Let me be full, let me be empty.
I pray that you have never experienced a time when you were physically empty in whatever definition you choose to give to the word. I also pray that you have never experienced a time of physical hunger that took more time than you thought necessary to receive that which you needed. I thank God that I have never experienced that; for God provided. I have shared with you two experiences in my life when I could have gone hungry, but at the last moment, God provided. What this part of the prayer is saying is that we should receive both those times that are "full" times as well as those "empty" times. A Christian lives with hope and trust in God, that whatever we face is for the moment, however long or short that "moment" may be, but God is still with us and God will have the last word in all things.
In our lives as Christian servants, we may seek to do this or that and we may not get the results we believed we should have gotten, but even if it is a task in which we walk away thinking it was an empty time, don't be so sure. E. Stanley Jones, Methodist missionary to India, when as a young pastor was asked to speak to a group of young people about the missionary field even though he was not yet a missionary himself; in fact, Jones later wrote that the only one touched by his message was himself - God called him out of what he first considered an empty time. Another example was of a report by a missionary on the sadness he felt of only touching two lives in a year of service; but one of those lives touched was a great evangelist who spent the rest of his life reaching thousands for the Lord. I myself, was told by one of my Sunday school teachers, that of all the children she ever taught, I was the last person she would have thought God would call into ministry. It matters not what we think, for it is God who knows and God who decides.
PRAYER: Dear God of the last word, speak to my heart as I prayerfully reflect on Your presence and call on my life. I need You to reassure me that even in times when I think failure is the most appropriate word for what I have done, You speak of a victory. Help me as I pray this covenant prayer that I may truly mean these words, " "I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty." I pray in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
