"My cup overflows" - Psalms 23:5
One of the songs that we sing at my church is the great hymn "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing.” The main idea, as the title implies, is that God is the source of every blessing.
David was greatly blessed by God in many ways. We tend to think of God's blessing in material terms and King David lived in a palace where he had quite a lot of material things. But, we often forget that the man who wrote "My cup overflows" also wrote "I shall not want.”
Those words describe God’s blessings in David's younger days when he guarded his father’s sheep as a boy. Later, as a young man hiding in the wilderness from his enemies, he would learn to say "I will fear no evil.”
David didn’t just think of blessings in terms of the material. To him, the blessing of God came in many forms. He received far more than wealth. God cared for him and protected him.
If we only see God's blessing as something we can spend - or use - then we have missed out on who God is. God's blessing is greater than a bank account or a house. God pours out His love on His people. He encourages them, comforts them, equips them, defends them, stands by them, teaches them, provides for them, weeps with them and rejoices with them. Read these words and think about them for a minute or two:
Come Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
They are the third verse of the great hymn mentioned earlier. These words express the thoughts of someone who has been blessed by God, yet money and material things are never a part of the picture. It is talking about God's grace and mercy towards a sinner who deserves nothing yet has been given everything. All that we have is a gift from God, including life itself.
How has God blessed you? Do you thank Him for it? Thank Him today for all you have and show your love to Him for His mercy and grace. Now, let that mercy and grace overflow from your cup and pour out onto those around you.
That’s how an overflowing cup works. The good stuff spills out and gets into everything around it. When that happens, you become a blessing to others and you are suddenly living the life God intended for you to live.