PONDERING... Will you be His guest?

Will You Be His Guest?

GIST: In the face of trials, remember nothing can separate you from God’s deliberate goodness.

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 23:5-6

You prepare a table before me

   in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

   my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

   all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

   forever.

This morning we looked at the first half of one of the most well-recognized passages in the Bible--Psalm 23. Tonight, we’re going to just briefly look at the end.

It wasn’t until I really dove into the passage this week that I realized there are two camps of interpretation here. One group sees this as a continuation of the sheep-shepherd metaphor. The other sees this as a shift toward a host-guest metaphor. It’s not a significant issues because both groups agree on the application, it just modifies the implications of the metaphor a bit. As the title suggests, I lean toward the latter. I think we’re given a picture of God as our awesome host, no matter our circumstances. The message in the context of our “how to face trials” study?  In the face of trials, remember nothing can separate you from God’s deliberate goodness.

1. GOD IS GOOD

There is some really great imagery here.

You prepare a table before me

We start with picture of a prepared table. I think we still have some of this hanging over in our culture, but the busier our society becomes the further we’re removed from it. A table is a place of fellowship. It’s where people spend time together. It’s something to be looked forward to. I know Belarusian culture still has this. When we lived there, we spent a lot of time in people’s houses eating. At the end of each meal, they would have hot tea, which I love. But they’d serve it very hot, and we were told this was intentional. If the tea is hot, you can’t drink it fast, which means you’ll have more time to spend talking with your guests.

I think that is close to what is in mind here, a table is being spread for us. Maybe this is obvious, but I think what strikes me most here is who is spreading the table. God is inviting us in as His guests. Again, like I mentioned this morning, we don’t deserve this. Yet, He comforts His people, and desires to spend time with us. I need to let this truth smack me across the face. I should be more astonished by this than I am; it should make me more grateful than it does--because this is truly humbling.

you anoint my head with oil;

These next two lines continue the guest imagery and pack more into this picture of our good God. When I think of anointing with oil in the OT, I usually think about anointing kings and priests. It was a sign of God’s presence being on them--the Holy Spirit working in their lives. It seems it was also customary at this time for hosts to anoint the heads of their guests, symbolizing the same type of blessing. We see this alluded to by Jesus when he reprimands His Pharisee host in Luke 7:44-46.

44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

This was a sign of the highest love and respect. It was literally like saying, “may you be filled with the Holy Spirit”. When Jesus does it for us… it is filling us with the Holy Spirit! It is God working in us and through us.  

my cup overflows.

I remember hearing this line explained for the first time about 10 years ago when Daniel Baldesi and I were working out at Bates Creek. If I remember correctly, a Jewish friend of his had explained it to him. However, I’d never heard it explained this way by anyone else until I started diving into it this week, and sure enough, Daniel isn’t crazy (at least not because of this…:D). I’ll let Max Lucado explain it.

The overflowing cup was a powerful symbol in the days of David (traditionally understood as the author of the Psalms). Hosts in the ancient East used it to send a message to the guest. As long as the cup was kept full, the guest knew he was welcome. But when the cup sat empty, the host was hinting that the hour was late. On those occasions, however, when the host really enjoyed the company of the person, he filled the cup to overflowing. He didn’t stop when the wine reached the rim; he kept pouring until the liquid ran over the edge of the cup and down on the table. - Lucado, Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear, page 137.

Let this sink in for a second. Jesus prepares a table for us, and wants us to stay. Now, hold that thought.

2. EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T SEE IT

   in the presence of my enemies;

God is good, even when you don’t see it. We need to remember the context here. We saw this morning that the Shepherd was faithful even when the sheep were in dire straights. The same picture is given here. This table is prepared, in the presence of my enemies. There are a few points we have to get here.

First, it won’t always look like fine dining. God’s goodness does not remove our hardships; it happens in the face of them, during them, through them, in spite of them. It is important to read this together. It says the table is prepared in the presence of the enemies...not the table is prepared and sometimes there are enemies. Both are promised.

Second, God intends for our enemies to see us at His table. I talked about this more this morning, so I won’t belabor this point. However, it is vital that we live like we’re at this table!

3. AND HIS GOODNESS IS RELENTLESS--NOW & FOREVER--DELIBERATELY

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

The word translated “surely” here actually means “only”. And the word translated “follow” actually means “pursue”.  This is also pretty awesome. This is a picture of goodness and mercy pursuing us...forever. No matter where we go, no matter what we do, no matter what we think… God is relentlessly pursuing us with His goodness! This is intentional; He means to do it, and it won’t ever end!

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This end promise puts all the others in perspective. Forever, we will be with Jesus.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Expect hardships
2. But don’t forget God’s goodness in the midst of them.
3. Always remember it’s on purpose... and eternal.
4. And keep this at the forefront of your mind. There will never be a time when you don’t need reminded of this.