What is the God-Shaped Vacuum in Man?

A link caught my eye on Facebook this week.  The presentation totally captured my attention because it was on a topic that is close to every believer’s heart—how to you share your faith with others. I like to carry tracts and free study Bible cards with me just in case I meet someone.  The video is called the  God Shaped Vacuum, 

and it is based on the thought provoking writing in Section VII of Blaise Pascal’s book called Pensees. 

“All men seek happiness.  This is without exception.  Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end.  …The will never takes the least step but to this object.  This is the motive of every action of every man, ….

 And yet after such a great number of years, no one without faith has reached the point to which all continually look.  All complain princes and subjects, noblemen and commoners, old and young, strong and weak, learned and ignorant, healthy and sick, of all countries, all time, all ages, and all conditions.

 Trials so long, so continuous, and so uniform should certainly convince us of our inability to reach the good by our own efforts.  …What is then that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, 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”   (Pensees #425, page 75). 

This quote from Pascal made me wonder what time period he lived in and what made him write like this.  Google is such a wonderful tool.  Anyway after a few searches I found out that he was one of the keenest intellects of the 17^th century  (1623-1662).   He is mainly known for his scientific and mathematical discoveries  like the theory of probabilities, the binomial theorem, the law of hydrostatics, and the invention of the first calculator.   Another site said when he was 23 he discovered the existence of the vacuum, and this paved the way for the invention of hypodermic syringes, barometers, and hydraulic devices. 

One site noted that Pascal, Leibniz and Galileo were all considered successors of the Enlightenment which began in the 1800s. One of the sites I viewed said that Pascal  

realized that in spite of his brilliant intellect and his great scientific research, he was still empty within.  I wondered what had happened in his life that caused his conversion.  One site said that through seeing God work to heal his niece, and after he himself was almost killed in a carriage accident at 31, he was dramatically saved.  The Christianity website noted that his conversion experience was so important to him that he wrote it down and sewed it into the lining of his coat:

"God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars...Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy...'This is life eternal that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.' Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ...May I not fall from him forever...I will not forget your word. Amen."

One of the sites stated that for the next eight years after his conversion, Pascal began to jot down his realizations on the Christian faith, and this book was later called Pensees. You can see from this excerpt from Pensees how much his conversion experience impacted his faith in God: 

“Only the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Christians is a God of love, and of comfort, a God who fills the soul and the heart of those whom He possesses  a God Who makes them conscious of their inward wretchedness, and His infinite mercy, Who unites Himself to their inmost soul, Who fills it with humility and joy, with confidence and love, Who renders them incapable of any other end than Himself.  Jesus Christ is the end of all, and the center to which all tends” (Pensees).

Pascal's experience touches me--especially when you realize the time period he was born in, and how God became so real to him.

Note:  Section VII can be found on  page 75 of Blaise Pascal's Pensees, New York; Penguin Books, 1966.