Faith

Three Times at The Lord’s Table – Part One

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

Even though sixty years have passed, I can still hear my mother loudly calling, “It’s almost time for supper Peter! Get a move on and set the table!” But in this verse, no one told the Lord to set the table. He chose to do so on HIs own, and now His call goes out us. “You who have walked with me through the valley of the shadow of death. Come sit down, it’s almost time for dinner!” On a side note, I learned from my years serving in a Brazilian church that this passage in Portuguese renders the first section of the verse, “You prepare a table before me while my enemies watch,” Reading that, helped me picture a banquet table set up in a green meadow lying just beyond the valley of the shadow of death. In the distance, hungry wolves watch as we are invited to sit down at our Shepherds table. They howl, remembering that even their most wicked attempts to destroy us have failed and that now they must watch the Lord feasting with us and then filling our cups to overflowing at His table! Are you in a dark valley right now? Take heart, our Shepherd will walk by our side in the darkness, and He has prepared a banqueting table for us to share in the sunshine at its very end.

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Waiting by the Brook

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And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. 1 Kings 17:6-7 ESV

God told Elijah to go to the brook Cherith, where he would be protected and provided for, but that brook in the desert probably didn’t seem like an ideal location. There also are times in our lives when it seems like we are just sitting by a brook, and God has forgotten us. Just like Elijah, our daily routine seems pointless and strange. But in that quiet place God puts a brook for us to drink from and during those silent chapters of our lives he often sends something or someone as humble as ravens to meet our needs.

Though the Brook Cherith eventually dried up, Elijah learned that God could take care of his needs in surprising ways. Elijah didn’t complain or worry, instead he patiently waited till God told Him what to do next. So, if like Elijah, it feels as if you are on a dead-end street remember that that God often cares for us in unusual ways, through unexpected people for as long as He determines, so we that can learn to trust Him and be ready to move on when the brook dries up!

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Winter Wheat

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He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 
Matthew 13:37-38 NKJV

Did you know that around 70% of America’s wheat is planted in the fall and then spends the entire winter sitting around under drifts of snow? Boy, that reminds me a lot of how things are in our neighborhood. We invite folks to church, share our testimony of how God has worked in our lives and yet not much seems to come of it. It feels discouraging to keep planting in what feels like a frozen field. But then I came to today’s verses, and something clicked. Though I have loved, read and reread this passage, multiple times, I didn’t think it important, because it appeared as if Jesus was simply repeating the parable of the four soils from the beginning of the chapter. But when I looked closer, I discovered that this story is completely different. In the first, Jesus is the farmer who plants the seed of His words. In today’s verses, Jesus is a farmer planting people. Who were those people? Well, we can start with Matthew, Mark, John, Andrew, Peter and the rest of Jesus first disciples. They are the ones who received His word in good hearts. But Jesus didn’t just whisk them away to heaven. Instead, he planted them in the hostile and corrupt world that they lived in. Later an enemy (we know who that is!) planted other folks with different messages. Some preached conquest and war, others the lure of prosperity, sensuality or political power. From Mohammed to Joseph Smith, the list seems endless, the fields of the world look like a mess, and the harvest a total loss. But Jesus tells us that God is not worried. His wheat remains wheat even when planted in fields filled with tares. Our job as Christians is not to separate ourselves into spiritual ghettos, but to continue being the seed sown where God plants us and to keep planting His message even when the ground is frozen. Why? Because winter is the best time to plant! Good seed has power under the snowbanks of indifference, hostility and rejection, because soon it will be spring. Then when the rain falls and the sun warms the soil, some of that seed will grow in the hearts of those who today are dormant and sleeping. Our job is not to pull up the weeds, but to keep on planting and trusting God. He will gather His wheat into His barns. When Jesus comes, He will do the sorting out at harvesttime, and we and all those who love Him will be with Him forever!

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