As I acknowledged by own impatience, discouragement, and frustration I suddenly related to the Israelites. How miserable must it have been wandering in the dessert for 40 years, knowing the end was not yet in sight? I’ve been much like the Israelite at times. God has offered me promises that I’ve refused to take hold of. Instead, my choices have left me wandering in circles chasing after the wind. How many times have I walked away from God’s plan for me looking to fulfill my own desires? Each time I found that futility was my reward. Each time I sought worldly “fulfillment” I found emptiness instead. Oh, how I remember the emptiness. An empty stomach doesn’t begin to compare to an empty spirit.
There is a statue in Switzerland that can be found in a small park along the shore of Lake Geneva. I don’t know that words can capture its haunting depiction of emptiness and grief. As a widower, the artist who created it, Albert György, was no stranger to loss. His sculpture depicts a person, head hung low seeming to look though a gaping hole in their own chest, seeing the world from a position of looking back on it though their own emptiness.
Grief, shame, rejection, worldly pursuits…so many things we experience in this life leave us feeling empty. What can mend us? Can anything fill such an emptiness? Yes, my friend there is hope. Jesus mends the broken heart. He fills the empty spirit. He redeems and restores. Jesus came to give us eternal life and life abundant.
Prayer:
Dear Father,
Fill us up to overflowing with your Spirit. Let your power and your healing fill every empty space in us. Let it be true of us what was spoken of the early church in Acts 13:52 – “And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” Draw us into oneness with you that our lives may be an extension of your power and your love.
In Jesus Name,