“We are all after something that makes the empty spaces in us make sense.” – Faraway

“Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within.” – Arthur Erickson

“The usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness.” – Old Chinese Proverb

Unless you have experienced emptiness firsthand, it’s hard to connect with the vast paradox found within it.

How can such a hollow, vacant feeling be so heavy?  How can the silence experienced in emptiness scream at such a deafening decibel?   How is a drained heart filled with such emotion or a depleted, weary mind so consumed with constant and abundant thought?

Emptiness is so FULL of hurt and pain! I believe it to be one of the most difficult things a human being experiences – one of the reasons why we desperately try to fill the void with any type of “illusion” we can as Arthur Erickson suggests.  The disguises we cover it with are a form of trickery and deception – many of which are destructive and lead us to more emptiness in the long run.

We fill the drained marriage with an affair that seems overflowing and abundant.  We replace the lack of passion and intimacy within a relationship with the mirage of pornography.  We disguise the pain of death and hurt of abandonment with drugs or alcohol – giving us a temporary respite or release from its grip.  We spend our money frivolously on material things to disguise our feelings of lack, want, and need.  We rush from one relationship to the next to avoid the emptiness of being alone.

Think about the people who have EVERYTHING a heart or body could desire…. yet still feel an overwhelming sense of emptiness?

Sometimes we just try to stay occupied with meaningless tasks like flipping through our news feeds or staring at our phones.  We’ve successfully distracted ourselves from the emptiness for a moment but wasted precious time that cannot be replaced.

What illusions have you used to disguise your emptiness?  How have you deceived yourself to avoid the pain that accompanies it?

“All the labor of man is for his mouth [for self-preservation and enjoyment], and yet the desire [of his soul] is not satisfied.” – Ecclesiastes 6:7 Amplified Bible

“Let them no longer fool themselves by trusting in empty riches, for emptiness will be their only reward.” – Job 15:31 NLT

When emptiness enters our lives, could there be a deeper meaning behind it?  Could what seems void of meaning be filled with purpose?  Could the lack really be filled with a form of abundance – one we don’t recognize because we are too busy trying to disguise it with an illusion?  Does the paradox of emptiness exist in the reverse?  Is emptiness really the beginning of fullness?

In many ways my friend I believe it does.  There is something about emptiness that brings us to the end of ourselves and to all our human efforts at trying our best to disguise it.

Those feelings of emptiness are at a soul level, so deep that no human attempts to rectify them are even remotely successful or permanent.

Emptiness is truly a spiritual condition, meaning the answers to remedy it are found deep within and are fixed permanently by our connection to God – the Source of all things. 

Emptiness or lack cannot exist in this realm.  In Him, nothing is ever absent or deficient – lacking meaning or purpose.

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I have all that I need.” – Psalm 23:1 NLT

“For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist] and to Him are all things [directed].” – Romans 11:36 Amplified Bible

When we see emptiness as a spiritual condition, we move closer to the Source of all things and the emptiness fades.  Even the emptiness caused by our human condition and the pain we experience here in this earthly life begins to change as a result.

The emptiness of abandonment, rejection, loneliness, and disease are seen and felt differently.  There is a deeper discernment surrounding any form of want or need or lack.  We begin to connect with the greater purposes that lie at the center of our emptiness.  This viewpoint changes how we respond to emptiness in all our relationships and circumstances. We begin to see the usefulness behind the emptiness 🙂

Those feelings of emptiness my friend are indeed the REAL illusion!  May God help you see them in a new light today 😊

“You will make known to me the way of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” – Psalm 16:11 NASB

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” – Ephesians 3:18-19 NLT