Filled or Empty Series #2:Filled With Plenty, Filled with Famine

Empty

#2

    Today I am going to bring attention to a very dysfunctional family.  Most families are dysfunctional, some more than others.  Having an imperfect family does not disqualify a person from being valuable to God and capable of achieving great accomplishments.

   Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, is the father in this dysfunctional family.  He had twelve sons by four different women.  These twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.  After a heart wrenching competition of who can give the husband the most sons, the favorite wife, Rachel, finally gives Jacob two favored sons, Joseph and Benjamin.  Jealousy gets way out of hand and favored brother Joseph is sold into slavery by revengeful uncaring brothers.  Israel is allowed to believe that Joseph had died.  

   The days ahead are hard difficult days for Joseph, but God is with him.  We find him now in prison after being falsely accused of attacking his boss’s wife. While he was there, it was discovered among the prisoners that Joseph had the ability to interpret dreams.  He'd had this ability from childhood.  It got him in trouble with his jealous brothers.  They really didn't like his cocky prediction that someday they would bow down to him.

   In Genesis 41 we learn that the Pharaoh was troubled.  He had dreamed a dream that disturbed him. He learned that a man named Joseph in the prison could interpret dreams, so Joseph was cleaned up and brought to him. 

     It turned out that the Pharaoh's confusing dream about cows and corn was a prediction the years to come. There would be seven full years and seven empty years.  It starts to make sense why God allowed Joseph to be positioned where he was with all the ups and downs it took to get him in position.  We like the ups of life but not the downs, but maybe those downs are serving a purpose to position us.  Joseph was put in charge and he was able to store grain from the seven years of plenty so there would be food in the seven years of drought.

   I like the song the orphans sing in the movie Annie.  “It’s a hard knock life for us…Empty belly life…rotten smelly life.” Unfortunately there are children with empty bellies, empty futures. Maybe God has positioned you to bring relief to someone’s emptiness. Just a thought.

   The best part of this story is yet to come.  The drought and famine spread over a large area and people were forced to go to Egypt to buy grain.  Joseph’s brothers came looking for food unaware of who was in charge of food rations.  Another kind of emptiness was about to be filled.  Joseph had a very lonely empty home, empty of family.  God orchestrated a wonderful blessed reunion. Joseph forgave his brothers.  God cares about restoring relationships.  He went to great lengths to restore relationship with us. Forgiveness is powerful and reconciliation is sweet.  Blessings to you.

Filled or Empty Series #1: Empty Water Bottle

Empty

#1 in series

  It is not a good thing to have an empty gas tank on a remote road, or an empty pantry three days before payday. It is a nice thing to have an empty trash can under the kitchen sink and empty dirty clothes baskets in the laundry room. An empty bank account, that's not good. An empty "bills to be paid" basket, that's very good. (If you haven't thrown them all away that is.) 

  An empty tummy, not good.  An empty schedule, well that can be refreshing.  Empty headed, that's never a good thing.  I haven't decided yet if I want my bug traps empty or full.  Maybe empty means the bugs are somewhere else lurking and ready to attack, and maybe full means I have too many bugs to keep under control. Last week I saw a spider in the basement the size of a mouse.  It was a "get the gun and shoot it" variety.  And then, if you missed, it became the "run like crazy" variety.  I don't even want to think about that spider, so like Scarlet O'hare I will worry about such things another day.  Anyway, sometimes emptiness is good and sometimes emptiness is not so good. I know one thing, emptiness of spirit is never good. And I know, point # 1: God cares about emptiness.

Genesis 1:2 says:  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.NIV

   God did something miraculous and wonderful about this emptiness.  God said, "Let there be light" and there was light.  God said, "Let there be a firmament.  Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear. Let the earth bring forth plants. Let there be stars and a moon shining.  Let there be fish and birds. Let there be living creatures."

   

   And then finally God said, Let Us (notice that God refers to Himself in a plural form) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.  Then verse 28 says:  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over it."

Voila; the emptiness was filled. Well, let me tell you, it didn't take long untill the earth was like my worrisome bug traps. God was asking Himself, "Is the earth being filled a good thing or a bad thing?"  Five chapters later, Genesis 6:11 we read: The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. The earth went from being filled with God's wonderful creation to being filled with violence. 

   Wow, five chapters, that didn't take long.  Well actually it was a matter of about one thousand six hundred and fifty six years, give or take a few years.  We can know this because God very wisely documented accurate linage records.  We don't know exact to the day because it is not documented in months and days, just years.  Adam lived one hundred and thirty years and begat Seth.  Seth lived one hundred and five years and begat Enosh.  Etc, etc.  Adam could have been 130 years and 4 months.  Seth could have been 105 years and 6 months. You get the picture.  Anyway, 1656 years is a very close estimate of time from Adam to the flood. I would say that demonstrates God's patience. 

   Point # two, God acts in response to emptiness and fullness.  Now instead of an "emptiness" problem there was a "filled" problem. The earth was filled with corruption and violence. Let's see what God did.  Back to Genesis 6 verses 12-13 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.  So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.  I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. NIV

   God could have hit a rewind button and gone back to total emptiness, but He did not.  He kept alive His creation even a tiny portion of His creation that had been made in His image. That is worth noting.

  Now, let's bring this in a little closer, like with a microscope.  In Genesis 16 we read about a woman in a sad predicament.  The humans in the story tried to do things their own way instead of trusting God and it didn't pan out too well.  It caused a lot of bad feelings for everyone.  This story is continued in Genesis chapter 21. At this point we find the woman and her son in the desert with an empty water skin waiting to die. verse 19 says: Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.  So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.NIV

   God always sees our areas of emptiness and need.  He always knows when we sit in despair with empty water skins.  Sometimes God has to do for us what He did for this woman, He opened her eyes and showed her the well. What a beautiful picture this is. We are very much like this woman.  We need our eyes opened to see the well of living water that quenches the thirst of our souls.

   John 4:14 says: but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water  I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." NIV 

  God cares about every kind of emptiness we endure. Empty arms, empty places at the table, empty wallets, but  I believe His highest priority is to take care of our spiritual emptiness. God wants to do something miraculous and wonderful about our emptiness.  He wants to say, "Let there be light." The Holy Spirit will open our spiritual eyes so we can see the water that God provides that will quench the thirst for forgiveness and love and acceptance.  Open our eyes Lord.