Watching the anime series Angel Beats recently led my thoughts to other non-Christian artists producing art that hints at truths that Scripture illuminates more clearly. Specifically, it reminded me of John Mayer’s song, Something’s Missing, perhaps the most blatant recent example of non-Christians sensing a mystery that calls to all people.

The concept of non-Christians recognizing the existence of a higher power or force but misunderstanding or even denying that spiritual “nudge” is nothing new. Paul writes about the very same in his letter to the Romans:

For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Source: Romans 1:18-24, HCSB

Now here are the lyrics to John Mayer’s song, Something’s Missing:

I’m not alone, I wish I was.
Cause then I’d know, I was down because
I couldn’t find, a friend around
To love me like, they do right now.
They do right now.

I’m dizzy from the shopping malls
I searched for joy, but I bought it all
It doesn’t help the hunger pains
and a thirst I’d have to drown first to ever satiate

Something’s missing
And I don’t know how to fix it
something’s missing
And I don’t know what it is
At all

When autumn comes, it doesnt ask.
It just walks in, where it left you last.
And you never know, when it starts
Until there’s fog inside the glass around your summer heart:

Something’s missing
And I don’t know how to fix it
something’s missing
And I don’t know what it is
At all

I can’t be sure that this state of mind, is not of my own design
I wish there was an over the counter test, for loneliness.
For loneliness like this.

Something’s missing
And I don’t know how to fix it
Something’s missing
And I don’t know what it is
No I don’t know what it is
Something’s different
And i don’t know what it is
No I don’t know what it is

Friends -check- Money -check-
A well slept -check- Opposite sex -check- Guitar -check- Microphone -check- Messages waiting for me, when i come home
-check-

How come everything I think I need, always comes with batteries
What do you think it means

How come everything I think I need, always comes with batteries
What do you think it means

Source: John Mayer – Something’s Missing Lyrics

Some assume Mayer is talking about friendship; the claim is debunked in the opening verse of the song. Mayer is surrounded by friends who love him. He doesn’t accuse those close to him of false love.

Mayer then goes on to sing that material wealth is insufficient–a verse of song reminiscent of excerpts from the book of Ecclesiastes:

The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, and whoever loves wealth [is] never [satisfied] with income. This too is futile. When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes? The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.

Source: Ecclesiastes 5:10-12, HCSB

Some have claimed Mayer is seeking romantic love, but that assumption runs contrary to the lyric: “Opposite sex, check.” And romantic love is not such a mystery that a grown man would not understand its existence and importance. When Mayer sings, “And I don’t know what it is,” it’s difficult to imagine he’s referring to a romantic relationship, even as hyperbole.

Mayer’s verse about “fog inside the glass around your summer heart” is less transparent than the rest of the song. The verse has more of a “feel” than a clear meaning. The verse seems to carry the weight of that moment when a good time ends and the transition between a loud crowd of friends to a quiet evening alone brings with it uncomfortable thoughts of one’s own life in a larger perspective. The moment arrives unbidden and unwelcome (“When autumn comes, it doesn’t ask”); it is in these moments of painful quiet that we glimpse hints of what truly matters and how resistant our nature is to seeking that “something greater.” The conflict between the two (temporal vs. eternal, flesh vs. spirit) creates a sort of “fog” that clouds our days and makes it impossible to live entirely for one without the other pulling at us.

Paul puts it more succinctly in his letter to the Galatians:

I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want.

Source: Galatians 5:16-17, HCSB

Mayer even considers the possibility that the “something” is a figment of his imagination, but the thought rings hollow–almost as if he would like it to be true, but knows, if he’s truthful with himself, that it’s not:

I can’t be sure that this state of mind, is not of my own design
I wish there was an over the counter test, for loneliness.
For loneliness like this.

The phrase “loneliness like this” hints at the “God-shaped hole” (to borrow a phrase) that proves we are incomplete so long as we deny our roles of serving God. He desires a cure for this uncomfortable tension, but in the same breath hopes the cure is quick and simple–“over the counter.” The rest of the song suggests he instinctively knows the resolution won’t be nearly so simple as he hopes.

We as Christians spend so much of our time and energy seeking after financial security and a stable social network of friends and family. (This is actually in accordance with Scripture so long as God remains our first priority.) Mayer is a man who has achieved financial security and is surrounded by friends. He has fame and fortune; he’s living the American dream. If he based his expectations on the standards of our culture, he may have expected to feel fulfilled once he achieved these key goals. But he senses there is something greater than these temporal fortunes, even if he does not understand the nature of that “something greater.”