“Our hearts are restless(unquiet) until they rest in You.” St. Augustine

Actual quote – “you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.”

Restless when full

Do you sometimes feel restless, like something is missing in your life? Maybe you have all you want, but still, there is an empty spot. The feeling of unease. An unsettled feeling. It could be that you aren’t all you were meant to be. Did you know that you were meant to be God’s friend? His approval is a deep (usually buried) need we each have.

What happened? See Genesis 2:8-3:24. And Isaiah 53:6. They knew they had done something very wrong and they hid from God. Just like Adam and Eve we daily choose to live independently of God, but it is not as obvious because we live in a world separated from God. We are cut off from being His friend—what we were created for.

Restless – cut off from God

Until that is remedied we will not be at peace. We might feel at odds, empty, restless. Lost. Always searching for that feeling of being at rest in our souls. The need for significance, the desire to matter. It is a mystery. Not realizing we are out of touch with God, separated from Him, we live out our lives one day at a time. It could be a really awesome life or not so awesome. Whatever it is, it is still missing a key component.

What separates us? Isaiah 59:2 “Your iniquities have separated you from your God.” We are stained, tainted. And we can’t undo it.

Restless – Can anything be done?

Has anything been done? What can we do? Jesus came for a specific purpose. He tells us in Matthew 18:11 “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” Lost back in the beginning, and lost every day of our lives.

God has done something for us even when we weren’t aware of our need. Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”

It was God’s plan to reconcile us to Himself. It wasn’t our begging that led Him to do it. Rather, it was His love for us. 2 Corinthians 5:18 “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ.”

Restless – The Missing component

What is missing in us is the life of Jesus Christ, His everlasting life. We are three-part beings. We live in a body, have a soul (mind, will, and emotions), but are a spirit. If our spirit is dead to God, cut off from Him, we are missing a key component to our being. We were created to be connected to God.

Words to light your path

Colossians 1:21 “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet not He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Lord God Who Created All, help us to see clearly why we are restless. You have created us to be one with You, yet we daily live independently of You by choice. Create in us a longing to be reconciled to You. Amen.

All scripture references are from the New King James Version of the Bible.