Overcoming Emptiness

Several times, we come across a situation of nothingness or emptiness in our lives. Such times seem to block our ways ahead. Unable to discern as to what to do next, often many winds up in depression or discouragement. But we learn a lot from the lives in the scriptures. When they faced such nothingness, they overcame and moved ahead in their lives

I Kings 18: 42-43, ‘So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, ⁴³ and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So, he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.”

Elijah was a man of prayer. When he uttered the prophetical word about the famine, he prayed earnestly that it would not rain. And it did not rain. (James 5:17). The same way, when the Lord said that He would send rain, he did not sit idle waiting for the rain. Instead, he bowed down on the ground, put his face between his knees and prayed till he heard about the small cloud.  His servant had told him seven times, each time after going and looking into the sky that ‘there is nothing’. But the man of God refused to give up. In V 41 of 1 Kings 18, Elijah said that there was sound of abundance rain. He had heard this when famine had not yet ended. His heart was full of God’s Word which said ‘I will send rain upon the earth.’ Hence, he refused to take the words of ‘there is nothing’ into his heart and prayed till he saw the clouds. How easily many of us give up when we hear this ‘there is nothing’ time and again! It’s because we have not heard from the Lord about our situation. If we honestly keep His counsel in our hearts, we get the strength to persist in prayers. Persistence in earnest prayers in accordance to His counsel swallows up the nothingness. The sky was soon filled with dark clouds and it rained just as the Lord said.

Lk.5:5, ‘But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net.”’  Here we see Peter who had toiled all night and had caught nothing. When Jesus was addressing the crowd, Peter was busy washing the nets. He might have been discouraged by the outcome of his sleepless hard work. But the Lord saw his heart and drew his attention to His Word. To do this, He entered into his boat and preached. This made Peter pay attention to the Word. He sensed authority in His Word. Hence, he was ready to let down the net at His Word. All the nothingness he faced all night disappeared and a multitude of fish filled his empty boat. Obeying His Word even when it seems worthless brings in heavy rewards. Anything we do at His Word never goes in vain. God asked Isaac to stay in the land at the time of famine instead of running away from the situation. Isaac obeyed and he sowed in that land. He reaped hundredfold (Gen.26:12). Obeying His Word even when the circumstances are unfavorable expresses our complete trust in Him, which never goes unrewarded.

2 Kings 4:2, ‘ So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” A widow approached Elisha whose two sons were being carried off as bondmen by the creditors. On being asked, she said that she had nothing in the house but a jar of oil. Elisha asked her to close the room with her two sons and many empty vessels taken from the neighborhood. She then poured out from the small jar of oil into all the vessels till they were all full. She had ignored the jar of oil and set it apart, considering it not of any worth to meet her needs or to overcome emptiness. But by obeying the Word of the Lord which came through the prophet, her focus shifted from nothingness to the jar of oil. When we focus on things we already have from the Lord with a grateful and trusting heart, instead of things we do not have, God increases what we have and removes all the emptiness and scarceness. When Jesus and His disciples saw the two fishes and fives loaves of bread before more than a crowd of five thousand, disciples doubted and questioned, while Jesus took the bread and fishes and gave thanks to the heavenly Father.

Gen.15:1-3, ‘After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, ^[a]your exceedingly great reward.” ² But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I ^[b]go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one^[c] born in my house is my heir!”  Abraham was 75 years old when God called him.  God promised to make him a great nation (Gen.12:2). But after years, when God spoke to Abraham saying, “I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward”, his response expressed the emptiness of his life. The emptiness in his family life seemed to have overwhelmed him to such an extent that he could not comprehend the word of the Lord. ‘Lord God what will you give me, I go childless, you have given me no offspring….’. These phrases expressed as a friend to another friend makes Abraham’s heart so much visible. The pain and hopelessness of emptiness can never be expressed in words. But the Lord is merciful.  Gen.15:5, ‘Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” The phrase ‘He brought him out’ seems to point out that literally God took him by his hands and brought him out of his overwhelming empty feeling and made him look into the sky. Abraham believed Him and was counted righteous. The moment he believed, the emptiness moved away from his heart and later he saw what he believed with his own eyes. Faith in His Word and His promises fills our heart with hope and does away with emptiness forever.

Persistent prayers, obeying His Word at all times, focusing on the blessings we already have with a grateful heart and faith in His Word and promises are the four important keys to get rid of emptiness or nothingness. The feeling of emptiness can creep up into any phase of our lives and it aims to block our way ahead. But we are blessed with His grace to be overcomers.

God bless us all.