“Thus says the Lord, what injustice did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me and walked after emptiness and became empty?” – Jeremiah 2:5
What we pursue is what we contain. If you find that there is a real emptiness in your soul, it is evidence that you have been pursuing emptiness. We know that unbelievers walk around with a great emptiness because nothing this world has to offer can satisfy the human heart. People can get short-term fixes, but after the initial rush, the internal void manifests itself again. Each time the emptiness gets worse because hope deferred makes the heart grow sick. Sadly, that verse and Jeremiah 2 is speaking about God’s Old Testament people, but there are many New Testament believers who walk around with a deep emptiness also because they have pursued fulfillment in the wrong places. “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” – 1 John 2:15. That verse doesn’t say that God’s love is not for that person, but that verse is saying if a Christian has made, as their great pursuit, their love relationship with God, then the love of the world, and what that world has to offer will not control them. Pascal was right when he said that every human being has a God-shaped vacuum in their heart. Psalm 16 verse 11 says, “You oh God will make known to me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Only when your great priority in life is His presence and your love relationship with Him will you know fullness and satisfaction on the inside. “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with your likeness when I awake.” – Psalm 17:15.
By the way, it is also possible for a Christian to pursue with great dedication religious things, like ministry as their chief passion, and come up empty. Beware of the barrenness of a busy life, even a religious busy life. It is His person and His presence that we were created for. We were brought into union with Jesus so that we could experience and manifest His presence from a relationship of intimacy. He could’ve just declared forgiveness over us and then wound us up to go out and serve him, (serving him can be a great expression of our love for him), but only true worshipers serve Him from fullness, not to achieve fullness. If you are a believer, and you are empty, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what emptiness you have been pursuing, and He faithfully will. God often uses the emptiness to correct our course. Ephesians 1 says that the Church (the collective body of Christ and the individual Christian who is the temple that Christ indwells by the Holy Spirit) is the fullness of Him, who fills all and is in all.