Is there Extra Space???

Having a get together with family members is quite amazing, People make plans early and schedule dates in readiness for the Dday. In most African cultures, there is usually division of labor in different households, depending on numbers and financial ability. Families divide duties to facilitate more bonding and at the end of the day, people end up enjoying themselves. Women are allocated to indoor cooking affairs where they cook different meals while men are allocated to outdoor cooking affairs known as slaughtering and roasting meat.

People from the western countries will call it, ‘having a barbecue’. Most of my African folks can attest to me, having roasted meat for any occasion makes the event more fun and enjoyable. I have come to observe, some Men who roast the meat tend to have so much biting’s and end up getting full even before the real meal is served. One thing that happens at home during these events, my uncles get frustrated by great meals which are available, but they can hardly eat them because they are already full of meat. They tend to enjoy the gratification of the roasted meat and end up not enjoying a healthy balanced diet later on.

The above illustration simply indicates: how often we rush for things to fill our minds and souls which offer us instant gratification and end up not having space for God to fill us up with Himself.

Our own ego’s, self-righteousness and pride are stuff that limit God from filling us with Himself. God is looking for empty vessels that he can use. Let’s mirror at God’s word in  2 Kings 4:1-7 (NKJV) A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”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.”

³ Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. ⁴ And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. ⁶ Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. ⁷ Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

From the above context Scripture, there was a certain widow who was in so much debt and did not know how to sort out her mess. This debt was overwhelming her and creditors were coming to take her only two sons to reclaim the debt. Prophet Elisha gave her an instruction to look for empty vessels that God filled up with oil.

She sold the oil, cleared her debt and was free from the bondage of debt. Elisha did not ask her for full vessels, he asked her to look for empty vessels. The oil quit flowing when there were no more empty vessels left to fill. One lesson we can glean from this Context is, God, desires to fill us up with Himself. If you are not experiencing the fullness of God, it could be, you aren’t empty enough or you are so full of the world that He got to space to fill you with Himself.

Reflecting on the woman at the well in John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”Her past life indicated: she had tried to fill her life with men and Jesus showed her the emptiness of that. Only one encounter with the true vine, filled her life with living water. In Jeremiah 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.The children of Israel had forsaken God the fountain of living waters and hewn themselves broken cistern that could not hold water

In Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”Solomon tried to fill his life with every imaginable pursuit and he called all of it vanity.The word vanity could also be translated as emptiness. Solomon had the ability to try it all but never got the satisfaction he desired. Just like the woman at the well, before God created you and me, He placed a longing in our hearts that was intended to lead us back to Him. Only His unconditional love,acceptance, approval, and affirmation can fill the emptiness  in our hearts (the deepest thirst of our souls). Until God’s love and acceptance is enough, nothing else will be.

Most of us have looked to  family, friends, bosses, possessions, positions, teachers, mentors and spouses for approval and affirmation, thinking that we will be fulfilled BUT no matter what we do or get, it’s never enough to fill us up and it’s not supposed to, Reason being: “the empty place in your heart was created to be filled by God alone and the deepest thirst of your soul can only be quenched by Him”.

God Desires The Best For You