The Empty and the Full

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

THE EMPTY AND THE FULL

Luke 1:46-55

 

46 And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."

NIV

There are two types of people Luke tells us that Mary spoke about as she was inspired by the Spirit. There are the hungry and the rich and each has been dealt with by the Lord in accordance with their desires. First, let us look at the rich because they have already made their choice as to who they trust in, and that is themselves. Their trust is in their ability to produce wealth for themselves. We would think they would say in their heart, “We don’t need God, for we have everything we want, and if we don’t have it, we go get it”. This takes right to the verse about not being able to serve two masters, God, and money. However, for those who hunger after God, as Jesus said in his sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." It is interesting the Greek word, peonaoo which is translated as hungry, is seen metaphorically as grave ardently, to seek with eager desire. This is to follow after God with every fiber of our being, putting aside our desire to satisfy ourselves with wealth, as we are told here the rich are sent away empty. Who in their right mind would want to be sent away from the salvation of God empty, without eternal life? How could anyone think they can provide for themselves better than God can? Because we seek after God, we thirst for Him, for His word, and we will be filled with good things, such as grace, mercy, compassion, love, and the Holy Spirit. How good it is to be in the palm of the hand of God, to have him walk and talk with us, sharing His divine thoughts with us, giving us the direction in life we need. Just as earthly parents try their best to give guidance to their children so they will become mature adults serving God, although we fail all too often, God never fails. He is always faithful to guide us in the way we should walk. He fills our hearts with His love. He lifts us up and uses us for His glory. Everything good comes from God, and the greatest good that God has given to us that hunger for him, is Jesus, for through Jesus going to the cross and shedding his blood for us, all our sins have been forgiven, and through his death and resurrection we have been given the very good thing of having the power of death destroyed and the assurance of our resurrection from the grave. We could go on and on about the good things that God has filled us with because we hunger and thirst after Him. So we have two types of people, the empty and the full.