I just completed the YouVersion plan, Making Time to Rest. (A great plan.) The plan used the example of filling a bucket. Taking an account of my own bucket, I was feeling…empty.

I’d already missed one Friday post this month. I didn’t want to miss another. But what could I give when I felt I had nothing to give?

So, I did what a good Christian would, I did a word search.

Empty is not a typical word to look up, but what I found was what I needed. The search led me to this verse:

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:11 (ESV)

This was not what I expected, but isn’t it? God is not a God of emptiness, but of fullness. Look at this scripture from the last day of the reading plan:

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Ephesians‬ ‭3:19‬ ‭(NLT‬‬)

The love of Christ fills us full of life and power! The key is to experience his love. To experience his love we have to be involved in a relationship with him, spend time with him.

The verse from Isaiah when read in context gives us a much richer understanding. You can read the whole chapter here.

I pulled out a few excerpts that stood out to me:

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat…Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me…Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live…

From Isaiah 55:1-3 (ESV)

One more:

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace…

From Isaiah 55:12 (ESV)

When faced with our emptiness, we only need to turn to God and be filled.

Grace & Peace,

Sandy

Image by Anemone123 from Pixabay