Yearning to be filled,
filled up to capacity
to the full measure
of God's own fullness—
possible?
--to be filled like the ocean,
deep, with its waters
reaching always heavenward,
splashing to the shore—
possible?
--to be filled like the skies,
air and clouds all rising higher
with the glory of the sunlight
reflecting everywhere—
possible?
It's more than what I pictured,
thinking of a cup
filled up to the brim.
For he fills everything—
so is it possible
for me to be filled
to the full measure of God,
the Creator, Maintainer,
the King of Everything,
him filling it all, totally?
I'm yearning. Fill me!
(cf. Ephesians 1.23)
When I woke up this morning and sat in my quiet space, looking east out the window of our “skyhouse” (repurposed attic), I was stunned by the colors in the predawn sky. Instantly I thought of the verse that captured my attention last week and has become a theme:
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days (Ps. 90:14 NIV)
In Nyarafolo the translation says: “fill us up in the morning with your unending love. . .” The Hebrew word rendered “satisfy” or “fill us” in English translations actually means to “be satiated, have had enough.”[1]
In Psalm 90, Moses begins with meditation on how brief life is, like grass that springs up green then withers by evening—the heat has taken its life. He then thinks about all the sufferings he and his people have been through, and how time is passing. “How long will this last?” he begs Yahweh. And then he asks for the one thing that can refresh them, God’s compassionate love:
[Satiate] us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days (Ps. 90:14 NIV)
We cannot know how many days we will have on the earth, but as time passes we can either wither in soul as well as body, or be so nourished by Yahweh’s endless love that we are “full,” needing no other food in our souls.
Once again I think of the imagery of the Vine and its branches, and what it means to be fully attached to the main trunk of the Vine: our Lord and Savior. It makes me grin to think about being one of those “sappy” branches, constantly drenched with sap from the trunk. But that is exactly the nourishment I need for daily strength to run to the finish line, and the love I need in order to be fruitful. This brings the whole picture back to what it means to be “filled with the Spirit.” Jesus promised us that through his Spirit living in those who love him, he and his Father would come to them and make their home in them—live there! (John 14:23). He will teach us what we need to know, and give us peace (John 14:26,27). Next he went on to the imagery of our need to be attached to him: the Vine and branches.
Then comes an explicit application: if we stay attached to him, doing what he says, then we actually live in his love—as though it is our home. That is what the word “remain” means in this English translation of the Greek word μένω (meno): to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy):—abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand.[2]
If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (Jn. 15:10 NIV)
There is a prerequisite here: to constantly live in Jesus’ love, firmly attached with no breaking off, we have to do what he says! And his first command is to love the others in our community. We all know how hard that is. Some are easy to love; others require a kind of love we don’t normally have available. They may just annoy us; they may be truly opposed to us. How can we do what Jesus says, then, and love them?
The answer is to be filled with his love! Then we can live it out, letting it overflow to others. Like the lovely colors of sunrise that promise light that will soon be filling our world, like my teapot filled with my favorite hot drink that I can also share with someone near me (filling their cup too!), being filled with God’s love is our source of strength to do what he says and pass it on.
This is what Paul wrote to his beloved Timothy:
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (2 Tim. 1:7 NIV)
That is how we can do what he has commanded us to do: he gives us the power and self-discipline, as well as the love.
Back to Psalm 90: First of all, we have God as our dwelling place, just as his chosen people did:
Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. (Ps. 90:1 NIV)
This is permanent, ongoing. We live in him—firmly attached. When he fills us with his love in the morning (present moment) of our lives, it goes on all our days:
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. (Ps. 90:14 NIV)
His love fills us and lasts into the evening of our lives—“all our days.” Not only that, it gives us joy and gladness!
I count the blessings of remaining firmly attached to this God who is love, and I am filled with gratitude. The incredible truth is that the God who made the universe, filled the oceans with water and the sky with light and space with so much that discovery is ongoing forever, this same God loves you and me and wants to live in us! He gives us his Spirit, who supplies all that we need (he fills us up) to actually do what he says and to love doing it!
Now this hymn is humming in my heart:
Verse 1
There is joy in serving Jesus
As I journey on my way
Joy that fills my heart with praises
Every hour and every day
Chorus
There is joy, joy
Joy in serving Jesus
Joy that throbs within my heart
Every moment every hour
As I draw upon His power
There is Joy, joy
Joy that never shall depart
(Oswald J. Smith)
[1] Holladay, Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT, in BibleWorks, שָׂבַע
[2] James Strong, A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 47.
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