The Table

This last week, God gave me a scene that has repeated over and over again in my head. I would love to share it with you. Our little family of four was heading out the door to our dearest friends’ home. They invited us over to have a feast with them. They told us to come hungry because they had prepared the best of the best. When we entered the house, we were overwhelmed by the amount of glorious food, a sweet aroma, and an elaborate setting that spanned across their humble little table. We were terribly hungry as we walked toward the table, but the closer I got, the more unsettled I began to feel. Why would they do this for us? It was too much, and I knew they did not have mounds of money. Why, why such a feast? 

We sat and shared stories together, but I felt I must not overindulge in the good food that sat before us. I whispered to my boys, “sons, just eat a little bread, we do not want to be rude.”  After refusing the dessert, our friends thanked us for coming, but we all felt a little awkward as we said our goodbyes. We left feeling hungry and a little sad. We couldn’t understand why our friends would make such an elaborate meal for us for no reason at all and there they stood not understanding why we would not receive the gift offered. Was it just because they loved us? When we returned home, we were all hungry, so we had bowls of cereal and went to bed. I laid there hungry, and even more so, guilty that I did not receive the meal our friends prepared for us. I wept bitterly.

Then Jesus showed me His table. He said to me, “this is what my people are doing. I came so they could have life and live it more abundantly, but they will not sit with me and receive the meal I have offered them.” I have been praying for two weeks that God would break my heart for what breaks His, and this is something He reveled to me. It is a special time in our world, and as lovers of Jesus, we need to remember there is a special place at the table for each and every one of us. If we, as Jesus lovers cannot sit and overindulge in His goodness and grace, then how do we expect anyone else to? The beating and bruising that our sweet Jesus suffered was so we CAN come boldly to the table in the presence of our enemies and overindulge in His goodness, mercy and love. 

The part of this story that hits a chord in my heart is that I encouraged my kids not to overindulge in the meal before them. As a mother, I want my boys to come to Jesus anytime and share a meal with Him, to know that the chair is always there for them, whenever they want to come. I want them to know that even though they are sinners, God has written their names on little nametags marking their special, designed places at His table. God sits with us because He loves us and forgives us. He casts our sin as far as the east is from the west all because of what He did on the cross. One of my dad’s many wise whispers rings in my ears occasionally, “if God has something to offer, don’t you want all of it and not just a little piece?” Today, I encourage you to seek all that God has to offer you and let the shame, guilt and pride fall at the door, sit down with our precious Savior and indulge in ALL that He has to offer and receive His gift of salvation each and every day of your life.  

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5