I've Got Nothing

Scripture Reading: Luke 11:5-10

One of my email addresses is emptyhandreachingup@yahoo.com. I came up with that name based on this parable. In it we see the middle friend being put in a position of needing to feed a friend who has arrived unexpectedly, late at night, and hungry. He has nothing to give him. His hands are empty. What he does have is another friend who has bread. In the parable, the friend with bread is representing God. So, the middle friend goes are holds up his empty hands to his friend with bread and asks for bread to be placed in them so that he can take it and feed his hungry friend. His empty hands are reaching up.

When this person comes to his friend who has bread, his plea is based on his claim that “I have nothing to set before him.” This is the position we are all in, all the time. We have nothing apart from what God puts in our hands. It doesn’t mean we live in a state of perpetual financial bankruptcy. Most of us probably don’t. It does mean whatever we have has been given to us by God. We are, therefore, stewards and not owners of all that we have.

But this parable speaks to us about more than material possessions. It speaks to us about spiritual things as well. What do we have to give to those who need encouragement, comfort, wisdom, or courage? We can say with the person in the parable, “I have nothing to set before him.”

There is a degree of desperation in that kind of praying, but it is not hopeless desperation. It is not despairing of any answer. It is despairing of any answer coming from our personal reservoir of wisdom. Our hands are empty. But we are confident and hopeful and expectant because we have this Friend who has all of these things our other friend needs. And so, we go to Him…