Running On Empty

When we get rid of something bad in our lives, we need to fill the vacancy with something good.  Failure to fill the vacancy with something good can lead to poor choices that often cause a person to be worse off than they were before.

Here’s what God offered to His people who seemed to have concerns and struggles before them.  God reminded them of His help in the past and then made them a promise:

For it was I, the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt.  Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.

Psalm 81:10

We all have our own memories of things that didn’t go well for us – some of them seemed to come at us without cause and others were a reaction to our own choices or actions. 

When we felt vulnerable we often turned to habits and things that weren’t actually helpful  to try to cope with the emptiness, the pain, and the loneliness we were experiencing.  We quickly became focused on whatever we thought it would take to meet our needs and thought less about the impact of our decisions on others. 

The good news for all of us today is that God has promised to meet all our needs.  Are we entirely willing to let Him do so? 

This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:19

On our own, doing only what we know to do our hearts remain unfulfilled.  We struggle with anxiety and fear when we feel vulnerable and powerless.  God, through His word in the Bible, and trusted people around us, assures us that there is a sure way forward.  This wisdom and encouragement begins to gather in our hearts and before we know it we can be filled up with exactly what we need. 

Thank You God, that we don’t have to live in emptiness and vulnerability today because of the amazing offer You are making to us.

It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. 

2 Corinthians 1:21-22

When we are afraid and feel vulnerable or empty, please help us to trust that You are always with us and will always meet all our needs.  Amen

They say that it’s not good to run a car with the gas tank nearing empty.  Today, we don’t have to wait until we are experiencing stressful emptiness to ask God to fill us up with all we need.  Let’s come to Him again and again today so we can live fully instead of running on empty.