The "Hole in the Heart" that only God can fill? (God Shaped Hole)

[Kokavkrystallos]

I've heard this from time to time, and again at Bible study last night. I mentioned it's not found in the Bible, but it is sort of implied. I used the example of Matthew 12:43-45,
"When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation."

This implies a vacant space, though not necessarily the heart.

The teacher brought up Ecclesiastes 3:11, in his version,
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." (ESV)

" He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." (KJV)

After study we looked up the word translated "world" in KJV and it was Olam, which is everlasting, eternity, ancient, time, but is translated "world" 4 times in KJV but a whole lot more times it means eternal,
The KJV translates Strong's H5769 (Olam) in the following manner: ever (272x), everlasting (63x), old (22x), perpetual (22x), evermore (15x), never (13x), time (6x), ancient (5x), world (4x), always (3x), alway (2x), long (2x), more (2x), never (with H408) (2x), miscellaneous (6x).
עֹלָם ʻôlâm; from H5956; properly, concealed, i.e. the vanishing point; generally, time out of mind (past or future), i.e. (practically) eternity; frequentatively, adverbial (especially with prepositional prefix) always:—alway(-s), ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, (for, (n-)) ever(-lasting, -more, of old), lasting, long (time), (of) old (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world (+ without end).

I think "time" or "time concealed" from the definition is more appropriate. Could mean eternity except for the following part of the sentence which implies limitations, "so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." You would think eternity would find out more, not limit it. In the same way 'world" doesn't make a lot of sense either, that God would put the world in our hearts and then say love not the world, unless it is referring to a limitation of time, then it makes sense.

(I love digging into the mysteries of God!)

Anyways, that verse doesn't imply a hole in the heart, but rather something in it. I asked the question on Google, and on Christian Stack Exchange found this answer,
"In 1670, Blaise Pascal published Pensées, which was a defense of the Christian religion. (It should be noted that this book was published after his death in 1662.)

In that book, he has a quote:

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”
- Blaise Pascal, Pensées VII(425)

Since then, the concept has taken on a life of its own and the phrase "God-shaped hole," a close approximation of the concept, has been found throughout many Christian circles. (Recently, in 2002, a book was published with the title 'God-Shaped Hole'.)

While other answers show that the concept can be supported biblically, the concept that there is a void/vacuum/hole is actually a non-biblical one."

Other answers,

• "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ." (Pascal, quoted in: W. Bright, Jesus and the Intellectual, Campus Crusade for Christ International, Arrowhead Springs, San Bernardino, CA, 1968.)
  – Justin
  Jul 21, 2016 at 18:13
• 
  That quote is actually the mis-quote of Pascal. I've not been able to find the original source of that quote. Possibly it was a paraphrase-translation of Pascal's actual text. But when you go back to the original Pensees text, that quote doesn't quite hold water. If you look at the history of this answer, that was in the first drafts.
  – Richard
  Sep 29, 2017 at 11:50
• The concept is biblical:
  
  John 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'" 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. NAS
  
  The word "innermost being" is the Greek koilos, meaning hole or empty place. It is often translated belly or womb. In Jn 7, Jesus is describing a spiritual empty place in the heart of man, not a physical belly or womb. This empty place is the source of thirst and the divine solution to this hunger/thirst is to fill it with living water from the Holy Spirit.
  
  
  
  

 

[Josheb]

I've heard this from time to time, and again at Bible study last night. I mentioned it's not found in the Bible, but it is sort of implied.....

The phrase comes from Blaise Pascal's "Pensees" (1670), excerpts from which can be found HERE (including Section VII from which the following quote is taken....

What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.​

Pascal was a French mathematician who converted to Christ. He's also remembered for saying,

If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.​

All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.​

.

 

[Kokavkrystallos]

The phrase comes from Blaise Pascal's "Pensees" (1670), excerpts from which can be found HERE (including Section VII from which the following quote is taken....

What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.​

Pascal was a French mathematician who converted to Christ. He's also remembered for saying,

If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.​

All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.​

.

Yes, that's in my post, but it doesn't really say hole in the heart or God sized hole which is the popular phrase used today. Paschal mentions "empty print and trace," and "this infinite abyss," which could refer to your heart, or your soul, your inner being, your spirit, your body. It's not specific. It more or less says there's a void in us without God.

 

[Josheb]

Yes, that's in my post,

Yes, I saw the quote but missed the attribution so please consider Post 2 an affirmation of that content.

but it doesn't really say hole in the heart or God sized hole which is the popular phrase used today. Paschal mentions "empty print and trace," and "this infinite abyss," which could refer to your heart, or your soul, your inner being, your spirit, your body. It's not specific. It more or less says there's a void in us without God.

Are hairs being split? How does do the posts substantiate "the concept has taken on a life of its own"? I question the premise "This implies a vacant space, though not necessarily the heart," since we could stand firm on scripture and easily establish (whatever the infinite abyss might be) that sinful humanity has replaced (or attempted to replace) all that God gave us in the beginning that was lost at Genesis 3:6 with iniquity that neither compensates or satisfies - the non-believer for that which s/he does not know and understand, the believer for that which s/he knows but only dimly perceives (Ps. 42:1 & 84:2; Isa. 26:9; Mt. 13:17; Heb. 11:39).

I also question the use of Matthew 12:43-45 because that is about the longing of the untoward or demonic spirit, not the longing or void of the human created in God's image adulterated by sin. Angels who did not hold their proper abode have been held in bonds of eternal darkness awaiting judgment and for them there is no and will be no satisfaction. That's not true of those God saves. Comparing the demons search for a sinner's place of inhabitance is not the same as the sinner's search for the Creator (and the satisfaction found thereof).

 

[Kokavkrystallos]

Yes, I saw the quote but missed the attribution so please consider Post 2 an affirmation of that content.

Are hairs being split? How does do the posts substantiate "the concept has taken on a life of its own"? I question the premise "This implies a vacant space, though not necessarily the heart," since we could stand firm on scripture and easily establish (whatever the infinite abyss might be) that sinful humanity has replaced (or attempted to replace) all that God gave us in the beginning that was lost at Genesis 3:6 with iniquity that neither compensates or satisfies - the non-believer for that which s/he does not know and understand, the believer for that which s/he knows but only dimly perceives (Ps. 42:1 & 84:2; Isa. 26:9; Mt. 13:17; Heb. 11:39).

I also question the use of Matthew 12:43-45 because that is about the longing of the untoward or demonic spirit, not the longing or void of the human created in God's image adulterated by sin. Angels who did not hold their proper abode have been held in bonds of eternal darkness awaiting judgment and for them there is no and will be no satisfaction. That's not true of those God saves. Comparing the demons search for a sinner's place of inhabitance is not the same as the sinner's search for the Creator (and the satisfaction found thereof).

Not splitting hairs. Just was wondering what people thought of the phrase, and where it started.

The reason I refer to the Matthew passage on the unclean spirits is because the person is "empty" or "swept clean" and has not received the Holy Spirit that would fill that void. That's what allows 7 more spirits to come back, because it's empty. Most preachers I've heard preach that passage say if the person gets saved and filled with the Spirit then the 7 demons cannot come back because rather than find the house empty, it's full. That was how I approached it.

 

[Josheb]

Not splitting hairs. Just was wondering what people thought of the phrase, and where it started.

(...when the answer was already known?)

The reason I refer to the Matthew passage on the unclean spirits is because the person is "empty" or "swept clean" and has not received the Holy Spirit that would fill that void. That's what allows 7 more spirits to come back, because it's empty.

Does Jesus teach it is the Holy Spirit that fills a supposed or implied "void" demons perceive? The term Jesus uses when illuminating the demon's thoughts is "house," not "void."

Most preachers I've heard preach that passage say if the person gets saved and filled with the Spirit then the 7 demons cannot come back because rather than find the house empty, it's full. That was how I approached it.

I would agree but not because there is a specific hole or void within a person that could be measured if we had some kind of spiritualized measuring tape. I would suggest a part of humanity is missing when the Spirit of God is absent and the reason demons cannot dwell in a human "house" in which God's Spirit dwells is simply because light and dark do not dwell together, and demons have no place in the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16) - which is what the Spirit-indwelt and regenerate believer is: a house not built by human hands.


Keep in mind Matthew 12:43-45 is couched in the context of the audience's demand for a sign and the implicit message things get worse if the cleaned-out house isn't maintained - which is exactly what happened the day Jesus entered Jerusalem. He cleaned out the infested temple and within a day the infestation returned (Matthew 21-18 through 26:5 is all one day).