. Like many of us, Augustine's life was flawed - even though he lived hundreds of years ago, his story has great modern appeal. He was the son of a Christian mother [Monica] and a pagan father [Patricius] in a small African town called Tagaste in Numidia. He grew up in church, but left that behind as he pursued academics and a promiscuous lifestyle. At the age of 17, he took on a lover who bore him a son [Adeodatus] out of wedlock by the time he was 18. They lived together for about 13 years, but never got married. He eventually sought to discard his mistress in hopes of marrying a woman from a wealthy family for greater social status. You can't make this stuff up :)
All through this period (as his writings suggest), Augustine was extremely unhappy and frustrated with his life. He sought to use his knowledge and his relationships as a means to finding the ONE TRUTH that would satisfy his soul - but he could not find it. After many years of heartache......there was a breakthrough! One day at home in the midst of his pain and tears, he heard from a neighboring house a child's voice chanting to him in Latin: "tolle, lege" which means "take up and read". Wiping the tears, he took up his Bible and no sooner had he read the text he opened to, everything changed. He saw his depravity and he saw God's holiness and nothing was the same again. In his own words: "No further would I read, nor needed I; for instantly at the end of this sentence (Romans 13:13), by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away" - St. Augustine, Confessions.
As quoted above, Job realized that when all was said and done all he really owned was his own nakedness. This points us back to the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and all they got for it was the shame of their nakedness and a lifetime of pain. You see, all we really own in this world is what we came into this world with - "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return". Everything we accrue and enjoy in this life (material possessions, family, occupations, friends, etc) are but gracious gifts from a loving God - we cannot hope to be recipients of any good thing aside from Him (cf. James 1:17). God is essentially the beginning and end of ALL WE ARE. If this is not a settled reality in our hearts, whether as a believer or unbeliever, we will forever be searching to find completion, purpose, and satisfaction.
QUESTION: What are you doing OR looking for to fill that void in your life? Remember St. Augustine's words of confession: "...our heart is unquiet until it rests in You..."
"And you are COMPLETE IN HIM who is the head of all principality and power" - Colossians 2:10 [NKJV]
Pastor Andrew Smith
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