Psalm 23
“The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of shadow and death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;”
This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible and as I read it again today, it hits me that some times we lay on green pastures beside still waters and some times we walk through valleys. Some times this walk with God is picnics on mountain tops and some times its a table set in the battlefield. But either way, the Lord is a shepherd and a provider.
Let’s focus on the table. “I have prepared a table for you in the presence of your enemies”. What are you enemies? What is stealing your focus right now? Is it depression? Or maybe guilt, bitterness, addiction, anger, disease, poverty, anxiety…What is hovering over you trying to make itself the main character? When depression is threatening you and its presence is tangible, the Lord said, “I’ve prepared a place for you.” It is important that we learn to eat at the table while our enemies hover around. We need fuel for this fight. We need the presence of God, we need to be in His Word. Jesus didn’t say there’s a banquet waiting for you once you’ve beaten this disease. He said sit with me now, I have everything you need at this table. Eat, drink! Quit saving your food and drink until after the battle is over. Eat, my friends. We have an entire spread before us, and all we have to say is “Jesus, pass the bread”.
There’s a personal responsibility here. We have to choose to sit, to eat, to engage with our Maker instead of focusing on what is threatening us. Sunday mornings are beautiful and I love to be in the house of God, but relying on that table to get you through to Saturday is foolish. STOP SITTING AT THE KIDS TABLE. When we rely on our parent’s faith or our pastor’s faith to silence the noises of defeat we are essentially choosing to sit at the kids table. Not everything is available at the kids table. The spread is sitting at the big table; healing, deliverance, peace, joy, sustained freedom and all the promises of God are on the table He’s prepared for us. But if we are relying on other’s to fill our plate and hand it to us, we won’t ever be able to consume all God has for us. My prayer is that we can sit in the presence of God even when fear is looming, even when the voices are loud, and the pain is deep. I pray that we learn to engage with our Shepherd when we we feel like the battle is raging and that we can say with total confidence, Jesus, pass the bread.
Restorative Mercy 