If I could just get the promotion I need, if I could just get to the weight I should be, if I could just get the house I dream of, then I could be happy. 

If her cancer could just be healed, if he could just overcome his alcohol addiction, if she could just love me the way I desire… then… I could be happy. 

It doesn’t matter if it’s small material plans in our life or the difficult trials regarding people around us, we have this insatiable pull toward the other side of things to believe that would be the path toward peace and happiness if we could just [fill in the blank]. 

There’s Always More 

We were created to be doers, to seek, to move, to build, and create. We want others around us to be healthy and perfect and meet our expectations, as well. Yet, what happens when certain needs are met and the goal is achieved? The end goal typically has this end of the chapter notion. It’s not the end of the book, so there’s always more! Turn the page over, and the void is there. The pit of your stomach, at the depths of your gut, fulfillment is missing. We can’t find contentment. 

What does this mean? Well, there’s a phrase in Genesis, Tohu wabohu (תהו ובהו). Our English Bible reads, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep” (Gen. 1:1–2). The Bible begins by saying that God created the heavens and the earth and that it was, in Hebrew, tohu wabohu. It was “without form and void” or “formless and empty”. Tohu means “unformed, chaotic wilderness,” and bohu means “empty.” 

Since the beginning chapter of the beginning of our existence, without His spoken Word, everything ceases to exist. However, what did exist there in the emptiness of time and space? 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.” (John‬ ‭1:1-5) 

The Word is Jesus Christ, and before the beginning of our time, He was there, He is there now, and He always will be there. 

Author Rob Kuban says this about contentment: 

True, biblical contentment is a conviction that Christ’s power, purpose, and provision are sufficient for every circumstance. We are to learn how to walk through all kinds of adversity believing in and experiencing Christ’s sufficiency. We have to choose to rest on God’s good promises despite what may be going on in our lives. 

The Bible is filled with these convictions. 

“Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13) 

“And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” …Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:9-10) 

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) 

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” ‭‭(Romans‬ ‭12:2‬) 

Mitchell Dillon says in his book, “Beyond Earthbound Dreams,” To be happy, we need the right circumstances. To be blessed, all we need is God in any set of circumstances.

What happens, therefore, when we could just focus in on His provisions, trust in His promises, surrender all of our worldly desires to the foot of the cross of His sacrifice? 

By simply just doing these things, we could avoid a whole lot of void… and true joy can be ours to obtain.

- Natalie Waites