Grace Fills The Void

" Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, 'Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.'  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 except a jar of oil.'  Then he said, 'Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few.  And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and you shall set aside what is full.'  So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured.  When the vessels were full, she said to her son, ' Bring me another vessel.'  And he said to her, 'There is not one vessel more.'  And the oil stopped.  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 can live on the rest.'"    ( 2 Kings 4:1-7).




     Elijah's prophetic mantle fell from the skies as he rose into heaven.  Elisha was the recipient of his predecessors anointing and power.  In addition to this powerful anointing, Elisha also had a gentler spirit of his ministration that would foreshadow the love and mercy of Christ, Himself.

     Elisha's miracles are markedly similar to those of the Messiah, as they are almost always performed out of the compassion of a tender heart.  This widow who approached him out of her distress would prove to be no exception.  She explained to Elisha that her husbands death had left her in so much debt that, by law, her sons were about to be sold into slavery to repay what she owed.

     Upon questioning, Elisha quickly realized that the only asset this widow had was a single pot of oil.  He instructed her and her sons to borrow vessels from all their neighbors.  After gathering as many vessels as they could, the widow began to pour the oil from her own single jar and the oil began to flow. And flow. And flow.  That is, until every receptacle they had gathered was full. She then sold her oil, paid off all her debt, and was able to dwell in comfort afterward.

     It was grace that provided the solution.  It was grace that supplied the oil.  It was grace that filled the widows deeper needs.  Grace continued to overflow into bounty.  This resulted in pleasure and joy.  And, ultimately, grace would reign instead of the slavery that had threatened to ravage these children of God.

     The beauty of this gift of grace is that it is freely given to each of us today.  The only prerequisite is that we believe- in God who gives it and in the promises of His Word.  Romans 4:16 says, "Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all His descendants."

     We all have empty places in our hearts and in our lives that are designed for God alone to fill.  All of our longings are intended to lead us back to Him.  Only His unconditional acceptance, approval, and affirmation can fill those voids in our hearts.  When we seek God, He will show us how to position our hearts to be filled and fulfilled by His promises and the power of His love.

     One thing I love about God is that He always fills that which is empty!  He is constantly offering us: forgiveness,  freedom, wholeness, peace, joy, salvation, and eternal life.  Our emptiness is the catalyst to being filled.  The greates miracle that God will ever offer to us is the gracious forgiveness of our debts.  Ephesians 1:7 tells us that " In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and generosity of His gracious favor".

     In addition to our salvation, God is also deeply concerned for us and with our day to day needs.  He not only sees the empty places in our hearts, but He also sees the ways we try to fill the voids on our own.  All of our methods to fill will only be transient fillers, at best.

     What we really need is His power because He is All-powerful.  God magnifies His goodness with His power, so that He is able to help us in any situation.  The prophet, Jeremiah, prayed, " O Sovereign Lord!  You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power. Nothing is too hard for You!"  ( Jeremiah 32:17).

     When the earth was formless and void, God merely spoke the universe ( containing 100 billion galaxies) into being.  All power has always been His and will continue to be for all eternity.  Therefore, there is no taks that is too big or too hard for Him.

     No matter what we face in our lives, there is no problem that is too complicated for God to handle.  No need is too great for Him to meet.  No void is too expansive for Him to fill.  He longs to cover every aspect of our lives with His grace.

     The most important thing to God is our relationship with Him.  When we are connected to Him, "He will give [us], through His great power, everything [we] need for living a truly good life: He even shares His own glory and His own goodness with us!"  ( 2 Peter 1:3).

     As God pours into our lives, we move from being filled to overflowing with His presence and purpose.  Each one of us should need more of God today than we did yesterday. When we embrace the gospel and seek God's heart, the Cross will continue to grow bigger and bigger in our lives.  As the Cross gets bigger in our lives we will see that it is grace that fills every void!


                           " The purpose of the Cross is to repair the irreparable."
                                 Erwin Lutzer, Pastor of Moody Church