Because “the sorrows of those who take another god for themselves will multiply,” God is gracious to show us the futility of pursuing something other than Him. He is good if He mocks us in our attempts to find life outside of Him. Augustine captures this beautifully:
I was still eagerly aspiring to honors, money, and matrimony; and You did mock me. In pursuit of these ambitions I endured the most bitter hardships, in which You were being the more gracious the less You would allow anything that was not You to grow sweet to me. ~ Augustine
He is gracious not to allow something, anything other than Him, to grow sweet to our souls. God is good and gracious not to let something other than Him quench and satisfy us because if it did, we would miss out on the fullness of Him.
True happiness is in Him. As C. S. Lewis stated, “God cannot give us a happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.”
