Pastor's Blog

  Borrow Your Neighbor’s Emptiness

2 Kings 4:3 - … empty vessels, borrow not a few (KJV)

The objects of the Lord’s interests continue to amaze me. When it comes to dealing with the difficulties of His servants, the Lord seems to be far more interested in the details of our circumstances than logic would dictate. Important personages avoid the pitfalls of micro-managing their holdings. Common sense demands that details be delegated. Great men do not waste their time on activities that do not reward their efforts with high returns. Furthermore, great men do not openly invite challenges to their resources. But the Lord of Scripture shows little regard for what men call greatness. As the few words of our devotional thought show, when it comes to doing great things, the Lord appears intent on using the small things in our lives.

Our story so often begins as did the story of this widow. There is the presence of emptiness. Our lives can become cluttered with the symbols of emptiness. On the one hand we encounter emptiness in the significant relationships in our lives. There can also be the emptiness of disappointed expectations. Or one may experience the emptiness of failing health. To fully appreciate the value of the abundant life, one must gain a more thorough understanding of the emptiness to which abundance answers. Emptiness should not be intimidating to the believer. The Lord overlooks fullness in order to fill emptiness. Therefore, the believer should not be intimidated by or ashamed of emptiness. As a platoon leader would send out a scout to search out the enemy, the Lord has commissioned His Holy Spirit to search out candidates for the abundant life (John 10:10).

Furthermore, in this example we find that the Lord is encouraging an increase of emptiness. Such a thought is particularly disconcerting to those that are uncomfortable with scarcity. As if the subject of our passage were not in dire enough straits, the prophet of the Lord almost seems to mock her condition by encouraging an additional investment in emptiness. Before the Lord’s abundance could reach the level of adequacy, the need of this widow had to increase. In order for this woman to experience God’s fullness for her life, she had to add to her scarcity the emptiness of her surrounding neighbors. An act of faith compelled this widow to treasure that which her neighbors no longer found useful.

This faith lesson goes against the spiritual grain of our lives. But, in it I think I have uncovered a secret to greater abundance. The resources available to me increase as I am willing to enlarge the burden of my scarcity by adding to it the emptiness of those about me. Do I have the courage to borrow from the emptiness of my neighbor? Will I bring his burden, his scarcity into my house? Will I embrace as my own the clutter of useless things in his life? Can I have faith for my own scarcity and that of my neighbor as well? Sure, the intent of this woman’s borrowing from her neighbors was so that her own need would be abundantly met. And that is just the point of the meditation. By embracing the emptiness of those about us we increase the potential of abundance added unto us.