The Overflowing Cup

My cup runneth over.”” — PsALM xxiii. 5.

It is the suggestion of abundance which is conveyed in these most familiar words. The guest is in the tent of his host, and there is no hint of stinginess in the hospitality. It is not as in Cana of Galilee when the good man of the feast had the horrible surprise of discovering that they were running short of wine almost before the feast had well begun. One can dimly imagine the thoughts and feelings of the guests at the wedding. There would be many a sidelong glance as the mean measures were handed round, There would be much significant lifting of the brows. There would be many a whispered interpretation of the shortage, and the interpretations would never err on the generous side. But the irritation of the guests was nothing compared with the discomfort of the host; he was horrified until all his trouble was ended by the gracious courtesy and power of the Lord.

But this Psalmist’s Host has made no mean provision. Nor are His supplies just level with the demand. The grace of the Lord does not just balance the necessity and leave nothing over. There is always a surplus at the feast. The want is met with abundance. Satisfaction culminates in wonder. This man’s cup runneth over! And that is everywhere the Scripture teaching concerning the boundless hospitality of the divine Host. We are cheered by the promise that whatever necessity we bring to the door of our Father’s house is welcomed with overflowing goodness, and the need is absolutely buried in the multitude of God’s mercies. Let us glance at one or two of these grim necessities, and see the kind of entertainment they receive.

Here, then, is a familiar sentence which reveals the overflowing bounty: ‘‘ Where sin aboundeth grace doth much more abound.”’ That is an almost surprising encounter. I did not imagine that anything could be bigger than my sin. It was the biggest thing I knew. If I take time, and let my mind and memory run across the years, my sin seems to pile up to mountain heights! This is true even of the sins I can remember. But there are countless others which memory cannot recall. And there are all those which an evil nature never recognises as sin — the sophistries which moved about as decent presences; the things which I labelled “‘ smartness,”’ ‘“‘ cleverness,” and then persuaded myself that the labels made them so; the sins of aggression; the sins of neglect; the sins of indolence and indifference! Mountains of them!

And when I bring these mountainous things to the Lord, what then? Where sin abounds, what then? ‘ Grace doth much more abound.” There is a bigger thing than my sin. Sin is out-topped by grace. Out-topped! Aye, as Mount Everest out-tops the hills that reveal themselves from my chamber window. Out-topped? Aye, as a child’s sandheap is overwhelmed by the

The Overflowing Cup AT

incoming weight and glory of God’s amazing sea. ‘* There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea.”’ Yes, and a depth, too. And all this is true, true in the experience of all humble, believing souls who lay their dark necessity before the Lord. It is met and countered by God’s grace, and the grace of God in Christ Jesus buries our guilt and sin as in an unfathomable sea. Grace does not just meet our sin in uncertain balancings; it buries it altogether. The forgiveness is not stingy. Ourcup runneth over.

Here is another sentence revealing the fulness of the Divine hospitality. ‘‘ They gathered of the fragments that remained, twelve baskets full.”” No wonder that the prodigal son, thinking of such a Host, said: ‘“‘In my Father’s house there is bread enough and to spare.”” Recall some of the deep and varied hungers of the soul. Think of the hunger for Divine union. Think of the hunger for the perfecting of all our powers. Think of the hunger for the peace which is spiritual harmony, and for the joy which is spiritual health. And bread is needed for all these hungers. And, blessed be God, all our cravings are the pledges of their fulfilment. The very variety of our hungers is an index to the manifold grace of the Lord. Our hungers are our schoolmasters to bring us to Christ. And when we come to Him there is bread enough and to spare. The half hath not been told. God’s hospitality buries our necessity. His bounty overwhelms our needs.

And so on God’s side the gifts are always abounding. His measure is good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. -