Filling Empty ~ 2 Kings 17

“They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, and His warnings which He gave them. And they followed empty idols and became empty, and followed the nations that surrounded them, about which the LORD had commanded them not to do as they did.” 2 Kings 17:15

              Think about the things that you fill up in your life.  We fill our shopping carts with food at the market, fill our pantries with that food, and then fill our bellies with that same food.  We fill our cars with gas, fill our homes with furniture, and even fill our bank accounts with enough money to live.  But as you consider the above examples, they all ring true of only the simple physical.  But what about filling other facets of your life?  We seek people that will spend time with us, providing a deep levels of companionship, thus filling our lives with the emotional need of love.  We seek to fill our lives with purpose, crafting our passions and talents into a career path that will generate happiness and satisfaction.  And yes, even on the darker side, we seek to fill the sinful desires that are perpetually generated within all humans at conception. (Romans 3:23, 1 john 1:8) But how often do you think this world really and truly thinks about filling up spiritually?  The process of filling something seems ever so simple until you get to the dominion of the spiritual.

              The world has more diverse ideas about the spiritual realm than just about any other.  You can shop the buffet of this world and choose just about anything in existence, and someone is attempting to utilize it fill themselves spiritually.  Any shape, type, and form of organized religion or cult that promises you everything you specifically desire spiritually? Check.  All types of modern activities and practices such as yoga, meditation, connecting with nature, self-introspection, astrology, and even dream analysis will all promise you they will fill you spiritually.  And possibly one of most practiced, although mostly practiced subconsciously, is the idea that you can somehow fill yourself spiritually, serving as your own priest at an altar of your own design.  But if you were to philosophically, theologically, and logically approach the idea of truly being filled spiritually, would you not need to back way up and address the creator/created discussion.  For you see, if you truly desire to be filled spiritually, is it not true that only the One that created your soul would be able to fill it in the way He intended?

              The latter chapters of 2 Kings are some of the most doleful in the Word of God.  For it is there that you see the end of the road for the glory that once was the Israelite nation of God.  A nation that had been miraculously brought out of Egyptian slavery, been sustained in the desert for 40 years with food rained from heaven, and were given a covenant promise of life from the very God that created everything that has ever been created.  Yet the depths and deception of our human sin nature craves nothing more than to create and worship a God that fits into our own realm of understanding and belief.  And it is here that the train runs off the rails and ancient lives spiral into brutal combat with the first commandment of God.  And as a result, our study passage offers a verse that send chills throughout my being. 

“They went after false idols and became false…” 2 Kings 17:15a ESV

“They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless...” 2 Kings 17:15a NIV

“They followed vanity, and became vain…” 2 Kings 17:15a KJV

“And they followed idols and became empty…” 2 Kings 17:15 NKJV

They followed empty idols and became empty themselves.  The Hebrew word used here to describe the aforementioned idolatry and the resulting behavior is “hebel.”  Hebel can hold the meanings of: delusion, vanity, air, breath, or vapor.  Out of the 62 uses of hebel in the Old Testament, a whopping 30 of those uses are found in the book of Ecclesiastes.  And in Ecclesiastes we find Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, pondering the point and purpose of life here on this planet.  And in his wisdom-infused search, he uses the word hebel to describe the vanity of a life that is chasing after something that is ultimately unattainable.  As chasing after the an unseen wind (hebel).

              Here in 2 Kings chapter 17, the word use is similar, but the context strikes to the marrow of the bones. For we find an Israelite nation that has rejected Almighty God and His commandments, “neither listening nor obeying them.” (2 Kings 18:12) And instead, they have chosen to follow the false gods and idols of the nations that surround them.  And as God examines their disobedient, stiff-necked behavior, He has only this to say…once you allowed yourself to be filled with my goodness, love, mercy, grace, peace, harmony, and purpose.  But now, in choosing to worship the empty things of this world that can offer you none of my gifts, you yourselves have become as empty as the idols you pray to.  What a chilling thought to think that we, as God’s created beings, would reject Him and instead choose to follow hollow, empty things that will only give us emptiness…and keep us that way.

              Today, no matter what the world may tell you, you can be filled spiritually.  But to do so, you must go to the only source that has the ability to truly fill the human soul.  And that is the Almighty God that created not only you, but everything that has or ever will be created. (John 1:3) And folks, to be filled by the very Holy Spirit of God, you must have the Holy Spirit of God.  And just how do you do that?  Well, it’s the posture of your heart.  You see, a heart that is prideful and intent on attempting to fill itself with the ways of this world, will never be looking for God to fill it.  Yet the humble heart that is truly seeking for God with all of that heart, will find Him. (Jeremiah 29:11) If you today, can and will freely admit that you are a sinner and in need of a Savior to save you from the death penalty that all sin carries, then your heart is in the right place to be filled.  Simply admit directly to God that you are a sinner in need of a Savior and ask His only Son that came here to this planet as a perfect sin-free sacrifice for all sinners for all time, to be you Lord and save you from a life separated from Him for eternity.  And folks, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord with a repentant heart will be saved from their sin instantly and permanently.  (Romans 10:13)

              If you feel spiritually empty today…it is because you are.  And there is only way to be filled, by going directly to the only One that can fill a soul…the Lord Jesus Christ.  Go to Him today and be filled to overflowing.

Blessings to you ~ Dan

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17b-19

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” Psalm 23:5

outside of San Felipe Usila, Veracruz, Mexico