Nothing can satisfy the whole person except the Lord's love and the Lord himself. Saints have tried to drop anchor in other harbors, but they've been driven out of those deadly refuges every time. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, was allowed to run the experiments for all of us—to do what we must never dare to do for ourselves. Here is his testimony in his own words:

"I became great. I surpassed everyone who came before me in Jerusalem, and my wisdom stayed with me. Whatever my eyes wanted, I took. I held nothing back from my heart. My heart found joy in all my achievements, and this was my reward for all my work. But then I stepped back and looked at everything I had accomplished, all the labor I had poured myself into. And behold—all of it was vanity. Chasing the wind. There was no lasting gain under the sun."

"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." What! All of it? Everything? O blessed king, is there nothing in all your wealth? Nothing in that vast kingdom stretching from river to sea? Nothing in those glorious palaces? Nothing in the legendary house of the forest of Lebanon? In all your music, your dancing, your wine, your luxury—is there nothing at all?

"Nothing," he says. "Nothing but weariness of spirit."

This was his verdict after he had walked the entire circuit of pleasure and tried every delight this world can offer.

But to embrace our Lord Jesus, to dwell in his love, to be fully assured of union with him—this is all in all. Dear reader, you need not test-drive other ways of living to see if they're better than following Christ. If you traveled the whole world, you would never see anything more beautiful than the face of your Savior. If you could have every comfort life offers but lost your Savior, you would be utterly miserable. But if you have Christ? Then even if you rot in a dungeon, you will find it a paradise. Even if you live unknown and die in poverty, you will still be satisfied with his favor and full of the goodness of the Lord.