On Empty

I call out at the top of my lungs, "God! Answer! I'll do whatever you say." 
   I called to you, "Save me so I can carry out all your instructions." 
   I was up before sunrise, crying for help, hoping for a word from you. 
   I stayed awake all night, prayerfully pondering your promise. 
   In your love, listen to me; in your justice, God, keep me alive. 

(Psalm 119:145-149 The Message)

Desperation is condition in which hope has faded - - there is a sense of hopelessness, a sense of just wanting to give up.  These are the times when we are often heard just crying out to God, "Hey, are you listening here???"  It is our "God! Answer!"  There are times I think God has allowed me to get to the place of "God! Answer! I am pretty desperate here!"  Yep, you read that right - - he allowed it!  He put me in a place where I came smack-dab face-to-face with the inability of my own talent, inadequacy of my own strength, or insufficiency of my own resources in order that he might become my all-in-all.

Up before sunrise, awake into the wee hours of the night, crying for God to listen to our plight.  A "plight" is often viewed as anything we interpret as an "unfavorable" state.  It could be a relationship that has tanked, financial situation revealing a negative balance more frequently than a positive, or some emotional struggle within which we find ourselves more often than not.

Did you realize that there is a secondary meaning to "plight"?  It is an old world term used to describe the pledging of oneself with the intention of the pledge being as binding as a contract.  When we are calling out to God with our "God! Answer!" cries, we are often referring to the "bond" we have with him without even knowing it!  We are relying on the "contract"!  Not a literal piece of paper that binds two parties, but the bond that exists because God first loved us, sought us out as his own, and then entered into a relationship of "permanence" with us.

The relationship may become a little "devoid" of all the "spark" once in a while, but nonetheless, his commitment to us is as permanent as his Word.  Nothing can sever us from his constant care.  If a "void" exists, it is our doing, not his.  Empty spaces create a sense of emptiness - - emptiness is the basis of a lack of hope (desperation).  Whenever we create a "culture" within our relationships which allows for "empty spaces", we are open to the feelings of hopelessness that follow.

God's desire for us in our relationship with him is a lack of empty spaces!  He wants to fill us to overflowing - - leaving no space for any sense of doubt, frustration, worry, or fear to enter in.  His desire for us in our "human" relationships is this same lack of empty spaces!  We need to be attentive to those things we allow to create emptiness within our lives.  It takes only one moved pebble in a rainstorm to begin to cut the course for a raging river!

If you find yourself feeling a little "empty" today - - it is likely you are sensing it in the one relationship which will sustain you the most - - the one you have with Jesus.  In your emptiness, don't cry out for deliverance!  Cry out for filling.  It is in the filling of the empty spaces that our despair will be dealt its  final blow!