My sister-in-law gave me a YETI brand name travel mug because she knew I couldn’t go a day without coffee. When I wake up, I sip coffee from it and drink deep from my Bible—two stimulants that keep me going and my energy high.
I’m spending a lot of time lately with my Bible and my YETI mug. Not because the coffee is outstanding, but because I’m desperate to hear from God. I have been wandering for some time in a dry desert in my spiritual life. The world isn’t exactly in a prime state either. The mug needs filling on the inside of me just as much as the outside. I can tire of the uphill battle of reaching my life goals, or surviving the next crisis. It seems I am always interrupted or assailed. Sometimes, I stumble, with parched throat, to the fearful thoughts of my God withholding the divine fountain of life, or worse, pouring out deserved judgment.
The Bible talks of many people receiving a bitter cup of suffering to drink, the greatest of all being Jesus. Others, like David in Psalm 23, had a cup overflowing with blessing.
I struggle with mental health issues. Somedays, my inner YETI mug has the bitterest dregs of scalded coffee; other days, my inner cup is brimming with water glinting with sunshine.
You do not have to have mental illness to have a similar experience. One day, bitterness swirls in the cup; another day, blessing dazzles. Everyday, something always fills up the cup. Our Daily Cup to go with our Daily Bread.
We have the responsibility to choose well what we pour into our hearts and minds. But what about the things God pours into our lives? Many of us have blessing and suffering in our lives we have not caused. It’s what God in His sovereignty has given us to drink. It is our Daily Cup. Sometimes it is more medicine than food, but we are more sick than we know.
We can pout, spit it out, spill out our lives on the ground, and fling ourselves in a tantrum. Or we can steadily drink what our Father has given us.
Even Jesus didn’t always like the cup given. He prayed in Gethsemane,
Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine. (Luke 22:42 NLT)
Yet I. So many Bible verses hinge on the words “yet I.” I challenge you to do a quick online Bible search. These resounding words of gratitude in the face of disappointment, faith in the face of pain, are “the YET-I mug” we need to take our Daily Drink in each day.
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! (Habakkuk 3:17-18 NLT)
My life hurts, yet I will praise you.
My heart is breaking, yet I will offer it to you.
I can’t see you, yet I will trust you, follow you.
I’m realizing the interruptions to my “life goals,” the roadblocks to what I want, are part of how God is making me who He’s calling me to be. God is not withholding from me, or punishing me; he’s healing me, yet through mysterious ways I know little of.
I may not like my cup, yet I will drink it, to the glory of God and for the good of others.
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