Oil comes from crushing. Anointing is found in suffering. Olives have to endure the crushing in order for the oil to be pressed out. Have you ever been there? Where your heart looks and feels like an olive casing, all it’s innards misplaced and mushed?

“You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Psalm 23:5 NIV)

It’s interesting to see the oil and the cup in the same scripture. This cup concept has been hijacking my thoughts all week. Remember, it’s an assigned cup that Christ puts before us. And now we note that we have been anointed to drink the cup that has been appointed.

But we’ve got to keep reading. We can’t afford to give up with the cup of suffering still in hand.

“Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6 NIV)

It’s easy to believe that hardship is ever-before us. The cup of suffering seems to be welded into our hand. But we cannot forget the love and goodness of God are ALWAYS in pursuit of us. I picture a heavenly version of Pac-Man; where the love and goodness of God are chasing us down until eventually He overtakes us and gobbles us up, all to Himself. Only that’s not game over; that’s only the expiration of the opening credits. Our real life is yet to come, our best life where we walk hand in hand with our Creator, where the only cup to drink is a covenant cup of blessing and belonging.

See, I didn’t grow up with with a daddy who adored me. I grew up with a daddy who lost his mom at four and then went off to fight a war before he was a full-grown man. He never truly recovered from either tragedy. He was moody and uncertain and painfully angry most of the time. And unfortunately, our volatile relationship profoundly infected my understanding of my Heavenly Father.

Somewhere along my journey as daughter, the Lord led me to seek out scriptures of belonging. He brought me to references that reframed my understanding of ‘father.’ This is one of those scriptures.

“Keep me as the apple of Your eye.”

It was a foreign thought to me, to be the joy and delight of a daddy.

Dr. George wood explains it so beautifully, the way this scripture is a twofold promise. He writes “When I look into the apple (pupil) of another’s eye, I see a miniaturized version of myself, therefore every glance toward the Lord reminds me that I am in His field of vision.”  The amazing thing about looking into our Father’s eyes is that we see His love and are made more like Him in the same glance.

Cory Asbury has been singing it into my soul for a full two weeks: “In the quiet pride of my Father’s eyes, I remember who I am. When I feel the warmth of my Father’s smile, feels like I’ve been born again. I’ve been born again.”

We need to remember to look to Daddy. To stay close enough to see His pupils. To look often enough to keep His unfailing love in steady view and let that love recreate us into His perfect image. We need to stop hesitating and losing our way between glances but instead have the courage to maintain eye contact in the scariest of circumstances.

“I will see Your face; when I awake I will be satisfied with Your likeness.” (Psalm 17:15 NIV)

I’ve got to tell you, I’ve struggled to maintain a glad heart lately. I keep looking at the world through tear-stained glasses. There are so many battles on any given day, heaps of hurt that can’t be shared, only silently witnessed by our Lord and Savior. Circumstances seem to plow through my life in this season and leave another dark scar. I’m having a hard time staying glad. I’m having a hard time staying grateful.

Over and over again, I am encouraged by David. His psalms ricochet along the hard path of life with me. He ping-pongs from rage and despair to earnest assurance and absolute trust. He is human. He is hurting. He is trying to trust. He is me. The cares of the world make contact; and he and I, and I suspect you, also, bruise and bleed and break but we always get back to the truth.

“because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Psalm‬ ‭16:10-11‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

David was the comeback kid because no matter how hard the world smacked him around, he always came back to what he knew that he knew about God. David was the comeback kid because while he felt what he felt, he trusted God over and around and through those feelings. David was the comeback kid because he allowed the upturned earth of his life to become fine furrows for planting; and the fields borne in his agony have become resting places for millions.

I think of the disciples. Our Lord shared this cup with them, the cup of suffering for Kingdom’s sake. Every one of them suffered in life and welcomed death as a friend, as a necessary escort into all things eternal and the sum of their belief.

A shared cup is a sign of intimacy. I read it somewhere, how the Jewish bridegroom would offer his cup to his intended; a symbol of their blood covenant. If the bride accepted, the marital contract was binding.

We may not love the contents of our cup but we love the Bearer, the one who offers it and a place in His Kingdom, belonging in His family. He assigns our cup and the bitter is temporary whilst the belonging is eternal. The cup we hold is on proportion to our faith and in keeping with our commitment to Christ. We have not been handed the wrong cup, there wasn’t a heavenly mixup and our suffering miss-assigned. Whatever the Lord has allotted us, He intends to see us through. He won’t set before us more than we can manage with Him.

And when, together with our Groom, we have drank the last dredges of the cup, the wedding feast will begin. The good wine will be brought out. We will drink deeply and be satisfied forever in His presence.

“You will indeed drink from my cup.” (Matthew 20:23 NIV)

Lord, we don’t know what it is we are going to drink when we accept the cup from You. We only see our bridegroom asking to share life with us. We accept. Strengthen us for the cup that You offer, the cup that You willingly drank also on our behalf. Give us the courage to drink it to the last drop. Remind us that this life is only our betrothal; the sweet life with You is yet to come. Let us not lose heart and reject Your cup. May we resolutely drink whatever it is You offer as we wait to be gathered together under the wedding canopy. Amen.