RUNNING ON EMPTY
In Magnum, Oklahoma, a woman in distress called a tow truck when her car stalled. Arriving on the scene, the driver informed her that it was out of gas. Her response was classic. “Will it hurt, if I drive it home with the gas tank empty?” I don’t know how the driver answered, but we can all chuckle. The simple truth is you can’t drive a car when it’s on empty.
But how often we try to do this very thing in our lives— something we would never attempt with our cars— run on empty. We move through life as empty shells, striving to fill our existence with things that continually leave us empty.
God created us to be loved by Him and to love Him in return. Genesis 1:27 states, “God created humans to be like himself” (CEVD). Ecclesiastes 3:11 reads, “He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy]” (AMP). Deep within us is a longing that nothing in this world can ever fulfill—a longing that can only be gratified by God Himself.
Through the centuries, writers have referenced this longing as a “God-shaped hole.” The very core of our being yearns for intimacy with God. We may not recognize it, but even those who deny God’s existence testify to this truth. Bertrand Russell, perhaps the most renowned atheist of the 20th century, in a letter to Constance Malleson wrote, “The center of me is always and eternally a terrible pain, a curious wild pain, a searching for something beyond what the world contains—something transfigured and infinite. The beatific vision—God… the love of it is my life.”
Jesus said in John 6:35, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again.” When we’re hungry, we fill our stomachs with food. Jesus claims that just as food fills the emptiness of our physical bodies, He fills our inner hunger—the emptiness in the very core of our beings.
With all the uncertainty in our world, more than ever, we need to grab hold of this truth. Let’s empty our minds of all the clutter. Let’s lift our heads above the temporal and “fill our tanks" with Jesus. We'll never need to "run on empty" again.
Principle: Only God can fulfill the deepest longing of our hearts.
Promise: When we turn to Jesus, we will never be “hungry” again.
Ponder:
What kind of things do you look to for fulfillment, rather than seeking God?
What steps can you take to pursue the Lord in a deeper way?
Prayer: “Lord God, I seek You with all my heart. I long for more of you. Fill me with your presence.”
Pursue: For a deeper dive, study Psalm 63.
Perceptions: Record any ideas God puts on your heart from this devotion.