Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?
Excerpt from Psalm 23
“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” (KJV)
Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel
Have you ever been invited to a dinner that you just knew would be utterly scrumptious? Has the mere notion of eating food cooked by someone with extraordinary culinary skills or dining at a certain restaurant of exceptionally good quality made your mouth water? We’ve all experienced the gladness and giddiness that accompany anticipation of a good meal. God is a great chef, and what God prepares for us is not only delicious but nutritious. This conviction is what led the Psalmist to declare: “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.”
But what God prepares for us is not just about what’s on the table. What God prepares for us is also about who’s around the table. At God’s table, we should anticipate not only, “What’s for dinner?” we should also anticipate, “Who’s coming to dinner?”
According to the Psalmist, God sets a table before us in the company of our enemies. Could it be that what God prepares for us in the company of our enemies is enough to feed and nurture both us and our enemies? Could it be that God knows how transgressions are forgiven and relationships are restored when enemies sit at a common table and break bread together? Could it be that God expects us to be gracious enough to invite our enemies to partake of the abundant blessings that God places on our table?
My mother is from a family of thirteen children, and as a girl, she often had to help prepare food for her whole family. Consequently, she never learned how to prepare small portions. As an adult, even though she only had four children of her own, she always seemed to cook for at least three times that many. Thus, people would just drop by our house at dinner time because there was usually plenty more food than our family could consume.
One Saturday afternoon I had a fight with a neighborhood boy named Allen. Allen and I separated that afternoon as bitter enemies. But that evening when I went to sit at the dinner table, Allen was there too, seated and ready to eat. My mother had invited him. I started not to eat, but my hunger for my mother’s macaroni and cheese was greater than my anger toward Allen. Allen and I ate together and reconciled our differences at the table.
Have you anticipated what guests God may invite to your next table of blessing? Will you find enough grace on the table to affirm the invitation?
Prayer
Gracious God, we are so grateful for all that you prepare for us. Since your table of blessings is always more than we can consume and appreciate by ourselves, help us to joyfully anticipate the company that you will gather around the table. Amen.
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