In the opening chapter of The Wonderful Works of God, Herman Bavinck begins not with an abstract doctrine but with a profound truth about the human condition: God, and God alone, is man’s highest good. Everything else in creation—every joy, every beauty, every truth—flows from Him and finds its meaning in Him. The world exists as a theater of His glory. But only human beings, made in His image, can know and love Him consciously as their ultimate end. Even though sin has obscured that divine image, something within us still remembers. Bavinck describes this as the echo of eternity in the heart—a restlessness that drives us to seek what is infinite and lasting, even while we dwell in the realm of the temporary.
But rather than turning upward, humanity keeps searching sideways. We chase knowledge, beauty, and moral progress as though they could fill the void. Bavinck doesn’t dismiss these pursuits—he honors them as genuine gifts from God. Science, art, and humanitarian love all reflect something of His wisdom and goodness. Yet when cut off from their source, they become hollow imitations of the eternal. Knowledge without the fear of the Lord becomes proud and self-defeating. Art can show us the glory of a better world but cannot take us there. Even the most noble compassion, when severed from divine law, eventually collapses under the weight of selfishness. Each of these pursuits hints at man’s greatness as an image-bearer of God, yet each also exposes his misery as a fallen creature.
Bavinck’s conclusion echoes the great voices of Augustine and Pascal: the human heart is torn between its longing for God and its flight from Him. We hunger for truth yet live by lies; we crave rest yet rush from one diversion to another. Science cannot explain this contradiction, for it does not see both our divine origin and our deep fall. Only Scripture holds the key—it tells us that we were made by God, for God, and that nothing less than God Himself can satisfy the human soul. That is why, as Augustine wrote, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him. Bavinck’s vision is both humbling and hopeful: it reminds us that our restlessness is not a curse but a calling—a signpost pointing us home to the One who is, and always will be, our highest good.