March 10

“When our hands are full of our own things, we cannot possibly get possession of the things of God.  Only empty hands can grasp a gift, only empty vessels can receive the filling, and only the heart that is emptied of all its own things can receive the things of God.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 3/10

One of my sons is in a praise band at his church.  Last night he told me one of their drummers, a young man in his 30’s with a wife and two children, took his life the day before.  This young man’s heart obviously was not emptied of all its own things.  We mustn’t let his suicide, because of its shock value, keep us from seeing this truth.  It would be too easy for those close to him to fall prey to guilt or even anger at him for being so “selfish” and not thinking of his family or the rest of the church.  The truth is, very few of us have hearts that are emptied of our own things, but because we are able to juggle all our problems in our own strength, no one is the wiser.  Except God, that is.  This young man’s problems were meant to bring Him closer to God.  What happened to send him in the other direction?  What can we learn from this about ourselves?  Let’s not point fingers at others or even ourselves.  Instead, we need to empty our hearts and stand before God and receive what he has for us.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.”  2 Corinthians 4:7-10