Chapter III: The Cup Overflows

The mercies are so rich, the grace so abundant, the loving-kindness so bountiful, the living fountain so free, that the little cup of human capacity cannot hold it all, and it runneth over. God describes His people as not merely satisfied, but abundantly satisfied; and speaks of the Holy Spirit as not merely bestowed, but as “shed on us abundantly.” {93b} Why, then, are we content with a little water hardly perceptible at the bottom of our little cup? Stephen was “full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” {93c} and we are told to be “filled with the Spirit;” {93d} why, then, rest content with only a few drops in our own soul while there is the deep, broad river of the water of life able to fill, to overflowing, every vessel that can be found to receive the free supply? Why do we not realize more the truth of the promise, “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it”? {93e}

So much, then, for the present. A table prepared, a head anointed, a cup running over. These are present gifts—the present and indescribable privileges of those whose joy it is to be able to say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

THE FUTURE

Let us pass on to the future as taught in verse 6. We may observe two things—