Read the Book: July - SeptemberSample

Week 31

Psalms 74-75

The Cup We Drink From

This morning, I was finishing my coffee when I noticed some stray grounds in the bottom of my church’s First-Time Guest mug—a gift from about three years ago. As I swirled them around in my cup, I couldn’t help but think about what the Psalmist must have been picturing when he wrote, “In the hand of the LORD is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs” (Ps 75:8).

My coffee isn’t quite so bad—and I don’t always think of the cup of wrath the psalmist is writing about when I’m drinking my morning coffee. But what a somber moment knowing that all I deserve is to drink that cup—the cup of God’s fury and wrath—down to the last drop. All the times that my heart has been disobedient, all the times that my sin was my idol, and all the times that I’ve turned away from God completely make me a perfect candidate to be considered among the “wicked” who will drink from that very cup. 

But what a grace-filled moment I had next, as I thought about how Jesus took that cup for us although He did not want to. On His way to His own death on the cross, Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). In that moment, I poured out the dregs of my coffee and rinsed my cup in the sink, saying a prayer of thanks to God and His Son Jesus Christ, my Savior!

Family Connection: Do you like to sing? Give everyone a piece of paper and see if they can write a short song to praise God! Write something you love about God, then thank Him for that (try to make it rhyme). Let’s hear you sing it! There are lots of ways that we can worship God! We can sing, dance, and pray. It is important that we take time every day to thank the God who loves us and created us. Take some time and worship God with your songs.