The inner ache I have heard described in many ways:
- The souls vacuum
- burden of intercession
- emptiness
- dissatisfaction
- an unnamed need
- quiet prayer
I'm not sure if I am speaking of two separate things. There is an ache people feel...how do they perceive it and what do they do with it? I suppose this has to do with their beliefs, surroundings and upbringing. People fill the vacuum with the much referenced entertainment, sex, food etc. The ache turns somewhere-either earthly or spiritual.
It reminds me of this passage:
Athenians, as I have walked your streets, I have observed your strong and diverse religious ethos. You truly are a religious people. I
have stopped again and again to examine carefully the religious statues
and inscriptions that fill your city. On one such altar, I read this
inscription: “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” I am not here to tell you about a
strange foreign deity, but about this One whom you already worship,
though without full knowledge. This
is the God who made the universe and all it contains, the God who is
the King of all heaven and all earth. It would be illogical to assume
that a God of this magnitude could possibly be contained in any man-made
structure, no matter how majestic. Nor
would it be logical to think that this God would need human beings to
provide Him with food and shelter—after all, He Himself would have given
to humans everything they need—life, breath, food, shelter, and so on.
This is the only universal God, the One who makes all people whatever their nationality or culture or religion.
This
God made us in all our diversity from one original person, allowing
each culture to have its own time to develop, giving each its own place
to live and thrive in its distinct ways. His purpose in all this was that people of every culture and religion would search for this ultimate God, grope for Him in the darkness, as it were, hoping to find Him. Yet, in truth, God is not far from any of us. For you know the saying, “We live in God; we move in God; we exist in God.” And still another said, “We are indeed God’s children.” Since this is true,
since we are indeed offspring of God’s creative act, we shouldn’t think
of the Deity as our own artifact, something made by our own hands—as if
this great, universal, ultimate Creator were simply a combination of
elements like gold, silver, and stone.
-The Bible-Acts 17 excerpt
Hard to believe people worshiped/worship created stuff. I've heard people suggest it is comparable to spending hours a day devoted to the television. I don't know that it's comparable-although I rarely see people have the same devotion to spirituality as they do to the TV or videogaming. Random musing...Selah.
