Proverbs 8.36 - "but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death."
Anxiety, restlessness, desperation, frustration, craving and desire are different forms of expressing a basic sense of discontentment. When one is not content with the current status quo, a sense of needing somethin, or the impression that there is a need or want, rises. One might "need" somethng sweet, or more income, a return to normalcy, more clothing or a new gadget, recognition or an increased sense of security.
Regardless of the need or want, the root is a lack of contentment that will drive the search to fill the need or want. When discontentment rises, where do you turn?
It does matter. There are solutions that will bring contentment for the moment. There is One who will bring contentment forever. Jesus tells us to knock, seek, and ask. But whose door, who or what is the focus of your search, where are you going for answers? It does matter.
Paul tells us that contentment is found in the strength that is in Christ. Those who do not find the Lord have not sought Him. God promises He will be found if one were to seek. (Jer 29.13) So people do not find Him because they do not seek Him. To not find Him is to have decided to rely on your own knowledge which is finite. One will find injury – pride will be hurt, self-ego will be crushed, one will stumble over obstacles that could have been avoided, friends and family will let you down, jobs will come and go, and cars and things break down. Faith that has been placed on things other than God is frail, those things will eventually fail.
All who “hate” God, the opposite of love is hate, prefer death over life since God/Christ is life. Titus 1.15-16 – “to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”
What/Who are you looking for to bring you to contentment?