Filled
You may not realize it, and at times it won’t feel like it, but God’s not finished with you
I honestly believe one of the greatest lies we believe in life is that we can find fulfillment with anything other than God. Money, relationships, job satisfaction, living comfortably, they’re all a temporary fix to distract us from the only one who can completely satisfy and leave us feeling fulfilled.
I’ll let you know right now, I’m writing this from a head and heart that hasn’t figured this out yet. So you don’t have to worry this isn’t one of those, “here are the six steps to being perfect” posts that usually leave me, for one, feeling worse than having not read anything at all.
I’m finding myself spending more and more time browsing social media these days. I would much rather be being social offline, but with the world where it is, beggars can’t be choosers it seems. The trend I’m seeing online is overwhelmingly sad, as people try to find their place, while stuck in their place. We are forced to face reality and ask ourselves, “who am I?” when I don’t have a job to go to, when I can’t show off my material possessions, when the things that I feel make me who I am, become worthless assets when I’m all alone. The trend I’m seeing is that people feel more lost than ever before because they don’t know who they are.
The reality is, there will be times in our lives when we feel incomplete, lacking, worthless — yes, believe it or not, even Christians are allowed to have these feelings. There will be days where we wish we could have more money, a better house, a nicer job or to find that special someone to share life with and yes. Hopefully, within all of that, we’ll desire to be closer to God as well.
Here’s the truth — that feeling you feel is not only normal, it’s on purpose.
Wait, what?
That’s right, every one of us at times will feel incomplete, empty, or lacking something in some way. But here’s what’s important to remember, it’s totally normal.
You are not alone in that feeling, trust me. At a guess I would say almost half of the people in your life right now, regardless of age, race or gender, are feeling exactly the same as you are, if not more. Now, it may not be for the same reason, but the feeling is there, even if they don’t show it in any way.
Why? Because when God is doing a new thing in our life, he doesn’t just snap his fingers to make it happen. He’s creating something new, and that takes time, patience and sometimes pain.
Let’s get biblical for a second
I want you to open that bible looking book sitting under a pile of other junk on your coffee table, or click on the bible app on your phone and go to Genesis 1:1
If you’re trying to find Genesis it’s before Exodus and after the index, I’ll make it even easier, click here to open it.
Now read through Genesis 1:1 and keep reading until Genesis 2:2
Go now, read away.
Seriously, read it, the next part will only make sense once you’ve read it.
Okay, well I have my doubts but I’m trusting that you’ve read it. If you haven’t, you should know that I’m not mad, just a little disappointed.
So that piece of scripture that you just read through (or didn’t, but whatever) holds the key to all of this. Those feelings you feel from time to time, that emptiness, the incomplete feeling. It’s because God is working through a process in your life, he’s developing a better version of you. Unfortunately along the way, it can hurt a little.
See, Genesis shows us a pattern, a sequence, a design. God spends the first 3 days of creation developing spaces and then spends the following 3 days filling those spaces. It’s like he makes a blank canvas and then completes a beautiful picture upon it. It’s a concept that, unless someone points out, is extremely easy to miss in scripture. It’s also easy to miss in our own lives.
Check this out:
Day 1, God creates the heavens and the earth, darkness, and light.
Day 4, God creates the Sun, the moon and the stars to fill those spaces.
Day 2, God creates the sky and the water.
Day 5, God creates birds and fish to fill those spaces.
Day 3, God creates the lands and the plants.
Day 6, God creates animals and mankind to fill those spaces.
And on day 7, God rested.
It’s a process. God creates and then He fills, He begins and then He completes, He produces and then He perfects.
So what does that mean for us?
Have you ever noticed how life can feel seasonal? You go through a time of high stress and then you have a time of great success. You’ll have seasons of feeling low and times of feeling awesome. Have you ever thought that maybe God is taking you through his process?
Think about it. Maybe life is hard right now because you’re only on day 1 of God creating something new in your life. Maybe you’re feeling empty because you’re still going through day 2 of the process. Maybe you’re longing for wholeness but God is trying to teach you something on day 3 of the development.
But I can promise you this. Days 4, 5 and 6 are coming, so hold on. Don’t give up, don’t let go. Your days of completion are coming, these things you struggling with won’t last forever. It’s not within God’s character to leave things unfinished, it’s just not always within a time frame that we would like.
Those first 3 days can come and go in a moment and feel like forever, or they can take forever but only feel like a moment. God recently took me through a season where I was unemployed. It was only for 6 weeks, but those 6 weeks felt longer than the 3 years I had spent working in my previous position. It was painful, and not just for me, I think my poor wife dealt with the worst of it. I was moody, disheartened, and I felt so lost. Who was I if not my job title? God in his plan did something incredible though, he gave me rest, but for some strange reason, I couldn’t accept it.
Previous to this, I had spent 5 years in youth and young adult ministry. I spent 3.5 years as a pastor of a church campus. And then my wife and I decided we would move, and I found myself unemployed. Looking back, you could argue that I had earned a break right? My pride disagreed. Before I left the pastorate I had been given multiple prophetic words about God giving me rest, but I chose to ignore them. Funnily enough, God doesn’t really care about our opinion when his purpose is involved. So I found myself unemployed.
What I realize now is this. Those years in youth ministry were creating a blank canvas, they were preparation for the years spent as a campus pastor, they were the first 3 days that prepared me for the second 3 days. But once my time was up, I needed a break. Why? Because it helps us reset.
The world is in a time of reset right now
COVID-19 is forcing the world to stop, refocus, and refresh. It’s when we take the time to stop that God can speak to us without the usual noise going on in our lives. I have no official data for you, but I was told by friends in the ministry today that some churches are seeing growth rates like they’ve never seen before because people are stopping and reevaluating what’s important in life. Don’t fight it, accept it, be open to it, learn from it.
When I stopped over those six weeks, I fought it with everything I had because I didn’t feel like I needed or deserved a break. But once I accepted it, something incredible happened. I started a new year-long bible plan, I reestablished a healthy prayer habit, and I took the time to focus on what God was asking me to do, instead of what I felt like doing. After the turbulent seasons of creation and completion are done, you will find yourself in a place of rest. Day 7.
Day 7 is a time when you realize how far you’ve come, how much you’ve grown and how good our God is for bringing us through those things. Day 7 is a time to rest in God and give Him thanks, but we have to allow God to give us rest.
Day 7 is the best, but day 7 only lasts a short time, because once God has smoothed out one rough edge in our lives, he wants to move on to the next one. The process begins again, and while it’ll look different to the last time, it’s important to see it happening and to know we’ll be better for it on the other side of its completion. What we learn from the last season, will help us in the next. God will continue to make us better versions of ourselves because it’s in his nature to do so. Remember the words of Philippians 1:6
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6, NLT)
The continuation of God’s work doesn’t always feel good, but it’s always for our good. Even if you can’t see the end result, you can trust that the end result will be good, why? Because when God is creating something in us, it is in his nature to look back on all he has made, and just like it was in Genesis 1:31, it will be very good. My prayer is that through whatever season you’re going through right now, that you’ll be able to say the same.
I hope that you are blessed by this today and find a new understanding of what God is doing in your life.
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