The Hole Only God Can Fill

“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.” — Psalm 42:1–2 (KJV)

Pascal begins this part of his thinking with a simple fact:

“All men seek happiness. This is without exception.”

Everything anyone does, he says, is aimed at being happy. One person goes to war and another avoids it, but both are trying to be happy. The will never takes the least step except towards that goal.

And yet, Pascal says, nobody ever seems to get there. Rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown, all of them complain. Everybody wants something they haven’t got.

Why? Pascal’s answer is one of the most famous ideas in the book. He says that this desire, and our failure to satisfy it, are a clue. They show that there was once a true happiness in us, and that only its “mark and empty trace” is left. We try to fill that empty space with everything around us, and nothing works.

“But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself.”

People often sum this up by saying we have a “God-shaped hole” inside us. Pascal’s own words are stronger: an infinite abyss. Something infinite can only be filled by Someone infinite.

Pascal adds a list that is almost funny. Since we have turned away from God, he says, people have tried to put almost anything in his place: the stars, the heavens, the earth, plants, cabbages, leeks, animals, insects. Today we might add money, grades, sport, music, relationships, looks, followers. None of them are bad. But none of them are God, and if we make any of them our ultimate happiness, it will eventually let us down.

This explains a lot about life. It is why the thing you wanted so badly feels flat once you have it. It is why even good things, like friendship, cannot carry the weight of everything. It is why people who seem to have it all can still be unhappy.

The psalm at the top of this chapter is a prayer from someone who has noticed this thirst and knows where it points: “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.” The thirst is not a problem to be ignored or numbed. It is a signpost. It is God calling you to come back home.

One thing to do this week: think about the thing you most often turn to when you feel empty or bored. This week, each time you reach for it, pause first and pray: “Lord, you are the one I am really thirsty for.” Then carry on, if it is something good, but with your heart turned to God.