Hymns 380

Scripture Reading:

Luke 1:53   The hungry He has filled with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.

Luke 1:53 says, “The hungry He has filled with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.” This verse shows us that God’s grace is reserved for one type of person—a hungry one. If a person comes to the meeting only for the purpose of observing and listening, he will not see anything or hear anything. If all that a person wants is some Bible knowledge, his real spiritual problems will not be solved.  Only those with a pressing inward need and those who are determined to meet God will receive His blessing. We must realize that spiritual progress is based on our hunger.

THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN EMPTY US

  It is an amazing thing that in our experience the Holy Spirit can empty us. Many genuine Christians have passed through such an experience. When we first became a Christian, we considered ourselves to be rather good and capable in everything. But after some time we noticed that the life we were living was short of the Christian standard; we realized that we had failed and could not go on anymore. Consequently, we felt dissatisfied, and we prayed for God to fill us up and make us obedient. God then ordered some unbearable and distasteful circumstances to come upon us. Yet by the grace of God, we eventually overcame them. Then we had something to testify about, and we were able to say that we overcame. We were able to say that we overcame a certain particular matter and that, at a certain point in time, God filled us. We may have even thought that we would be an overcomer from that point on. But surprisingly, after some time, the victory was lost, and failure came back again. We thought that it was very easy to overcome, but it seemed as if all strength was gone, and new obstacles were before us again. There seemed to be a wall in front of us; we could not find any way out, and there did not seem to be any way to bypass it. Consequently, we said that our previous victory was lost, and we were no longer filled with God.

WHENEVER HE BRINGS US TO OUR END,
OUR PROGRESS HAS BEGUN

  Let us bear in mind that everything ordered by the Lord in our circumstances is intended to create a need in us and make us realize that we cannot overcome by past experience. Past victories remain unchanged, but trying to overcome new difficulties by means of past victories never works. Many people look at their past victories and wonder why they cannot overcome now. Brothers and sisters, we have to realize that God does not want us to have yesterday’s manna. With each new difficulty there comes a new need which we have never realized before. Brothers and sisters, we cannot go on without new knowledge of the Lord and a new vision of Him. Whenever He brings us to our end and whenever we find ourselves crying, “I cannot make it!” Our progress has begun. Then God is able to easily create a desire for Him in us. Is it not clear to us that our hunger begins from this kind of experience?

  Brothers and sisters, God desires to see you seeking after Him in a genuine way. Therefore, He places trials and difficulties before you. When these things are before you, you should honestly seek after Him. When you really need His power, you will realize that you can do nothing apart from Him.

AN IMPORTANT SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE—
OUR EMPTINESS OUGHT TO BE A CONTINUOUS STATE
AND WE WILL HAVE THE FILLING

Whenever we become empty, the Lord will fill us up. The story in 2 Kings 4 shows us an important spiritual principle. What did the woman and her sons have? They only had a pot of oil. This same pot of oil was later poured into many empty vessels. The little bit of oil that she had at the beginning was crucial. In the Bible oil represents the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works only on those who already have the Spirit abiding in them.

The widow’s problem was that she had too few vessels. Elisha told her, “Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full” (2 Kings 4:3-4). What did the woman do? “So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed” (vv. 5-6). She had to borrow empty vessels—this speaks of the need for empty room within us for the Holy Spirit. She was to borrow not a few—this means the more the better. There should not be only one empty room but many empty rooms.

Another very important thing is the place where the oil was to be poured. It was to be poured in the house and with the door shut. To shut the door means to confine the woman, her sons, and the oil within the door. This indicates that we have to deal with the Holy Spirit directly ourselves. Everything should be between us and the Lord. Difficulties and victories are all personal.

GOD BEING WAITING FOR US TO EMPTY OURSELVES

We should consider another very precious thing: “And he [the son] said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.” The Holy Spirit will fill every empty vessel, even the very last one. If there had been more empty vessels, there would have been more oil. We must bear in mind that the reason the oil stayed was because there were no more vessels. It was not the oil that first stayed, but the empty vessels that were first exhausted. When there were no more empty vessels, the oil stayed. The oil did not exhaust itself; it was the empty vessels that were exhausted.

Brothers and sisters, God is waiting for us to empty ourselves. We need to pray and ask the Lord to dig more deeply in us and make more room in us so that the Holy Spirit can fill us. The filling of the Holy Spirit depends on our emptiness. I will repeat: our emptiness ought to be a continuous state. If we cannot empty ourselves, God cannot fill us. The Holy Spirit is waiting for empty rooms within us. The more empty rooms we give to Him, the more He will fill us. If there is empty room, it means there is more filling by the Holy Spirit to come. Therefore, we need not seek for the filling; all we have to do is to empty ourselves. The Holy Spirit alone is responsible for the filling; our responsibility is to empty ourselves. If we can empty ourselves, we will have the filling. We may not be conscious of the filling, but the fact of the filling will certainly be with us. (CWWN, vol. 37, pp. 132-140)

Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 37, ch. 23; CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “Experiencing the Mingling of God with Man for the Oneness of the Body of Christ,” ch. 6