EMPTIED FOR HIS FULLNESS

Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbours – EMPTY VESSELS; do not gather just a few – 2 Kings 4: 3

It is imperative that God’s chosen vessels be EMPTIED FOR HIS FULLNESS! God does not fill vessels that are already full of ‘self’ or worldly stuff. He seeks Empty Vessels! Emptiness is our eligibility for His Fullness! We must come to Him and His divine fullness as empty vessels! Whoever is full of ‘Self’ has no room for the Lord. He commands: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mt.16:24).

Our text tells the story of the widow of one of the sons of the prophets who was left in debt, with her future and that of her two sons at risk. Going to the prophet, she was uniquely delivered in a way that proved, exercised, and strengthened her faith. The little oil that she had in the house was multiplied abundantly to sell and pay her debts. She modelled the pattern of God’s providence in graciously delivering His children when they cry to Him in the day of trouble. She was instructed to go and borrow empty vessels from her neighbours. What a strange instruction! Then, she had to shut the door that no curious eyes might watch her, and with full faith in God, take her one pot of oil, and go on pouring out from it into the empty vessels till they were all filled! Unbelief might have taunted her, “How can you fill these vessels out of that one little jar?” But her faith, when exercised, was equal to the emergency; she did in faith what she was commanded to do, and the result answered the end! As long as there were empty vessels left, the oil kept flowing till they were all filled to the brim. And then the oil stopped!

The grace is with Christ, not with us, just as the oil was in the woman’s one pot and not in the empty vessels. Already filled vessels would have been of no use; they might even have been an impediment to the flow of fresh oil! We do not fill what is already full. Christ can do nothing for one who assumes himself to be by nature full of merit or of natural goodness to save himself, as not to need mercy. The full oil jar can hold no more. The oil won’t run when there is some self-oil in the jar already. God has need of empty vessels to use, if His oil must flow freely. Want proves your need of grace, and that need is your capacity to receive.

The story of Naomi and Ruth buttresses this truth. Naomi moved from natural pleasantness to bitterness, from fullness to emptiness. She lamented: “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back EMPTY” (Ruth 1:20). “Naomi” means “pleasant,” but she believed that she would never know pleasantness again. She asked to be called “Mara” – “bitter,” because she thought that her life would now be forever marked by bitterness. But contrary to what she could see, this wasn’t God’s movement to destroy her, but to save her, as well as all mankind. God allowed her to be emptied for the purpose of filling her, and it was through these events that He eventually provided her with an offspring who led the way for our great Redeemer Jesus Christ. The child who was eventually born to Ruth and Boaz became the grandfather of King David, and it’s through the line of David that our Messiah, Jesus Christ, was delivered to us.

Your hope doesn’t depend on the strength of your faith, but the object of your faith – Jesus Christ. As you cling to Him by faith, think of the cross, which looked like a journey to utter despair and hopelessness, and remember that God empties to fill. He had his Son empty Himself, taking the form of a servant and being humble to the point of death on a cross, but that led to His great exaltation as Lord and Savior. Every seemingly negative situation will work together to prepare and produce for you an eternal weight of glory!