John 15:11 "These things I write unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
One of the earliest choruses of my memory is:
Running over, running over,
My cup is full and running over... .
That is exactly what God wants for me. He wants my cup to be full to overflowing. Psalm 23:5 ".... my cup runneth over." If I do not have a full cup, it is my fault. God's love is abundant and unending. All I have to do is hold out my cup and He will full it to overflowing. God is generous. Everything He does is "over abundant". God especially enjoys giving the very best of everything to his children. There is no need to have a quarter or half measure of anything. There is plenty to go around.
I remember a story of a little girl who lived in the slums. Her father had left the family. The mother did her best to raise the children by herself. Money was always scarce, so the food was doled out carefully. Rarely did the family enjoy milk, but whenever the mother brought that special treat, the children had to share. The mother carefully supervised so that each child would take turns, each drinking an equal amount from the glass.
The little girl in the family soon became ill, due to malnutrition. She was taken to the hospital, where she was placed in a clean comfortable bed, such as she had never seen before. Soon after, the nurse brought her a tall glass of milk. She looked at it, her eyes bulging. Then she said, "Please nurse, how deep can I drink?"
The nurse smiled and replied, "Drink it all, dear, drink it all."
God wants that for His children. He wants us to drink it all. He wants us to enjoy His blessing to the fullest.
I love this story from II Kings 4:1-7 about a woman who was in dire need, and God supplied her need to overflowing. She was the widowed wife of one of the prophets, during Elisha’s time. When her husband died he left a debt that she could not pay. Her creditor, knowing that her husband was dead and she could not pay, came to her demanding the money. He said, "If you do not pay I will take your sons and make them work for me until every penny of the money your husband owed me is paid."
The woman was devastated. In desperation she went to Elisha. "Oh sir," she pleaded, "what shall I do. I have nothing to pay my debt with, and my creditor is coming back very soon to take my sons."
Elisha said to her, "Do you have anything at all in the house worth selling?"
The woman thought about it. In her mind she looked around her house. The shelves, which usually held the family provisions, now held only a pot, or earthen jar of olive oil, much used in those days. That's all there was, just that jar of olive oil, apart from the bare table with the wooden bench beside it, and three pallets of straw on the floor, where she and her sons slept. She had already sold off the furnishings to help pay the debt, but that still was not enough. She said to Elisha, "All I have, sir, is one earthen jar of olive oil. That's all."
Elisha, seeing the woman's red eyes, and knowing of her and her husband's faith, said without hesitation, "Go and borrow containers from your neighbors. Don't be skimpy. Borrow as many as you can. Then, after that, go into the house and shut the door. Don't let anyone else into the house, except you and your sons. And then you start pouring that oil into the jars. Don't stop until the oil is gone, or until you run out of jars."
The woman did not question Elisha. She started filling jar after jar after jar. After quite some time she said to her sons, "Bring me another jar. There is still more oil." But there were no more containers. The oil stopped at the top of the last jar.
"The jars are all full," she reported to Elisha. "Now what shall I do?"
"Go and sell the oil, and pay your debt." Elisha instructed.
So she did. She not only had enough money from the sale of the oil to pay the debt, she had enough for her and her sons to live on for the rest of their lives.
God is not stingy. He honored the woman's faith and poured out His lavish blessing on her and her sons.
Do you have a material need? God has not changed. He can, and will, do for you what He did for the widow and her sons--supply to overflowing.
Do you have a spiritual need? God will pour out His rich blessings on you. He will fill your cup to the fullest, even to running over. All any of us needs is a little bit of faith, because God is not stingy.
© Helen Dowd
