My Cup Overflows…
I tilted my head back, drinking every drop of ice-cold water in my insulated water bottle. The more I leaned back, the more noticeable it was that nothing came out. I collected more drops of sweat at the base of my neck than water out of my bottle, but I continued in my determined efforts of getting one more drop to quench my thirst. It was the middle of August in Arizona, and I had just finished hiking.
This hopelessness is not comparable to everyday hopelessness, but it does remind me of the moments where I feel depleted of energy with nothing but my empty efforts to offer; when I feel thirsty with no water to drink. I pour water here and there, and now from an empty cup, expected to have enough water to sustain and satisfy but only getting a drought with no water left to give.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul,” Psalm 23:1-3
The writer, David, paints a beautiful picture of green pastures and still waters; a tranquil place of restoration with peaceful rhythms. This picture paints the absence of worry and displays the epitome of contentment, which hangs on the walls of our home and is sketched in the deepest longings of our heart. It becomes our deepest desire to rest in a place of green pastures with calming waters.
Sadly, the picture of a calming scene may only remain painted in our hearts and rarely amount to reality. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” Psalm 23:4.
A shadow of death, in dark contrast to the beauty painted in the prior verses, relates to the fact that we live in a fallen world with broken people. Just like us, they fail to live in the reality of those peaceful rhythms. Their cups aren’t just broken, they are emptied of goodness while others receive what is being poured out, taking everything until it is empty.
The still waters where we once found peace become oceans that threaten to drown us in anxiety. It is often when these waters are not still that the Lord calls us to stand and walk. “He said, ‘Come’ so Peter got out of the boat…” (Matthew 14:29). Our longing for peace often causes us to struggle stepping out of comfort like Peter. When we walk beside the water God is calling us to, we learn deeper dependence as He leads us along the waves instead of crashing into them. He fills my cup when it is empty even when it feels like I may lose all that I am holding.
What am I holding in my boat that causes me to stay inside instead of walking in faith? What am I wanting to cling to more than trusting the One who created it?
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows,” Psalm 23:5.
Our strength will weaken in comparison to the constant satisfaction we desire, but God, in His mercy, prepares a table before us with His Living Water that satisfies our deepest longings. We will only be all-consumed with His presence when we are all-consumed in Him.
The question we must ask is: What am I filling my cup with?
The other week was one of those empty cup weeks – the kind where the pastures look more muddy than green, and the water’s current is crashing not-so-peacefully. I draped myself over the couch, my eyes burning as they struggled to stay open, my mind buzzed from caffeine that no longer had an effect, and my hair hadn’t felt shampoo in a week. The best of me was socially drained, and I wondered how I was going to last through the end of the day or the rest of the week.
Sometimes we are too busy worrying about how to keep our cup full that we neglect the wisdom to pray for how God can fill it for us.
Every day felt like I was searching for water, waiting for my bottle to be filled with no water to fill it. But God prepared my heart and filled my cup with all that I needed. Not only was my strength, endurance, stamina, conversations, and spirits filled, but they were renewed! Just like Psalm 23:25 says, “my cup overflows.”
When I feel that my pastures no longer look green and my soul is empty, I know God as my Provider to satisfy what I cannot produce, provide, or fill myself. When we are in the shadows of death with choppy waters, God will provide with His hand that reaches out to save us and a cup to fill us when we are empty of ourselves.
As we trek through difficult terrain of difficult weeks, fill your bottle with Living Water. God is able to provide more than we need so that our cup overflows.
- How will you fill your cup with the goodness of the Lord this week?
