“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6
To Be Filled
One day, I had to have blood drawn for some tests. The phlebotomist attached the first of six tubes, stuck the needle in my arm, and immediately the blood flowed quickly into the tube. Every few seconds, she changed the filled tube for an empty one. We were done in just a minute. Filling out the paperwork took much longer.
I asked her why it seemed to flow so quickly; she explained that the tubes were little vacuums, and the blood was “sucked up” by the tube. This intrigued me, as I was under the impression the heart was pumping the blood into the tube. No–it flowed and filled because of the vacuum.
The next day, I was reading the daily devotional, Tozer on Christian Leadership*, when I came across this sentence: “The average Christian is so cold and so contented with his wretched condition that there is no vacuum of desire into which the blessed Spirit can rush in satisfying fullness.”
I might have missed the lesson if I hadn’t just had the conversation with the phlebotomist.
Vacuums, by nature, create a space that needs to be filled, and will fill at the first opportunity. Obviously, there must be empty space to be filled.
The root word for fill in Hebrew denotes fullness and fulfillment, or filling something to the brim. There are numerous Scriptures that speak of God filling the mouth, stomach, children, the temple, water pots, storehouses, the earth, and the heavens. And He doesn’t just fill—He overflows.
One Scripture that speaks plainly is Acts 2:4. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” And in Ephesians 3:19, Paul prays that we would be filled with all the fullness of God—that we would have the FULL MEASURE OF GOD.
I got to thinking: am I full of the Spirit of God? Am I overflowing, full to the brim with the full measure of God?
More to the point, am I emptied of myself, of all the things that take up my time and thoughts, so that I have a vacuum of desire into which my blessed Lord can rush in and satisfy me? As Tozer says, I do not need to persuade God to fill me. I just have to want Him sufficiently to permit Him to do so. Where a vacuum exists, it will be filled.
Lord, I want You that much. I want to be filled with You. Overflowing with the full measure of Yourself. I can’t imagine what that looks like, but I empty myself of me, that I may be filled with You. In Jesus’ Name and by His mighty power and authority I pray this. Amen.
Thought provoking!