Family Dinner

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.

 Psalm 23: 5a    Psalm 145:16 NLT

Our monthly family dinner is a time of beautifully controlled chaos. Bursting with good food and loud conversation and chattering grandkids and craziness and drama and laughter and spilled drinks … and family. Talk of the latest ball game or promotions or inevitable life challenges can be heard mingled with the sounds of forks mindlessly hitting the plate to entwine bites of homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Family dinner in all it’s beautiful chaos. We love it.

As I read Psalm 23, I was struck that God prepares a table for us, but unlike the family dinner table, this table is prepared for us in the presence of our enemies. Right there, smack in the middle of enemies, our Lord is able to treat us to a meal. Enabling us to relax and sit at His table that’s overflowing with His peace, His presence, His provision. Not by removing the “enemies” but right there in their presence. In spite of them.

What “enemy” is in your presence today?

What “enemy” is in your presence today?

Grief. Loss. Rejection. Illness. Financial collapse. Fear. Despair. “What if” or “Why” questions… The Lord has prepared a table for you, for me…right there. Right smack in the middle of real-life.

Yet whether or not we sit and enjoy His offerings is our choice. We can be so distracted by the enemy that we miss His table all together. Or perhaps we’re waiting for the enemies of life to go away before sitting down to the table of His peace and presence and provision.

During family dinner, I can easily get so focused on the meal and spills and serving, that I neglect the gift of family right in front of me. As we encounter the enemies of life, we too can become so focused on coping or “doing” that we neglect the table He has prepared for us right there in the middle of our enemies.

Practically speaking, what does “sitting at His table” look like? A simple prayer of “Help” (no need to get theological, just cry out to Him) then opening His Word to read aloud a Psalm (23 or 37 or 46 are great places to begin). Together, let’s stop. Pull out a chair and sit at the table of His presence. Though there’s probably no Italian meatballs on the menu, what our Father God offers is beyond any culinary delight. He opens His hand and offers us His very peace and provision to fully satisfy the longing soul.

I do not shield you from hardship. I give you victory while in the throes of adversity.

– Francis J. Roberts

Father, Thank You for Your provision – for Your table in the very presence of my enemies. Grow in me a depth of faith that is able to relax at Your table regardless of what swirls around.  You are entirely faithful! How I love You! In Jesus’. Amen.

Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus.