In a recent post, I argued that man’s intricate design is proof of God’s existence. His hand is evident everywhere, whether in our bodily functions (however mundane) or even in our own creations. For millennia, man has tried to dismiss the fact of there being a Creator and failed. God-deniers always fail to realize that by rejecting God, they are also rejecting their very own being!
Scarcely would any of man’s sensibilities and functions make sense without God. If anything, they are inescapable reminders that our ultimate longings will ever only be satisfied in God, as I will proceed to show.
We Were Made to Eat
In John 6, Jesus feeds five thousand men. The point of the miracle, we see soon afterward, is that Jesus is the bread of life and that those who partake of him would never thirst again (John 6:35).
Reflecting on that passage, it struck me that we must have been made to hunger and eat because of how it points to Christ. “All truth is God’s truth,” Augustine is claimed to have said. God designed hunger so that, looking beyond ourselves, we would come to the food that truly satisfies—Jesus Christ.
In Ecclesiastes, the preacher writes that eating and drinking are God’s gifts to man (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25; 3:13; 5:18; 8:15). Hunger is never pointless; it is meant to point beyond us and to God. As the preacher notes, it is only through God that we can find sustenance and enjoy life (Ecclesiastes 2:25). To God, dear friend, you must look, for in him alone will you be truly satisfied.
We Were Made to Work
Paul, in his second epistle to the Thessalonian church (3:10), warned that whoever did not work did not deserve to eat. Why Do You Work? Partly because man’s most basic need is tied at the hip to his most basic duty. But more importantly, our work was meant to point to the work God has done for us. When our first parents were created, they were made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26). Afterward, they were tasked with being in charge of God’s creation; to bring about life and culture to the glory of God (Genesis 1:27-31; 2:15). However, our first parents fell (Genesis 3:1-8), and thus the work that was meant to point us to God became a struggle. Yet, God, being rich in mercy with the great love he has for us, sent his Son as our redemption (Ephesians 2:4).
He is the One in whom we were made, for he is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). On account of his life, death, and resurrection, work can be lifted beyond the toilsome lot of the accursed that sin turned it into (Genesis 3:16-19). In Jesus Christ, work takes on a whole new meaning, i.e, to do all for the glory of God, walking in the very things he prepared for us beforehand (1 Corinthians 10:31, Ephesians 2:10). For the believer, it is no longer he who lives but Christ who lives in him (Galatians 2:20). Our lives ought to point to Christ. However hard one works, if he rejects God, he will soon find that all his toil is but vanity (1 Corinthians 15:58).
We Were Made To Sleep
“How could sleep possibly point to an ultimate longing in us?” you might ask. Scripture does have a lot to say about sleep (here used interchangeably with rest). In some places, the Bible warns against sleep on this side of eternity (Proverbs 19:15, Romans 13:11). Rather, we are encouraged to labor hard for God, pressing on to the rest that he affords his children. That is not to be taken as a discouragement from resting, however. There is sweet sleep for he who would work hard (Ecclesiastes 5:12). And, in some way, this sweet, rhythmic sleep is a pointer to the eternal rest that God will offer to those who hold firm to the very end (Hebrews 4:8-10).
The evidence for God is ever-presently evidenced by our weary, lying bodies. We sleep in faith, hopeful of a tomorrow we are not guaranteed. It is ever only by grace that we see another day. So we must constantly look to him who gives sleep out of love (Psalm 127:2), clinging to his promise to grant us an even deeper rest for eternity.
We Were Made To Look Beyond Ourselves
I could go on and on, but those three—food, work, and sleep—suffice for now. Each bears witness to how we were made to declare the majesty of God (Psalm 8:1-8). We were never created to be inward-looking, but rather to be outward-looking. Not an inch of our being would work independently of God; we exist not for ourselves but for him (Revelation 4:11, Colossians 1:16). We exist for his glory (Romans 11:36).
If you reject God, realize that you will have no excuse when you stand before him on Judgment Day. Creation is witness enough (Romans 1:20). Your own being is witness enough!
There is an answer for your deepest aches and longings, and his name is Jesus Christ. Dare to drink the water he gives, and you will find, as many throughout history have, that you will never thirst again (John 4:13). Look to him alone.