I've been doing a study of David for a while now, and a few weeks ago, I came across Psalm 23.
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
For many people, that passage is a very familiar one, but the part that stuck out to me has nothing to do with the valley of the shadow of death or dwelling in the house of the Lord forever. It's only three words, but they're the most beautiful words of that whole passage to me: "my cup overflows."
The visual symbolism of a cup is used quite a bit in the Bible, but this particular instance is different than most of the others. It's not talking about drinking from a cup, or having a particular cup handed to you; this passage gives you the mental image of a cup that's not only full, but OVERFLOWING. In other words, it is so full that it's contents are flowing over the sides…
Let's think about this for a second. Cups are used to hold things; their contents have substance. They're almost always used to hold something that provides some sort of nourishment to you when you're thirsty. You drink from it and it fills you. Spiritual cups work the same way, but in some cases, the human nature can tamper with it. There are a couple of different ways this can happen. The first – if we, or someone else, add something to our cup that can actually harm us. The second – if our cup topples over and spills, causing all of it's contents to vanish, prohibiting us from being nourished and filled; it can be intentional or completely accidental. The point is, either way, nourishment no longer occurs.
So many people walk around this world carrying cups that are totally empty. Not a drop left in them. Cups that got spilled due to recklessness, or all of it's contents got spent on all the wrong things. When our cup is dry, it's easy to fall into the thought pattern that it can never be filled again; to think that we were way too reckless with it for God to ever consider filling it for us again. This kind of mindset is not only completely false, it's also dangerous. We then walk around, frantically, holding our cup out in hopes that other people and things will fill it again for us. The only thing that will result from this ever so temporary feeling of "being-filled-but-NOT-REALLY" is an even deeper feeling of emptiness, and pain. Lots of pain. I know. I've been that person before.
but here is the beautiful part.
GOD DOES WANT TO REFILL YOUR CUP. HE WANTS TO HEAL YOU. HE WANTS TO BE YOUR EVERYTHING. HE WANTS TO OVERFLOW YOUR CUP WITH GOODNESS AGAIN. IN FACT, HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN.
so let Him. let Him fill you. place all of your hope in His love. He is the only one who can replenish you.
"all my hope is in Your love…deep, deep love that gladly bought, it bought me a new life. and hope, all my hope is in nothing less than this love…"
