April 3rd

All In

Thus says your Lord, the LORD and your God, who pleads the cause of His people: See, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of My fury; you shall no longer drink it.' Isaiah 51:22

Here's one bait and switch you want to be a part of. Yeah, I know it's not usually a good thing, but trust me on this one.

See, God has two cups-a cup of wrath, anger, and judgment, and a cup of blessing. I know, this sounds like a really hard choice, right? But here's the deal, every single person on the face of this planet throughout the entire history of the world was born with the first of these cups glued to their hands. Every day they lived only brought that cup of wrath and judgment closer to their lips, at which point they would be forced to drink it down to the dregs.

Do you know what dregs are? The dregs are the particles and sediment at the very bottom of the glass. That means that those who down that cup drink, not just a sip, but the whole thing. Down the hatch. Lick out the bottom. Leave nothing left. Just go and swallow and ingest God's entire wrath, anger, and judgment for your sin.

Happy thought? I don't think so. There's a reason this cup is also called the cup of trembling.

But it's not the only cup, remember? The other cup is a cup of blessing, and I mean, there is no cup that is more opposite the cup of God's wrath and judgment than the cup of His blessing. As much as His cup of wrath brings pain, destruction, punishment, and rejection forever, His cup of blessing brings healing, restoration, wholeness, and acceptance forever.

The only problem is that the cup of wrath is glued to our hands, right? And the cup of God's blessing is out of reach.

But God, in His incredible love and mercy, chose to switch cups with us. I know, who would do that, right? But God did. Jesus came to Earth to take the cup of wrath from our hands, drink it all Himself right down to the dregs, suffer and die in our place, bearing our sins and shame-and then He gave us the cup of blessing instead.

If you have Jesus in your heart, then you have the cup of blessing, thanksgiving, and love in your hands. His desire in exchanging cups with us wasn't just to take ours on Himself, but to give us His. Thank the Lord today and drink deeply to the dregs of His cup of blessing.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I can't believe that You would make such an incredible exchange with me. Thank You for taking the cup of wrath and giving me Your cup of blessing instead! Please help me to remember the blessings You have given me and see the blessings that You still have in store for me!

Amen