Empty Week ~ Monday

I love Diet Dr. Pepper. I really do.
One afternoon, when spring was showing off its arrival with an especially warm wind, Jacob hopped in the car after his music lesson. He had that sweaty middle school boy look on his face, so I offered him a drink of my Diet Dr. Pepper. THAT's love. ;) A minute later I reached down and picked up the bottle, just to discover that my boy had drained my bottle dry. I had given it to him full and gotten it back … empty. I felt tricked. I felt taken advantage of. He laughed. ;)

God's love of filling emptiness must've been a great promise for someone like Naomi who cried out that she had left full and been brought back empty (Ruth 1:21). She had the fullness of a family, and then famine and hardship took them away. She wanted to be called by a new name that meant, "Bitter."

We often associate emptiness with pain. It's not new. The subject of hatred, David knew that King Saul was filled with jealousy for him. As it had before, sin caused separation, this time between David and his beloved friend, Jonathan. In Jonathan's hope of protecting his friend, he developed a plan to find out if David was safe. I Sam. 20 says that when they observed the festival dinner, "David's place was empty." The emptiness was necessary to draw out the intentions of Saul's heart, and he didn't disappoint them, hurling a spear at Jonathan when he defended David, his friend.

Emptiness is often the result of the ugly side of life and our humanness.

• An empty house can come when someone runs away.
  
• Empty wallets can come from overspending.
  
• Eyes can be empty because of hurtful words.
  
• A box can be empty when someone is selfish.
  

Sometimes emptiness is a necessary step in unfolding God's plan.

Read the account of the Passion Monday in Matt. 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-18, or Luke 19:45-46.