Fill ‘Er Up!

Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls ….Psalm 42:7

A friend recently thanked me for sharing Psalm 42 with him during a particularly difficult time in his life. He told me that, although he wasn’t sure of the exact theological meaning of the psalm’s seventh verse, he had come to believe that no matter how deep his personal abyss of pain or need that God’s presence could and would entirely fill it. That sounded pretty profound, and it got me thinking about how shallow my grasp of God really is. How many areas of my life have I closed off to His influence and to a deeper filling of His Holy Spirit? How much, or how little, room have I made for God in my life?

In Jeremiah 23:24, the Lord declares, “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” and in Ephesians 1:23, Paul writes about “the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.” It is the picture of total satisfaction. No matter the size, shape, or depth of the container, God fills it in every way. Feeling lonely? Our God will never leave us nor forsake us. Afraid? God’s perfect love cast out all fear. Weak? When we are weak, then God is strong. No matter the size of the hole in your heart or the need you are experiencing, God is more than able to fill it and overflow it. The deeper the need, the deeper the response from God.

One of the great benefits of experiencing trials and tests is that they provide an ever deepening well from which to draw the assurance of both my need for and the rescuing power of my Lord. Now when challenges surface, I can draw from the past and know with full assurance that God is in “all things in every way.” He truly is in control, and His grace is sufficient to meet every need. My desire echoes that of Paul’s message to the church in Ephesus. May we mature spiritually as we age physically “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness” (Eph. 4:13). Imagine the depth of that!

With today’s price of gas, “Fill ‘er up” is a seldom-used phrase from the past. But may it not be so in our walk with the Lord. May we continue to make room for more of Him and to open our lives completely to the One who fills all things—even the deepest longings of our hearts.