Life apart from God is meaningless. Separated from God, we can often experience emptiness, sadness, and unfulfillment. Spiritually, there is a hole in our lives that we long to fill. Too often, we turn to vices and pleasures to fill up the spiritual hole; however, this never works in the long run.
To fill the spiritual hole in our lives, we must address the root cause of the problem. If life seems meaningless, the cause is separation from a relationship with God. The fix is to restore our relationship with God by receiving His salvation then following His commandments for our lives.
- Life apart from God is meaningless and empty.
- The emptiness of a Godless life can manifest as depression and an overwhelming sense of unfulfillment.
- The way to fix the situation is to seek God, receive salvation through faith in Jesus, then live our lives according to God’s teachings, instructions, and commandments.
Saul’s Depression: An Effect of Separation From God
The spirit of YHWH departed from Saul, and he was tormented by a spirit of melancholy from YHWH. Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now! A spirit of melancholy from God torments you. Let our lord tell your servants who are before you that they should seek a man who knows how to play the harp, so that when the spirit of melancholy from God is upon you, he will play the harp with his hand and it will be well with you.” (1 Samuel 16:14)
The above translation is taken from the Stone Edition Tanach by Artscroll. Most English translations of the Bible translate the spirit of melancholy as an “evil spirit”, which is a poor translation. The Hebrew is:
רֽוּחַ־ (Ru-ah) — From ר֫וּחַ (Roo-akh), meaning: Spirit, wind, breath, temper, disposition. ר֫וּחַ can mean “spirit” in the sense of a non-physical entity, but it can also refer to one’s mental state, temperament, or mood.
רָעָ֖ה (Ra-ah) — From רָע (Rah), meaning: Evil, bad, unpleasant, giving pain, misery, displeasing, adversity, or afflicting. רָע can mean “evil” in the sense of morally or spiritually reprehensible, but it can also refer to anything negative or causing displeasure.
“Evil spirit” can technically be a correct rendering of the Hebrew phrase; however, it’s not the intended meaning in 1 Samuel 16:14. In this passage, the phrase is referring to depression, melancholy, or a negative disposition. What happened is Saul violated God’s instructions and broke his relationship with God. In response, God withdrew from Saul. The broken relationship with God left Saul depressed and miserable; he suffered bouts of overwhelming gloom and sadness.
Saul’s Vice
And it happened that whenever the spirit of melancholy from God was upon Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand, and Saul would feel relieved and it would be well with him, and the spirit of melancholy would depart from him. (1 Samuel 16:23)
Saul’s servants instructed him to relieve his depression by getting his mind off his situation. Saul was instructed to listen to music to shift his focus off his troubles and pick up his mood. In the short-term this worked, but it never truly fixed Saul’s problem. Saul’s relationship with God was never restored; his life continued to fall apart, and he eventually committed suicide to avoid being captured on the battlefield.
This is still a common practice. When people experience emptiness and meaninglessness in life, they often look to fill the hole with a vice or pursuit that gets their mind off the suffering. Music, drugs/alcohol, entertainment, and work are some examples of things people use to fill the gap in their lives and drown out the emptiness. However, trying to relieve suffering in this manner is never fulfilling in the long run.
Solomon’s Search for the Meaning of Life
I applied my mind to seek and probe by wisdom all that happens beneath the sky; it is a sorry task that God has given to the sons of man with which to be concerned. I have seen all the deeds done beneath the sun, and behold all is futile and a vexation of the spirit. (Ecclesiastes 1:13-14)
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon recorded his pursuit of the meaning of life. Solomon took a very rational approach to his search; he considered what is “good” in life then systematically tested the “good things in life” while observing their outcome. What Solomon ultimately found is everything that seems good and pleasurable in life is fleeting; it brings pleasure for a while, but it never lasts and is never really satisfying. All pursuits of wealth, pleasure, and getting our minds off our troubles prove to be empty and meaningless in the end.
Solomon’s Conclusion: The Meaning of Life
The sum of the matter, when all has been considered: Revere God and keep His commandments, for that is man’s whole duty. For God will judge every deed, even everything hidden, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
Solomon’s ultimate conclusion is that life is meaningless apart from a close relationship with God and walking in His ways. All worldly pursuits, apart from God, are short-term and fail to fill up the spiritual hole in our lives. The solution to fill that hole in our lives is to obey God’s commandments and receive salvation through Messiah’s atoning sacrifice.
Next Steps
To overcome the spiritual emptiness in life, we must do the following:
- Acknowledge vices can never fix the root cause of our suffering.
- Acknowledge a relationship with God is the missing piece of our life.
- Restore the relationship with God by receiving His salvation.