The Emptying Before the Filling

Mar 17

Written By Neil Broere

3 Reflections

Before God can pour out something new in our lives, the residue of the old has to be emptied—old habits, old mindsets, even old relationships. Those things may have been fine for where God had us, but clinging to them will anchor us to the wrong season. The emptying is what prepares us to move forward.
Moses started out shaped in Pharaoh’s house—confident, privileged, and quick to act. But God didn’t simply “add” power to Moses’ existing abilities when it was time to deliver Israel; He led him to the backside of the desert to be emptied. Forty years of hiddenness softened him. The man who rushed to violence had to become a man marked by humility—able to wait, listen, and obey. That’s what renewal through emptying looks like: the same person, but reworked…able to carry a new assignment without being crushed by the blessing of a new season.
Jesus shows us that emptying makes space for new glory. Philippians 2 gives us the pattern: Jesus “emptied Himself” of privilege and advantage, choosing the path of humility and obedience…all the way to the cross. He allowed Himself to be poured out completely. And on the other side of that emptying, God highly exalted Him. God never asks us to walk a road He hasn’t already been on.

“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” - John Piper

2 Scriptures

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed…”
— 2 Corinthians 4:7-8
“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength…”
— Isaiah 40:31

1 Action

Ask yourself: What’s one thing I’m still clinging to from a previous season—a habit, a strategy that used to work, control, reputation, routine?

Write it down. Hold it before the Lord and pray, “I release what is past so I can receive what is next. Make me new…able to hold what You want to give and able to go where You want to lead.”

Then take one concrete step of obedience today that untethers you.

Grace and peace,

NEIL