A short sermon-style YouTube message by Holly Furtick advising that when you feel empty you should cry out to God instead of pretending everything is fine. Furtick uses the biblical story of a bereaved widow, personal confession about masking emptiness with busyness and overcommitment, and biblical references (Peter, a blind man, and Psalm 34:17) to argue that God hears the cries of the brokenhearted and delivers them. She warns that relying on people to fill the space God is meant to fill leads to isolation and disappointment, and encourages viewers to trust God and call on Him.
Chapters
The wife of the man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, your servant, My husband is dead. And you know that he revered the Lord, but now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves. When you feel empty, first thing you have to do is cry out to God. Seems really simple. But for some reason, God, this is not the first thing that we do. I'm just gonna be honest with you guys. Sometimes when I feel empty, I don't cry out to God because I'm too busy pretending like everything's okay. And at first I'm like, I'm pretending to myself. You know, it's fine, it's fine. Everything's good. Everything's good. And I think, subconsciously, I make my life more full so I don't have to feel the emptiness. You ever done this? And so I say yes to the extra sports team, and I say yes to the wedding shower. I say yes organizing the neighborhood garage sale. But the thing is, busyness does not remedy emptiness. It might mask it for a little while, but in the end, I only feel more empty. And now I'm also over committed and tired and irritable and feeling like no one wants to help me with all the dumb stuff that I said yes to. And then everything everyone else says just gets on my nerves. And so I isolate myself. And even more, am I alone up here? Let me know. Because now I'm isolated and I'm pretending like everything is awesome because I just don't want to. I don't want to just don't want to deal with everything. And so when somebody sees me and they're like, how are you guys doing? I'm like, oh, we're great. Because deep down, I don't really even think that they care that. Or maybe it's not that they don't care, but maybe they can't. I don't think they can relate. But then I start believing that no one cares. And now I feel empty and alone. I don't know. I just wonder if this. If this woman tried to pretend like everything was okay. How long did she keep that up? Everyone knew that she was struggling. Her husband had died, so they all knew that. But at least for a little while, she had been able to meet, make ends meet. We know she had debt. Maybe she borrowed money after her husband died, thinking that somehow, some way, she would make it up. We can even infer that she sold off everything of value in her home. But maybe she was able to do that and hide that too, because she's trying to protect her family from shame, trying to protect her children from fear. And she's carrying everything on her own two shoulders. She's trying to be a mom and a dad and failing at both. And so one day she comes to the end of her rope and she cries out to the prophet Elijah. And so many times in the Bible we see this phrase cry out to God. And Peter was walking on water and he began to sink. The Bible tells us that he cried out to Jesus. When the blind man wanted to get healed, he cried out to Jesus. And every single time, what happens? Jesus responds. Psalm 34 David said, the poor man cried out and the Lord saved him out of all his troubles. But why is it that crying out to God is the last resort instead of my first resort? I think one of the reasons that we don't cry out to God is maybe at our core, we don't believe that he can, or maybe not can, but we don't believe that he will do anything for us. And maybe you prayed before and things got worse. Maybe you asked God to change a situation and it is still the same. And because things didn't turn out the way that you had hoped, this time maybe you'll add, you know what? This. I'm just gonna do it myself. I'm just gonna muscle this situation. I hate it when I do this. I hate it because I end up becoming that manipulative, controlling, complaining woman. And then I wonder why nobody wants to be around me and nobody wants to listen to me and nobody understands me. The problem with me trying to find in people what I'm supposed to find in God is that it just makes me more. More disappointed in the people in my life, and it's not their fault. So now I'm frustrated with my situation and I'm disappointed with the people around me because they don't understand me. And then I wonder why I feel lonely. It's because people were not meant to take the place of God in our lives. There's a space in your life that only God can fill when you cry out to him. I told you one of the verses in Psalm 34. But Psalm 34:17 says, the righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them and delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spite of spirit. God hears your cry. Just let that sink in for a minute. He hears you. He's not ignoring you, and he is going to deliver you. It may not be the way that you imagine. It may not be when you want it to happen. But he will deliver you. And sometimes I think that I prolong my deliverance simply because I just. I. I'm just being stubborn. And I don't cry out to God. He hears you. He stands by waiting to deliver you. You know why? Because he's close. What did it say? He's close to the brokenhearted. He hears you because he's close. He hears you because he's with you. You may feel alone, but you are not alone. Hey, thanks for watching. I hope that that encouraged you today. Make sure that you subscribe so that you don't miss out on other videos like this, and I'll see you back here next time.
