Emptiness...

I hate feeling empty.  Do you?  When I’m empty, I feel 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?  The pain she experienced, as she traveled farther and farther away from the family she buried, must have been excruciating.

When Naomi arrived in Israel, she was exhausted, broken with nothing left to give emotionally, mentally, physically or spiritually.

Have you ever felt like Naomi?

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.

I hated feeling empty.  Everything inside me screamed this is wrong.  I wanted to rid myself of the pain as quickly as I would a pair of rancid socks.

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 for you, for me?  What if God is calling us to a place of emptiness as we wait on Him?

When we are empty of our arrogance, our own dreams, and our plans . . . God is able to fill us with His dreams, His plans, and His purpose.

The emptiness I experience drives me to my knees and creates a space for God to fill.  Emptiness brings my heart into a place of complete 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!

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, poor decisions, regret . . .

Will you embrace the emptiness . . .  and allow God to fill you with His Spirit?

Lord, I confess that emptiness is not what I want.  I would do just about anything to not feel its pain.  But it’s part of Your plan and so I choose to embrace it.

Empty me of the selfishness inside

Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me, of me, so I can be filled with You  - (Chris Sligh)
Do Your work in me.  Have Your way with me.  Accomplish Your plan through me.  I’m Yours!  Amen.

- Kristi Huseby