Filling the Void

In the only way possible

I read a quote today by Dag Hammarskjold that, after having reread several times to get the gist, struck me. “Isn’t the void which surrounds you when the noise ceases your just reward for a day devoted to preventing others from neglecting you?” Good question. But as I teacher I work with likes to say when confronting students with uncomfortable situations, “I never ask a question I don’t know the answer to.” Dag knew the answer to his question. It’s not just a day, it is a way of thinking, a way of life, rooted in deep insecurity and personal lack of meaning.

Genesis 1:2 affirms that the earth God spoke into existence was formless and empty. God spent the next six days forming and filling. In other words, He was creating meaning and purpose while declaring throughout all He made was “good.” In microcosmic reflection, humanity was part of that even as we were the point. Created last, formed out of the dust of the earth, and filled with the breath of God, we awoke as preeminent over all creation.

We lost all of that of course, throwing creation into groaning chaos and ourselves returning to void, formless places. And it’s all our fault. But it is not our fate. We intuitively know the things of this life cannot fill us. And by “intuitively” I mean spiritually as “the spirit that He has made to dwell in us yearns with envy” (Berean Literal). It longs to be filled and no amount of wealth, fame, addictive behavior, or… even relationships apart from Him can fill it. Only God, the One who has always formed and filled from the beginning, can. And as He forms and transforms, everything else is transformed, making even silence meaningful.