It was maybe 5 years ago that I heard a sermon/teaching that spoke of how impossible it is for another person to fill up that God' shaped space inside of your soul.

There was an amazing illustration of a rattling cup becomes a source of distraction for those around the empty-souled person who is constantly seeking to be filled.
We've all experienced that ... most of us have been on either side of the cup ... needing continual filling or desperately trying to fill the needs of someone else.
When I heard the sermon, I was convinced of the message. We can not get what we need from others. Nor are we capable of fulfilling the deep God-needs of those around us ...

It's Truth, in the greatest sense of the Word ... and as I love to hear some of my favorite southern preachers say "it'll preach!" ...

but the Lord has been re-awakened my soul to this message in past week or two and I've come to observe a new layer of this Truth.

The deep needs here are real -
every bit as real as the Truth.

The circumstances under which those needs have been exposed are real as well.

The chasm those needs have created is real.

Don't at all misunderstand me, most of the time the teaching that tells us that those deep needs can only be met by a Loving, Sovereign God - well, it's accurate. We can't fill those needs and we should not try to pretend we can.

But in the midst of watching that Truth in harsh re-action, I've seen some hurt. Because while we can't fill holes ... we can, by our careless, insensitive actions, make the hole deeper and wider and more pronounced.

We can reinforce insecurities.

We can feed false beliefs and lies the enemy is whispering in the quiet of the night.

We can carelessly hang those we profess to care about out to dry in any number of ways.

I've seen
husbands defeat wives.
wives deflate husbands
parents damage children in ways that reach across days, years and generations.
children dishonor parents through unthinkable carelessness.
friends destroy relationships with thoughtless words.

So, while it's true, we are not God. We can not fill that God-shaped space. When our cup is empty we ought first seek our Heavenly supply of Living Water ...

but when we encounter someone who is dry ... and clearly thirsty ... and running on empty ...

possibly we can realize that we might just be the rescue provision sent by the Supplier.

Will we simply point out the source a few thousand yard in distance or will be grasp the hand of the one who is lost and lead them to the Source of our own Divine filling? It probably means denying our own agenda. It probably means getting up off the couch from yet one more episode of whatever it is that you love to watch. It probably means losing an hour of sleep. It probably means more than a cursory word.It probably means hearing a voice or looking into eyes. It probably means an action of some sort.

Lord, make me aware of the needs around me. The ones that cry out in the eyes. The ones that words fail to express. The ones that choke in the deepest part of the chest because they can not excape their own prison. Help me to be that kind of friend. Help me to be that kind of servant. Help me to be Your hands, Your feet, Your heart.