Everyday Miracles: 20 Day Journey With Elijah And ElishaSample

When you feel inwardly empty you don’t become less useful to God but more. 

When a widow reached out to the great prophet Elisha for help, she was desperate. She had a debt she couldn’t possibly pay. She faced the prospect of selling her two children as slaves to cover her debt. She had no kinsmen redeemer. Her future, like her soul, was empty. 

And God worked a miracle to prove His power and delight in filling empty vessels.

Elisha instructed the poor widow to borrow jars from her neighbors and to pour out her one, precious jar of oil into the borrowed vessels. When she poured out her only possession, it miraculously multiplied. In fact, the oil didn’t stop flowing until there were no more empty vessels to receive it. 

It is a picture of the grace of God and the oil of the Holy Spirit. Only the hungry eat. Only the thirsty drink. And only the empty are filled. 

It means that your emptiness is your greatest qualification for the outpouring of God’s oil. 

Charles Spurgeon put it poignantly: 

“My Lord Jesus does not want your help. Abstain, resolve, repent, advance—do what you will. But do not join these poor things to His great salvation. Give up once and for all depending upon what you have done, even when you have done all—as an unprofitable servant quit all claims of wage and appeal to mercy only. Dismiss the proud notion of containing anything in yourself which comes of your fallen nature and yet can be acceptable with God. …Empty buckets are most fit for the well of grace—these shall be filled while the full ones stand idle at the well’s mouth” (from Charles Spurgeon, Sermon 2063, “The Filling of Empty Vessels”, 1889).

If you’re empty, you’re qualified for God’s best. God fills empty things with Himself. And that’s the Gospel!

Questions for Reflection

1) Think back on a time when you felt empty. How did it feel? How did God’s grace sustain you?

2) What are some of the ways that you try to “help” God – to, as Spurgeon said “join these poor things to His great salvation”? List them and acknowledge prayerfully the futility of your own strength.

3) What are some ways that you feel empty during this season? Journal prayerfully before the Lord about your spiritual hunger. Write down your longings. Listen for the Lord’s reassurances from His Word and His whisper of grace. What are the ways you’re trusting God to fill you with His Holy Spirit? 

Prayer for the Day

Lord, here I am – an empty vessel – fill me I pray. Fill me with the oil of the Holy Spirit. Fill me with the oil of gladness. Fill me with love overflowing. Fill me with hope that does not disappoint. Lord, I bring to you my deepest longing ___________________________________. Grant me the grace to open my heart to your Spirit’s presence. Give me an ever-increasing readiness to receive every good gift from you. Let the oil you pour out in my life spill over as grace to others. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.