You’re Not Meant To Do Everything By Yourself

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ 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

I’ve always struggled with wanting to be involved with everything, and not being able to say “no.” If somebody asked me to do something I would rearrange my own plans so I wouldn’t have to say no. But recently I’ve started learning that when I try to do everything, my focus is divided so everything is not as good as it would be if i had said no to something. 

In high school, one of my Bible teachers did a lesson on self-care, and she used a cup for demonstration. She had a cup full of water but started pouring it out saying she poured this much out for school, this much out for friends, this much for sports, this much for Netflix, and so on. By the time she got done pouring water out for every part of her day, she did not have anything left. 

Psalm 23 talks about how God is filling David’s cup so much that it is overflowing. My teacher then started pouring water back into her cup for time that was spent with God whether it was through prayer or worship or in His word. The Lord had replenished her cup.

This demonstration has always stuck with me because I struggle with pouring out more that what I allow God to replenish me with. I’ve been saying yes to so many things lately that Ive forgotten to let time with God be my first yes. Instead I fill my calendar and worry about things I cannot control when I should rest in God who is in control.

It is so important to rest in God. I would never want to give someone the last drop in my cup because I have spread myself so thin that I havent rested in Him. Again in Psalm 23 David talks of how he has rested and been restored by God.

One way of resting in God that has become extremely important to me recently is talking about God with others. I try not to let time with God and others replace the time I spend with God by myself. Proverbs 27:17 says “as iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another.” Learning and talking about God with others teaches me and strengthens me. I find it important to let others know my struggles so that I grow and be strengthened by the body of Christ.

Let God refill your cup and share with friends so that you can both grow in the Lord.