EMPTY

Empty

You know that feeling you get when you’re running on empty? You keep on looking at the fuel gauge and keep on hoping there’s somewhere to fill-up just ahead. Well, I had that feeling when I was trying to run three kilometres on a running track. Due to ailments and afflictions I haven’t been able to run much of late. But with teeth gritted and a renewed determination as I toddled round the track I could hear the old Jackson Browne song start to play in my head, “Running on Empty”! Yes, I was feeling physically empty. I was feeling emotionally empty. Flat tires and I was flat-lining. There was nothing left in my tank. Empty. Quit? Stop? Never! ‘And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus’ Hebrews 12:1b-2a. It was three kilometres or bust! One kilometre down. Two to go.

‘I’ve lost my song. Where’s my song gone?’ I thought as I now breathed in time to the rhythm of my footfalls thudding on the rubberised track. Check the fuel gauge? Still empty, even less than empty. Lord, where are You? Then, so deep in thought I hardly noticed that I’d covered another kilometre. Two down, one too go.

I was thinking that the Bible teaches us something about Jesus that is so hard for us to understand, and if we do grasp it, it’s so hard to fully comprehend. A car that has run out of fuel is still able to roll down a hill, even when its engine has stopped. So it is for human beings. The Bible says we’re all dead. We need to be reminded of this lest we be deluded enough to think we have enough fuel to make it to Paradise. But, we are dead. We are just rolling down hills, sliding down the slippery slope even! ‘And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins’ Ephesians 2:1. Jesus is that kind person who sees your demise when you are stopped at the side of the road and pulls up to help you. ‘And you He made alive’! Jesus fills your empty tank for you. He puts the song back into your soul, the spring back into your step, the breath back into your lungs, the beat back into your heart, and the wind back into your hair. Two and half down. Half a kilometre to go.

A different song is playing in my head now. Jesus knows all our aches and pains, all our ailments and afflictions, all our mournings and griefs. He even collects our tears in His bottle (Psalm 56:8). He has promised to wipe away every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21:4). I’m fixing my teary eyes on Jesus. He’s waiting for me at the finish line. I’m almost there. I can do this. Lord, I’m empty, but You fill me. I’m flat, but You inflate me. I’m burnt-out to a cinder, but You renew me. ‘He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint’ Isaiah 40:29-31. Only a few metres left to run.

My pace quickens as my burden is lifted. ‘Come to Me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light’ Matthew 11:28-30. Lord, I come singing a different song, ‘Nothing in my hand I bring / Simply to Thy cross I cling’ (Augustus Toplady).