Let's Talk About Abundance

Psalm 23 is a super familiar chapter. Not only for the church, but even in culture. However, when we stop to take a look at it, the deeper meaning, and the revelation it holds is worth the digging.

Take for instance, verse 5: "You prepare a table for me in the middle of my enemies, You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows." There is much in this passage that's easy to explain - or read past. But what if the Lord wants to remind us: it is His goodness that keeps us in the middle of our enemies. And what if our cups overflowing means something different than we've thought? 

I pray this episode encourages you as you think about the abundance of the Lord toward you in your own life - and that no matter what you're walking through, you see His abundance in beautiful, life changing ways.

Scriptures Referenced:

• Psalm 23
• John 10
• John 7:37-39
• Deuteronomy 5
• Galatians 5:22-23
• 
  

You can find me on Instagram / Threads

Transcript

Carrie 0:06

Hey everyone, welcome to a brand new episode of Honey from the Rock. I am so glad you're here. And today's episode is focused around probably a few different things because you know how I like my rabbit trails. I do enjoy them quite a bit. I try very hard not to go on them a lot, but I'm not always successful. And that's okay. But today I actually am going to talk a little bit about Psalm 23 because it's a place in scripture that I have really been spending a lot of time meditating and ruminating on and turning around in my mind and in my heart with the Lord. Uh, and it's actually come out of a book that I have been reading called Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table by Louis Giglio, which has been really, really good. And he really focuses on uh verse five, I believe, out of uh Psalm 23, where he David writes, You prepared for me a table in the middle of my enemies. And he really talks about that. And he he talks about walking with the Lord. What does it mean for the Lord to prepare a table in the midst of our enemies and what's our role in warfare and all of that kind of thing? I'm only about halfway through it, but it's been it's been really, really encouraging so far. But as I've been meditating on this scripture, it's um meditating on this chapter has kind of come in conjunction with something else that the Lord was was asking me to do, telling me to do, uh, which was to get off social media. And I know it's not Lent, I know it's June, it's summer, you know, everything here in Colorado is looking green because we've gotten some really amazing rain. And, you know, there's just so many fun things that I could be sharing on social. And yet when I hop on social media, that's not usually what I tend to do. I tend to doom scroll quite a bit or fall down a rabbit hole of hilarious memes or reels. And at the beginning of the month, in conjunction with reading this book and meditating on Psalm 23, I really felt like the conviction of the Holy Spirit to delete Instagram and threads off my phone, off my browser bookmark bar on my internet browser, and just not engage. And I'm nine days in, I'm recording this on Tuesday, even though I'm releasing it on a Wednesday. And I was telling my mom, I can already notice a huge difference in my attention span to things, in my prayer life with the Lord, um, just even in my mental health, just not being so completely tethered to my phone. And I am wrestling with whether or not I go back to Instagram and threads at all. Um, if I even put them back on my phone. And in the midst of it, I I think the other thing that's really made me realize that is meditating on Psalm 23, which obviously is a very, very popular psalm. We read it at funerals, we read it at different times, and it's just it's one of those pieces of scripture that's become so ubiquitous in the church and in society that I think sometimes we a, most people don't probably don't even know really where it's come from. Or as a Christian, we read it and we're kind of like, oh yeah, the Lord's my shepherd, that's cool. I'm just speaking for myself, like I've fallen into that rut with with Psalm 23. And so it's been amazing to sit and at different points during the day just kind of toss around some of the verses. It's so short, it's super easy to memorize, it's only six verses. And to really ask the Lord to help me understand what he wants to show me about himself that I tend to just really gloss over in this psalm. And, you know, one of the clearest connections we can make is David starts out the psalm, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And in John 10, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. And there are a lot of connections like that we can make with this psalm. But I think that there's something that the Lord has wanted to show me as I meditate on it. And I don't know what that is yet. I there have been some really cool things that I've noticed about this psalm, and I'm going to share a couple of those with you today. But I pray that if you decide to meditate on the psalm this month as well, or wherever the Lord has you in his word, that your study of it produces fruit for sure, but also that you come away from studying wherever you're at in the word, and that the Lord delights you with fresh revelation or a deeper understanding of his character and his goodness and his love and his grace and his mercy, all of those things in a way you just didn't anticipate. And that's that's really what I'm asking the Lord for as I meditate on this scripture. And actually, today the um verse that I'm going to talk about is verse five, but I'm actually going to focus on the second half of this verse. So the the whole verse reads, You prepare a table for me in the middle of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. And I, you know, there's so many things when you're reading this verse, because at first it's like, man, Lord, that's so cool. You prepare a table for me in the middle of my enemies, and then it's like record scratch, which I will not do again this week. Um, it's like, wait a minute, the Lord prepares a table for me in the midst of my enemies. That kind of sounds like I'm surrounded by enemies. And which we are, you know, we are surrounded by um the way that uh the devil comes at us, you know. There's there's a real enemy out there who seeks to steal and kill and destroy. And there are things in culture that are constantly trying to pull at us, you know, and pull pull away, pull us away from the Lord and tempt us away from the Lord. And there are things within ourselves, our own dispositions or desires that can be um an enemy against us or block us um as we are pursuing the Lord and and things sometimes that we don't even realize. And then all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit is like, this area is actually an area that I need you to deal with, and I'm gonna show you how to deal with it. There's sin here, or there's um, you know, wrong, wrong desires, which is still sin, but you know what I'm trying to say. And so, you know, John says the world, the flesh, and the devil um are all they all conspire um in many different ways. And we have to be on our guard against them. And yet, at the same time, David says that the Lord and his goodness, after we've walked, you know, we're walking in the valley of the shadow of death, we know his rod and his staff comfort comfort us. The Lord also makes a table for us in the midst of our enemies. And I I love this for a lot of reasons. I love it because it shows us that in the midst of warfare and in the midst of battle, there is actually a place of rest and there is a place of feasting, which sounds counterintuitive, right? If we're in the middle of a war, it sounds like we gotta keep going. You know, we gotta stay suited up, we gotta keep pressing on, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And that's all true. You know, we do need to keep our guard up. We do need to absolutely um watch for areas uh where the devil is trying to deceive us, areas where we know the Lord is requiring us to deal with certain things, and maybe we're uh resisting him in some way, or areas where, you know, there's a television show or songs or movies or books or whatever that we really enjoy reading or we really like, and the Lord's like, hey, that is actually not good for you. Those are just really random examples, but I think, you know, the Lord's goodness shows itself in so many ways, but I I think sometimes we tend to forget that he actually shows his goodness to us in the midst of a war. And that he has not called us to fight in a war and then just left us to it and abandoned us and said, Here, well, you know, you learn best by doing, and just kind of shoves us into the arena and then stands back and is like, have fun figuring that out, friend. He's not that way. And I I love this picture of the Lord giving us a feast, you know, setting a table and preparing a meal for us in the midst of our enemies, because it actually just does show that while we are called to war and we are called to fight, that the battle really does belong to the Lord. And there are times when we must rest and we need to Sabbath, as the Lord told Israel in Deuteronomy 5, I believe, that everybody, their servants, their slaves, all of Israel, they needed to take a Sabbath. And why was that? Because they needed to remember that there was nothing they could have done to save themselves or deliver themselves from the hands of the Egyptians and out of slavery. And I think that's one reason that the Lord gives us a feast, whether it's feasting on his word or feasting on his presence, or it's those overwhelming places where we get that deep heartbreaking, heart-exulting revelation of the Lord's mercy towards us and his loving kindness towards us. Uh, whether it's just rest or he makes space in our lives for us to do things that we really do enjoy that help us connect with him in a deeper way. Whatever it is, he he reminds us that yes, we need to fight, yes, we need to war, and yet there are times he calls us to feast in the midst of that battle. We may be surrounded by enemies on every side, and Jesus will still look at us and say, Come, come eat, come eat and drink of me, come be with me, rest beside these still waters, come come feast in in the meadow that I have led you to, and don't don't worry about the enemy surrounding you. You have fought well, rest, come be with me, because the battle belongs to me. But where I want to actually focus is on the second part of this verse because I think the second part of this verse is very important, and I think the way obviously David being inspired by the Holy Spirit to write it, the intentionality of this verse is really amazing to me. You know, David says, You prepare for me a feast in the midst of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. And what I love about this is that the Lord anoints us, he fills us with his Holy Spirit, and he doesn't just fill us enough and say, Well, that's what you've been portioned. And so again, here's here's your I've cut a slice of Holy Spirit pie, and here it is, and and that's all you're gonna get of my Holy Spirit, and steward this well because it's gonna run out. No, you anoint my head with oil, you fill my cup to overflowing. And and I and I love I love that picture. You know, there's there's a lot of different denominations and uh sections of Christianity that talk about abundance, and and when you there's a lot in different business circles that talk about, you know, you need to have an abundance mindset or you need to have a growth mindset. And, you know, when it comes to the Lord, there are places in Christianity where that's been really twisted, where abundance has been twisted to only mean monetary gain, uh, to show the Lord's favor. And that's not true. You know, Jeremiah tells us that the Lord says, if you're gonna boast in anything, don't boast in your chariots, don't boast in your armies. But if anyone is going to boast, they need to boast that they understand me, says the Lord. And that's Jeremiah 9. Like if we're gonna, if if we're gonna boast in anything or we're gonna see abundance in anything, to have an abundance of the Lord, which sounds funny, but it but it's what he wants. He wants us to walk in in his abundance. What did Jesus tell us in John 10? He's come to give us life and life abundantly. And again, people have interpreted that in a lot of different ways, but I think what Jesus is saying is the abundance of my life. I want my life to be pouring out of you in John 7. I think John 7, 6 or 7. I don't know. It's in that section, it's in like John 6, 5, 6, 7, 8. I don't know. It's it's in there somewhere. But Jesus talks about the fact that anybody who comes to him can drink deeply and out up from their belly will will flow living rivers of water. And you just you think about Psalm 23, you think about John 10, you think about wherever that verse I just mentioned isn't John. I'll find it and I'll put the right um address in the show notes. But that abundance is always in the Lord because there are times when we find ourselves in want and in need. There are times of suffering, there are times of difficulty, there are times of depression or anxiety where we're wrestling through things with Jesus and He's He's leading us beside still waters. He's leading us to this table he's prepared for us in the midst of our enemies, and he's requiring us to deepen our trust in him, that he does care for us. And so those anxieties that we're feeling, we can cast them on him. And also that for what he has called us to do, he has anointed us, he has filled us, he has made us to be who we are, he's given us our personalities, our looks, all of the things that we need, you know, the strength to keep going, right? So for some people have that unending perseverance naturally, and yet they face situations where the Lord wants to stretch that. There are others who are so patient and just naturally disposed towards being patient with others, and yet the Lord anoints them and strengthens that within them, you know, faithfulness, love, joy, the fruit of the spirit that we don't eat we don't naturally produce, and yet the Lord abundantly produces more and more in us as we walk on this discipleship journey. And, you know, and that really fits in with the pruning I talked about a few weeks ago. You know, as the Lord prunes us, those things that he has put within us, the gifts that he's given us, and the fruit that he wants to see us produce, he prunes back things that look good to us and sometimes things that we really want to hold on to. And the Lord's like, let me take it, let me prune it back, because I want to see more fruit come forth from you and and between us, you know, the the our intimacy together, your time with me in my word and and in prayer. I want to see you grow more and more and and abound in my life. And and I love the connection of of being anointed. You know, the Lord sets the table and and gives gives David a feast in the midst of his enemies, but David also recognizes you also exalt me, Lord. You also anoint me in the place that you have called me to walk in and in the life that you have called me to live. And my cup runs over. And as I was reading this verse, I sometimes like to read different translations on my Bible app. And so I decided to read from the uh complete Jewish Bible, which is rearranged a little bit differently. So I had a hard time finding psalms. That was fun. But I was reading this psalm, and this caught my attention. And I pray that this encourages you the way it encouraged me. So they write verse five like this You prepare for me, even as my you prepare a table for me, even as my enemies watch. You anoint my head with oil from an overflowing cup. And when I read that, it was like my heart, my heart stuttered for a second, because again, Psalm 23 being so well known, you know, and so familiar. You prepare a table for me in the midst of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You know, it's it's like we had to memorize it in a wana, you know, and it just becomes, at some point, it just becomes words that we say. And that's why I like to read different Bible translations, because sometimes something will catch my attention and and sometimes it's just me, and sometimes it's the Holy Spirit. And today I really felt like this was the Holy Spirit. You anoint my head with oil from an overflowing cup. And I want to encourage you today, my friends, that yes, the Lord anoints us and he fills us with abundance so that our cups are overflowing, right? As Jesus talked about in that verse from John, and I will find it at some point, you know, that that we're so filled that that the Holy Spirit just flows out of us like rivers of living water, right? Able to not only be blessed in our in our union with the Lord, but to then be poured out, and that the Holy Spirit pours out from us as a blessing to others, and we're able to minister as Jesus leads us in our lives. But I love this picture of you anoint my head with oil from an overflowing cup because I think sometimes as we're walking and we are doing really good sometimes with the Lord, and other times we are stumbling and falling and crawling, and we feel like we have been stuck in the valley of the shadow of death for a very long time. It's easy to think or easy to look around and see people who we love, see people who we know and see their relationship with the Lord or see the ministry that the Lord's called them to do, or even just look at their life and say, man, it looks like the Lord has been better to them than he has been to me. And I have fallen into that comparison trap and that discouragement trap more times than I should have, and and more times than a woman who has walked with the Lord as long as I have should. But I own it, and and I the reason that this verse, written in the complete Jewish Bible, struck me the way that it did, is because it was like the Holy Spirit was reminding me that the Father's cup is overflowing, and that what the Lord portions out to me is abundance in my life simply because it is the goodness of the Lord towards me, and also that his cup never runs dry. His cup is overflowing, and therefore it is his good pleasure to make sure that his children's cup is overflowing. And I felt like the Lord also challenged my idea of what overflowing looks like because overflowing, my cup overflowing from the Lord in my life, looks very different from how the Lord pours into your life and it looks like your cup overflows. And I I want to encourage you that Jesus is not going to pour out the same for each of us. It's going to look different, and it's going to look different because of how we are all uniquely called and positioned in the Lord's kingdom. And yet, Where the Lord has called you, who he's called you to be, his anointing on your life, and the way that he overflows in your life, the way that your cup overflows with him, is actually exactly what you need for what he's called you to. And I think sometimes when we, well, I we I say we, but also I say me, fall into the trap of covetousness by looking at the lives of other people and saying, why can't my life look like theirs? Or why does why has the Lord given them that very thing that I wanted? And and we have that that tendency to suspect the Lord. We need to come back to this verse. We need to come back to this whole psalm, but this verse in particular and remind ourselves, the Lord has us, he holds us in the midst of our enemies. He has anointed us, he's anointed our head with oil and our cup overflows. But but again, like the Jewish Bible says, and I just I just love it, the Lord has anointed us with from a cup that overflows. And and you know, oil in scripture is often symbolic of the Holy Spirit. But the other thing that this made me think of is that the Lord's cup overflows with his own blood. And that, friends, we sin. We're sinners, we screw up, we sin against the Lord. There are sins that we do in ignorance, and there are sins that we blatantly do against him. There are places of rebellion that the Lord's trying to clean up in us, and there are areas where the Lord is opening our eyes for us to understand hey, this area in your life, I I want to cultivate this and I want to grow and I want to cut out and pull out the weeds so that I can make the the bounty and the beauty of my life flourish within you. And I I just the the cup of Jesus overflows with his perfect blood. And friend, no matter where you have found yourself, wherever the Lord is dealing with you, I want to encourage you to stop running. As the Lord has encouraged me and showed me some areas in my own life where I was running from him, where I was not trusting him. And he has convicted me and said, Come back to me, trust me. Let remember who I am, read my word, and come to a deeper understanding of my character, that what the Lord has given me, what he has given you for what he's called us to is exactly what we need, and that the Lord being the provider of exactly what we need is never going to stop. It is never going to stop. But more than anything, as men and women with fallen natures who consistently need to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus, keep coming to him. Don't let the devil or the world or anybody convince you, and I won't let anybody or the world or the devil convince me that there's a place where I can stop coming to the Lord in repentance and that that there is sin in my life that he that is just too big for him to clean up and too big for him to cleanse, even though I've asked him for forgiveness. And obviously, I'm not talking about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit because Jesus makes that particular sin very clear. But anything else, friends, his cup overflows. The Lord desires to show us mercy. You know, everybody loves to quote Micah 6:8. You know, he has shown you, oh man, what is good, but to love justice and and to show mercy and to walk humbly with your God. And we love to quote that, and it's an excellent verse, it's an amazing verse. But think about what Micah is saying there. He has shown you, oh man. We can't love justice and walk humbly and show mercy without the Lord showing those things to us first. And the cup of Jesus overflows. He has laid down his life for us, he has shed his precious, perfect blood that is able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And I just find the juxtaposition in Psalm 23 of feasting in the middle of our enemies and knowing the anointing of the Lord and our cup overflowing, so poignant and also so pointed, because Jesus feasted in the middle of his enemies. My meat is to do the will of him who sent me. I think about the Last Supper, when Jesus says, Take, eat, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Drink this cup, drink all of it. And I think in John 6, when he says, Come eat and drink of me, he or she who does not eat and drink the flesh and blood of the Son of Man has no part in him, but he invites us to come. And so I don't know where you are at with the Lord today. I want to encourage you because, you know, there have been areas in my life where I have walked in so much shame. I have experienced uh a lot of frustration. There have been times when I have looked at the Lord and accused him of not being as good to me as he has been to others. And, you know, I have had to repent of that disposition. I've had to come to the Lord and own and confess my own coveting and my own sinfulness and experience again and again and again the beautiful cleansing of Jesus, my cup overflowing, not from his wrath, but from his love, the cleansing, purifying flow of his blood, the extension and the pouring out of his mercy and his grace, the the pouring out of his conviction, of his faithfulness to to catch my attention, to prick my heart, to warn me, and and and also as a good father to discipline me and say, This path that you were walking is wrong, come back. And so, friends, I I pray that the Lord encourages you today that if you find yourself in a time of difficulty or suffering, even if you find yourself in times of joy and celebration, that in the midst of all of those things, that we would see the cup of the Lord is full to overflowing. He pours out on us from his overflowing cup and he makes our cup to overflow. His anointing on your life and on my life is precious because it is his spirit, and because the pouring out of the Holy Spirit has come to us through the precious blood of Jesus, through his beautiful person, through his incredible gospel. And so I pray, as if you come across Psalm 23 here in the next couple of weeks, or you decide to go and meditate on it, that the Lord would encourage you, that he would give you fresh eyes to see this psalm with, and that he would minister to you and encourage you. And that no matter where you find yourself, that we would walk in the confidence, you and me, that we would stop giving in to the enemy's lies, to mistrust the Lord, to presume that he is only good to some people and he's not going to be as good to them or as good to us as he is to them. But that we would look at our lives and see where the Lord has moved, see the gifts he has given us, and that we would ask the Lord to deepen our thanksgiving for the places in our life where our cups overflow with his goodness, with his abundant life, with his mercy, and in areas where we can't yet see it, that the Lord would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that understand that the Lord has called us, he has chosen us, he has anointed our heads with oil, and it is his great delight to make our cups overflow with him. Amen.