Are you running on Empty?
Text: 2
Kings 4:1-7.
Have
you ever been shocked to find that your car is running on “empty” so
says the petrol gauge, and you have no idea how far the next petrol station is?
Or at tea time your fridge is empty and your cupboards? Maybe you found
your wallet empty at the check out? Or more so is your life empty?
In our
text, a man died and left his wife penniless. She had no husband, no money, no
food, no income, and no government aid to apply to, in other words she had no
hope for the future. All she had was 2 sons, and the creditors were about to
come take them as slaves (the law allowed for this at this time).
She had
one more thing: a little pot of oil. Every other pot in the house was empty,
every vessel empty, every jar empty, and every cupboard empty,
every pocket and purse was found empty. In her emptiness, she
went to the Prophet Elisha, and she learned something. What God can do with
an empty vessel!
1.
GOD USED WHAT SHE HAD AND MORE.
“Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels from
everywhere, from all your neighbours--empty vessels; do not gather just
a few” 2 Kings 4:3.
The
prophet Elisha did not tell her to go try and borrow food from neighbours or
oil or money, no he said to go and borrow as many empty jars as
possible. It was like the Prophet Elisha was saying, woman, you have got a lot
of emptiness in your life, so gather together some more emptiness.
Then go
back to your empty house and your empty cupboards, and close the door behind
you.
She then set
out all those empty jars and vessels took her little jar of oil and poured
it into one of the empty jars. It was filled full, and yet her jar was
still full and not empty. She filled the 2nd / 3rd /
4th / many more? Finally, she said, hand me another, and her
son said, that is it, there is no more empties!
Notice
what happened when there was no more emptiness? “The oil stopped flowing”
verse 6. God meets the needs of His people. But let us make a
spiritual application from this story: If you are not experiencing God’s
presence in your life, it may be that you are “empty”!
2.
WE SERVE A GOD THAT SPECIALIZES
IN FILLING YOUR EMPTINESS.
In
creation He hung the universe into an expanse of emptiness. He hung the
stars upon nothing (He turned nothing into something, and then He hung it on
nothing!)
Look at John 6 and the feeding of the
5,000 plus empty stomachs.
1. The Disciples said, let us just get rid of the problem, tell
them to go away
Jesus
said, that is not right, they will faint on the way home, they are running
on empty.
2. Phillip said, let us raise the money. He did some
figuring and found it would take 200 days’ wages to buy enough bread. (Money’s
not the solution to every problem, it cannot buy everything! House, but
not a home; bed, but not a good night’s sleep; medicine, but not good health;
beautiful church building, but not the power of God!)
3. Andrew found little boy with small lunch, and said, it is
not much, but it is a start!
4. Jesus had the true solution as he took the little boy’s
lunch and demonstrated that little is much when God is in it! In all FOUR
gospels, Jesus gave thanks prior to the breaking of the bread, showing the
multitudes that only God can fill their emptiness!
In John 2 Jesus filled some
empty wash pots, at a wedding feast, a village event that the whole village
came out for in those days. The unthinkable happened: the host ran
out of wine and the people began to whisper about the problem, until the whole
crowd knew. He allowed them to feel their emptiness; He waited until
they ran out of options, and then He took empty water pots, filled
them with water, and then worked the miracle!
And the
joy that the world has to offer is just temporary, it always runs out, the result
is always a void left over, an emptiness. But the joy of the Lord
is ever new and ever satisfying! The devil offers you world’s best at first, until
you get hooked, and then it is all downhill from there. Hebrews 11 talks about the pleasures of sin “for a season.”
But Jesus
gives a miraculous joy that never ends. He gives us His best from the
start, and somehow, miraculously makes the joy grow and get even better! Truly, every day with Jesus is sweeter
than the day before.
CONCLUSION:
Jesus
took empty water pots that were used in those days for external washing, and made them
useful for something internal,
something deeper and more satisfying. He created something fulfilling, and He used their emptiness to do it!
God took empty
vessels, and filled them with oil, until they overflowed. God can take your
emptiness, and save you and give you hope, and He can fill you with His
Holy Spirit. For we serve a Lord that specializes in filling emptiness!
