I hate feeling empty. Emptiness leaves me feeling hopeless, worn out, used up, exhausted and alone.
In Ruth 1:20-21 (NLV) Naomi says, “Don’t call me Naomi. . . Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty.”
We are given only a glimpse of the heartache and sorrow that brought Naomi to the point of such emptiness and despair. What must it have been like for her to travel home to her native land empty? Did her heart break a little more with each step she took? What pain she must have experienced as she traveled farther and farther away from the family she buried. Naomi feels used up, spit out and with nothing left to give emotionally, mentally, physically or spiritually.
What has left you feeling empty?
I experienced a time of intense emptiness after the break-up of a close friend. I didn’t want the friendship to end and I worked with everything I had in me to hold on to the last remaining remnants of our relationship but it slipped through my fingers like sand and I was left with a gnawing emptiness that wouldn’t go away; a pain in my gut that never seemed to lessen.
At the risk of being redundant, let me just say that emptiness leaves us empty.
But without the emptiness how can we be filled?
Think about it, if we’re already full, how can God fill us?
What if emptiness is a good thing?
What if it is part of God’s plan you, for me?
When we are empty of our self; our arrogance, our own dreams, our thoughtlessness – than God is able to fill us with Him.
For me, the loneliness and pain I experienced drove me to my knees and created a space for God to fill. The emptiness allowed me to see God in a way I had never seen Him before. It brought my heart into a place of surrender.
Our faith as believers is anchored in emptiness. The empty tomb is the cornerstone of our faith. We serve a risen Savior, who died and left the tomb of death, never to return!
Then the angel spoke . . . “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead . . .” Matthew 18:5 (NLV)
We have a lot of things in this world that cause us to become empty – empty bank accounts, wayward children, broken relationships, the death of a loved one, regret and on and on . . .
I want to encourage you to embrace the emptiness . . . and allow God to fill you with His Holy Spirit.
Remember, it is only through our emptiness that we can be filled!
We are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith alone. However, true prayer is one way of expressing your faith. The following is a suggested prayer:
“Dear Father, I need You. I acknowledge that I have been directing my own life and that, as a result, I have sinned against You. I thank You that You have forgiven my sins through Christ’s death on the cross for me. I now invite Christ to again take His place on the throne of my life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit as You commanded me to be filled, and as You promised in Your Word that You would do if I asked in faith. I now thank You for directing my life and for filling me with the Holy Spirit.”
