Is your gas light on? No, not your car’s gas light, but the one that tells you that you, yourself, are running on empty.

Life has a way of doing it to us doesn’t it. Things pile up and before we know it we are just sucked dry. Leaving us looking for the nearest gas station to restock and refuel. But who in the world knows what that gas station is going to look like, right? I mean, what is going to be able to give you the rest you need in order to make it another day? And, “What do you mean I can’t take a vacation for another 6 months!?” 

 

I know that for some us we are here. As you read this you are feeling worn out. That just the other day you were on top of the world, sun shining, go getting, but now….the tank is dry. I also know that for others of us we seem to always live at this cross section of the needle of our lives and the E that signifies we’ve gone too far without taking a break. We’re only able to seemingly put enough in the tank to make it through the day, leaving us pulling into the driveway each night running on fumes, just hoping that we will find inside what we need in order to refuel enough for tomorrow. Whichever category you fit in, the point is, we all are on E at some point, and it’s no fun when we get there. In fact, it can be something that leads to the decay of both our physical and spiritual lives.

 

But wait, there’s hope.

 

Elisha ran into a wife of a deceased prophet who was running on empty (2 King 4:1-7). Her husband had died, leaving her and her children in financial ruin. So much so that creditors were threatening to take her children. She came to Elisha asking for help to which his response was to ask what she had in the house? What? I mean come on Elisha. Obviously she has nothing. That’s why they want to take her kids. What an insensitive question to ask in a time like this. All she has is a jar of oil, the only thing she has left, and you’re asking what she can offer rather than what you can give her? Exactly.

 

You see, when we are running on empty we feel as though we have nothing left to offer. We aren’t filled up with our normal powers and gifts, and so we feel as though we have no recourse, nothing to offer. But, in fact, God looks at differently. He says that what you have, no matter how small, is just enough. That if you are willing to offer it to Him we can multiply it in ways that will not only bless your life, but others as well. Remember the oil was multiplied enough that not only could she pay off her debts, but her sons could live off the profits too.

 

Where in your life do you feel like you’ve run out of options? Where are you overwhelmed and feel as though you have nothing left? I pray that you would let God in and have what is left. Offer up to Him the crumbs/leftovers of your life and ask Him to use them. Maybe sometimes we ask too often for God to fill as back up rather than asking Him to take what is left. I am praying that He will help all of us see our emptiness through His eyes rather than the world’s.

 

Let me leave you with a link here to one of my favorite songs on the radio at the moment. It’s by the group “for King and Country”. They wrote it for a family member (I think a sister) fighting cancer as a way to encourage her through the empty times of her fight and life. Remember, even when we think we are finished. The fight is never done in Jesus Christ. Let Him use your emptiness to bless you and others.