Searching for meaning in life

“In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, ‘Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.’ But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.” 2 Chronicles 28:23
Ahaz was the son of king Jotham and the grandson of king Uzziah. Unlike them, he did not follow the Lord. As a result, God did not prosper him but delivered him into the hands of his enemies. Yet despite this, and despite the whole history of the nation being available for him to read, he did not think to repent and turn to God. Instead, he started looking to the gods of the nations who had defeated him. He was only moving further away from God.
People do the same thing today. They look for life’s meaning in all the wrong places. They seek success in the corporate world, the political world, the sporting world. They think if they marry the perfect person and raise a family that they will be satisfied with that as a legacy. They engage in higher education to build their intellect. They travel the world to gain new experiences. They measure their popularity by the number of facebook friends that they have. But ultimately all of these things will fail to satisfy a person’s deepest longings. Then the saddest thing of all happens: they start exploring religion. ‘Those monks I saw in India seemed content with life,’ they think. ‘Maybe if I get into that, I’ll finally find a reason for living.’ But if they would just turn to the God of the Bible in repentance, He would give them all this and more!