We all know the feeling of emptiness. We might feel it at different times in our lives and for different reasons, but we all know, or will know, what it feels like. The way we fill the void really does matter. Sometime we have the decisions o fill the emptiness, our decision as Christians should be one that glorifies God. A friend recommended this book to me and it is one of the best books I’ve read this year, so I wanted to share it with you all.
In this short book Guthrie takes you to the Bible and helps you see how in your emptiness, and in your pain that can often accompany it, God can work wonders. This book isn’t full of self-help one-liners that are supposed to give you a boost. Guthrie doesn’t tell you to just “get on with it”. Instead she opens up the Bible, takes you to Bible stories and passages that will point you to Christ in your emptiness.
Emptiness can look different, but here are a few of the things that Guthrie touches on. Our emptiness might look like our…
Insatiable craving for things that don’t satisfy
Relational disappointments and loneliness
Frustrated search for purpose and meaning
Relentless desire for comfort and security
Ongoing struggle to live with loss and unfulfilled dreams
Each chapter is jam-packed with Bible references that will help you see that ‘God fills our emptiness with…’
– His provision
– His presence
– His grace
– His kindness
– His life
– Meaning
– Faith
– Joy
Guthrie tells her own story of how she has felt emptiness in her own life. I like this book because it’s not ‘teachy’. It’s like Guthrie comes alongside you and has a one to one conversation about how great God is and how amazing the gospel is. If you’re wanting a book to help you see Christ, find hope, and strengthen a weary heart, this is it! God is faithful and every situation is an opportunity for Him to show His goodness to us. Even in our pain and our mess, He is with us and He can use us for His purposes. The Bible is full of people who we would probably deem ‘unfit’ or unable to be used by God. But each time God make is abundantly clear, our weakness is an opportunity to show His strength.
I highly recommend you buy this book, grab a copy here. Here are some of the really helpful quotes from the book that will whet your appetite a bit…
“You may have come to see your emptiness as your greatest problem, but I hope to convince you that when God sees the ampleness in your life, he sees it as his greatest opportunity.”
“As we find ourselves living here in the wilderness of the world, we’re put to the same test. In fact, perhaps that is why God has allowed us to experience the emptiness we feel. Perhaps we’re being put to the text. Or another way to look at it is this: God is giving us the opportunity to live out what we say we believe.”
“As we live out our days in the wilderness of the world, we have the opportunity to wean our appetites away from the things the world provides that temporarily satisfy our taste buds but actually rob us of life and freedom. We have the opportunity to feed on the bread that God provides so that we develop our appetites for what truly nourishes and gives life.”
“Perhaps loneliness is meant to serve as an invitation into something we should actually pursue at great cost – intimate fellowship with the God who made us and is with us.”
“The Father chooses us and the Spirit joins us to the Son so that we can be welcomed into this divine love that he eternally preceded us, is infinitely above us, yet is genuinely for us.”
“In a perfectly fair world, there’s no room for grace, for getting what we don’t deserve. It is undeserved favor, the grace of God, that proves to be the defining element in our lives.”
“When all you can see are the empty places, put your confident hope in what you can’t see. Put your hope in the God who is for you. God has not raised his fist against you; instead, God’s hand is at work in your life. See that even the hardest providences of life come to us through our Redeemer’s nail-scarred hands.”
“When you and I become aware of how much kindness we’ve received form God, when we savor it instead of taking it for granted, it changes us. It changes our perceptive. It changes our interactions.”
“God does some of his best work in our longings to be loved. You see, you and I were never meant to gaze forever into the eyes of another human being and find in him or her all we need. In fact, no human relationship, no matter how emotionally intense can fill up the empty place in our lives that only our heavenly husband can fill.”
Head here and buy at least one copy.
Nancy Guthrie teaches the Bible at her church and at conferences nationally and internationally, and through her numerous books & DVD series. She resides in Nasvhille with her husband.
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