(Only) Jesus Can Satisfy

“I said in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.’ But behold, this also was vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 2:1)

The Preacher (what the narrator calls himself) in Ecclesiastes is looking to fill up his emptiness. (Who isn’t?) So he turns to pleasure. (Who doesn’t?) He tests three pleasures to see what effect they have on him, and whether or not they satisfy.

First, he tries wine (2:3), then he turns to his possessions (2:4–7). Neither of these satisfied him, so he tries sex (2:8). Why deny such pleasure? Surely that will satisfy. But it was vanity. In the end, it turned out that no matter what pleasure he pursued as an end in itself, it left him empty.

After testing these medicines of pleasure on his heart, he says in verse 17, “So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.” Grasping after pleasure to fill you is like grasping after smoke. It will elude you. Always leaving you empty.

About a thousand years after the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, there was a woman who lived in Sychar. She felt empty inside, so she turned to men to satisfy her. Partner after partner. But one day she met a man from Nazareth, while she was drawing water from a well. This man promised her that he could give her water which, if she had a drink, would satisfy her forever. Something to finally fill the emptiness. (Read the whole story in John 4.)

Every ounce of our emptiness inside exists to be filled by Jesus. He is what our longings were given to us for. He is why we have appetites. Everything in this world will hurt you if you have too much of it — even water and vegetables. Jesus Christ is the one thing that you can be insatiable for, and you can never have too much of him. But he can satisfy you. And only he can.