The Banquet Table

The Banquet Table:

As we come close to the end of our look at Psalm 23, today we will look at verse 5.

Let's recall that the LORD, is the Almighty God who “created the heavens and the earth” to have a special place to enjoy fellowship with us. The LORD is the personal (YHWH) God who brings us to “stretch out in grassy pastures” and who also resides within us as we go “through the valley of dark gloom.”

The LORD God, YHWH Elohim, is working in and through us for a very specific reason – the redemption of humanity. That is God's plan and mission.  As Rick Warren wrote in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, contrary to what many Christians believe "it's not about you." Rick Warren was saying it's not all about you (singular), and that God's plan & mission is all about you (plural), i.e. humanity.

The LORD, the Good Shepherd, establishes and forges trust within His sheep through this rhythmic life-pattern of times in “grassy pastures” and times in “the valley of dark gloom.”  If we only experienced one or the other we would either lose sight of our need for a shepherd (with a purely “grassy pastures” life) or we would lose faith in our shepherd (with a purely “dark gloom” life).

As we mature in our faith in the LORD we, like David, grow to the point where it really does not matter what the circumstances of life bring – grassy or gloom – because we know our Good Shepherd, the LORD, “you yourself reside within me to support me, your rod/tribe and your staff – THESE comfort me” (v.4).

With the loving, gracious, redemptive, and missional heart of the LORD in mind, in v.5 David writes:

“You prepare a table/banquet/feast for me while my enemies watch. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.”

David understands that life is not about a dichotomy or contrast of peaks and valleys – of grassy or gloom – of times of plenty vs. times of trials, but rather about the usefulness of the sheep to bring more and more “lost sheep” into the family and flock of God! The LORD demonstrates His love for His sheep not only for our benefit, but for the benefit of the "lost sheep," i.e. the enemies of God.

David understands that the table/banquet/feast that the LORD has prepared is NOT, in fact, exclusively for David. The feast that the LORD has prepared is simultaneously for the enemies that have surrounded David – who are (more than just David's enemies) the enemies of God!  In the midst of what should be a time of terror, anxiety, panic, intimidation, etc., for David – SURROUNDED BY ENEMIES – is in fact a time where David is enjoying peace and lavish love as an honored guest at the banquet table of the LORD!

As the enemies of the LORD look on at the banquet feast He prepares for His sheep – they not only see abundance, but special relationship…  “You anoint my head with oil.”  This anointing is for an honored guest whose head was given special oil to soothe the skin and leave a fragrant aroma like perfume.  What wonderful imagery!

As David’s enemies surround him, he is unphased, undaunted, fearless, and actually living out a banquet-feast life that demonstrates to his enemies – the enemies of God – the special relationship the people of God have at the LORD's banquet table: enjoying a lavish feast, head anointed with perfumed oil, and blessed with such abundance that “my cup overflows!”

Times stretched out in grassy pastures, or dark gloom, are intended to grow us up in faith SO THAT God can seat us, like David, at His banquet table in the presence of the LORD’s enemies. God is our divine Host who demonstrates His kindness and goodness to us “in the presence of my enemies” SO THAT when they see the life-relationship we have with our Good Shepherd – they will question everything they have ever trusted, believed, supported, and fought against - AND desire what they see in us!

This makes me think of the Apostle Paul who, in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, wrote: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Truly, the “weapons we fight with are NOT the weapons of the world!”  What the LORD leads and invites us to do is to sit at His LAVISH banquet table of ridiculous abundance where the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE is our loving and gracious Host – who anoints our head with oil and causes our cup to overflow!

That ‘weapon,’ the banquet feast of the LORD, truly has divine power to demolish strongholds, arguments, and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God – and – brings the enemies of God who are surrounding us to the marriage banquet of the Lamb of God.

So what about you?  What about the lavish banquet table the LORD has prepared for you, seated you at, waited upon you, anointed your head, and caused your cup to overflow time-and-time again in the presence of God’s enemies?  Have you used that blessing to taunt and flaunt, to selfishly indulge and gorge yourself – OR – have you used it as God intended – to lift up the Name of the LORD and bring the enemies of God into His flock and family?

Join me tomorrow as we look at the final verse of Psalm 23!

Blessings,

-Kevin