The Enigma of Man

The conclusion, therefore, is that of Augustine, who said that the heart of man was created for God and that it cannot find rest until it rests in his Father’s heart. Hence all men are really seeking after God, as Augustine also declared, but they do not seek Him in the right way, nor at the right place. They seek Him down below, and He is up above. They seek Him on the earth, and He is in heaven. They seek Him afar, and He is nearby. The seek Him in money, in property, in fame, in power, and in passion; and He is to be found in the high and the holy places, and with him that is of a contrite spirit (Isa. 57:15). But they do seek Him if haply they might feel after Him and find Him (Acts 17:27). They seek Him and at the same time, they flee Him. They feel themselves attracted to God and at the same time repelled by Him…
He longs for truth and is false by nature. He yearns for rest and throws himself from one diversion upon another. He pants for a permanent and eternal bliss and seizes on the pleasures of a moment. He seeks for God and loses himself in the creature. He is born a son of the house and he feeds on the husks of the swine in a strange land. He forsakes the fountain of living waters and hews out broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jer. 2:13)… Man is an enigma whose solution can be found only in God.
Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God, p. 6-7.