Have you drunk this wine?

B. A. Manakala

You have been very hard on us, making us drink wine that sent us reeling. Ps 60:3 (nlt)

In my language, Malayalam, there is an idiom like ‘you made me drink plenty of tears’ to mean that ‘you gave me plenty of trouble’.

In Hebrew poetry ‘drinking wine’ is often attached to suffering and pain. God sometimes gives us this cup of wine (Ps. 59:5); and sometimes He will take the cup away from us (Is. 51:22). Once Jesus asked his disciples are you able to drink from the cup of suffering? (Mtt. 20:22)

It is fine to desire for the cup to be taken away even as Jesus did, by praying to his Father, ‘if you are willing, take this cup from me’ (Lk 22:42). But as Jesus knew the purpose of the cup, he yielded to his Father’s will.

What perspective do you want to have towards your cup of suffering?

Drinking the cup of suffering is like delivering a baby; the joy at the end of the suffering wipes away the pain!

Prayer: Lord, give me sufficient grace to drink the cups you intend for me. Amen

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