In Emptiness
“God with us” are powerful words.
Like I said last week, the name “Immanuel” is a promise that is fulfilled today. Not in some future day, not at some point in the past, not that will be fulfilled at the end of some future event.
God is with us here, now, today.
For years I didn’t want to believe that. When I was a teenager, wrapped up in my drama, my feelings, and ultimately my depression and anxiety, I didn’t trust that God was with me. I thought I had to be better, that I had to feel good, that I had to stop feeling anxiety and wanting to hurt myself for God to be with me.
I thought I had to be whole for God to be with me.
But the promise of the Messiah isn’t that God will be with us when we have checked off all the boxes we set for ourselves, or when we reach some milestone, or when we are “good enough.” The promise of “God with us” is that God is with us right where we’re at.
For me, for a long time, that was in emptiness. I didn’t feel like I was enough for God to be with me. I didn’t feel like I knew enough verses for that blessing.
From the beginning, God is present in emptiness:
The earth was without form and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:2 (emphasis mine)
God is present in the empty, desolate beginning. God is present among a ruined universe. And God takes those ruins and molds them and creates something beautiful and good. God creates the universe around us, and eventually creates us and calls us “very good.”
Before we’ve had the opportunity to do anything. Before humanity is even aware that it has been molded by a Creator who will always be with us, we are called very good.
“Immanuel” is a promise, not just for the good times—like I said previously—and not just in the bad times. God is with us in our emptiness. In our weakness.
It’s been a lesson that has taken me years and years to learn. It’s a lesson that I still have to remind myself of on a way-too regular basis.
God doesn’t want us to be whole and perfect to be with us. God doesn't need us to be complete to be with us.
God is with us here and now.
What if we lived lives that showed that off? What if we truly began living from a place of victory because God is with us, and not a place of emptiness. What if we instead of a God-poverty mentality, we lived with a God-prosperity mindset?
Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves because we don’t feel good enough for God, let’s rejoice because God is with us regardless of how we feel. Regardless of how empty we might be, let’s celebrate because God is still with us.
Christmas is coming, but the Savior is already here.
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