Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. The Psalm culminates in this expression. It could only have been in reference to spiritual things that David could thus speak. I. SOME MEN'S CUPS NEVER RUN OVER. Because taken to the wrong source. Such are the cups held beneath the drippings of the world's leaky cisterns. Some cups are never filled, because the bearers of them suffer from the grievous disease of natural discontent. The heart is like the slough of despond, into which thousands of waggon loads of material were cast, and yet the slough did swallow up all, and was none the better. Some cups never run over, because their owners are envious. The green dragon is a very dangerous guest in any man's home. And unbelief is sure to prevent a man's cup running over. II. WHY DOES THE CUP RUN OVER? Because, being believers in Christ, we have in Him all things. Between here and heaven there is nothing we shall want but what God has supplied. Because the infinite God is ours. When do we feel this? In the answer of our prayers and expectations. The Lord has given you more than imagination pictured. When Henry the Eighth was proposing to marry Anne of Cleves, Holbein was sent to paint her picture, with which Henry was charmed. But when he saw the original his judgment was very different, and he expressed disgust instead of affection. The painter had deceived him. No such flatteries can ever be paid to the Lord Jesus Christ. So beyond all conception of mind and heart is He. Sometimes the text is true of the Christian's joy. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. |
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