Why I’ve Been Leading on Empty

Hi friends! I am posting twice this week to make up for my skip last week. I recently received a powerful word from a woman at church. After I taught a few weeks ago, she felt the Lord tell her that for me to continue in ministry, I needed to get to a place where my cup overflowed. She told me I should not just be “pouring out” what is currently inside the cup.

Immediately, my mind went to Psalm 23:5:

You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.

I realized that whenever I read this verse in the past, I viewed it through the lens of my own effort. I thought that if I spent enough time studying, praying, and “loving on” the Lord, then He would fill my cup so I could give to others. I thought my own will was the thing protecting me and keeping God first.

I was so wrong. While I truly fear the Lord and love His statutes, I do not earn a full cup. He gives it away freely. My only job is to receive it. In Psalm 23:5, the action is entirely on the Father. He is the Host, not me. He prepares the table before my enemies. He anoints my head with oil.

While studying the deeper commentary on this verse, I found two beautiful quotes that stopped me in my tracks.

The first is from Charles Spurgeon:

“Beloved, I will ask you now a question. How would it be with you if God had filled your cup in proportion to your faith? How much would you have had in your cup?”

If He really filled us based on our works or our level of faith, it would be impossible to overflow. This Psalm is a promise that we will overflow because God alone does the filling. Ephesians 2:8-9 explains this perfectly: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

The second quote is from John Trapp:

“Those that have this happiness must carry their cup upright, and see that it overflows into their poor brethren’s emptier vessels.”

I do not have to pour. I do not have to grind. I simply have to receive His love and stay “upright” in Him, and He adds to the cup until it spills over.

Simply being loved by God for doing nothing is a hard lesson for me to grasp. Maybe it is related to my “prodigal days” and a subconscious feeling that I need to make up for that time in my flesh. Maybe it is just my youth in these years of endurance, watching Him shower me with mercy when I haven’t done a thing to deserve it.

In all transparency, there is a real fear in me regarding my singleness. Every Christian leader on the planet tells me to “take advantage” of this time because I won’t get it back. I feel the pressure to do as much as I can while I’m “free.”

Sometimes I worry that the Lord is using my testimony as a single woman to make me “more useful” to His ministry, and that if I stay in the waiting, I’m more valuable to Him.

What a lie that is. He does not love me or keep me in specific seasons because of my “usefulness” to Him. The Lord’s attributes are a mystery. He is Omnipotent (all powerful), Omniscient (all knowing), Omnipresent (everywhere at once), Omnibenevolent (all loving), and Omnificent (the creator of all).

Can we leave Him in a “box” that we won’t always be able to explain, yet still fully trust? Or maybe throw the box out altogether? I am humbled just trying to do that! Please learn alongside me that we are fully known and loved. He is filling our cups just because He is that good.

Thank you, Lord, for being so good to me and to every reader of this blog. We give You all the praise. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Love, Cass