The Table

 "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows." Psalm 23:5

I recently heard Pastor/Author Louie Giglio talk about his book, "Don't Give The Enemy A Seat At Your Table." He was referring to the 23rd Psalm and it's promise in the above Scripture. The enemy is the devil himself, and not the various flesh and blood people he works through. As I heard him speak, I was impressed anew about how many times I have not only given the enemy a place at my table, I have willingly invited him to do so. I'll wager that you have as well.

Satan, the enemy of our souls, has a naked hatred for the children of God. He is totally committed to destroying every purpose of the Father for our lives. However, though there are times he displays his hatred in openly blatant ways, it isn't his usual approach. He's far too subtle for that. Most often, he approaches us through our thoughts. Through those darts of fire he constantly aims at our minds. He does so through the offenses we have suffered. He does so through our own doubts, especially our doubts about our worth, or our ability. He makes "suggestions," and through them, kindles our anger over the offense, or intensifies our doubt about ourselves, and ultimately, about the goodness of our God. When we allow these darts, these thoughts to lodge in our mind, we have given him a stronghold out of which he'll operate. We end up justifying feelings and attitudes that we know are sinful, but he's convinced us are not that at all. Or, he's convinced us that the place we find ourselves in will be the place of our doom, that we'll not make it through. That this will be the place where we suffer defeat, once and for all. This will be the mountain that stops us, the place where the giant slays us. He operates from the seat that we've given him. A seat he has no right to, but a seat he's convinced us is his.

Perhaps the great tragedy here is that also seated at that table is Jesus Christ, but it is not His voice we're hearing, but the enemy's. The Psalm says that He's prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemy. It is our table, and His. It is a table filled with His abundance. An abundance of His Word, His Presence, His Promises. All of these overflow to us. All the enemy is meant to do is look on...in helplessness, as we partake of His riches and abundance. Unless he has somehow managed to get us to invite him to sit down....and begin his conversation with us. A conversation that will always lead to our harm.

I said that I've given him a place at my table, and I have. I've allowed his darts to lodge in my mind. Anger over anothers words or actions towards me. Doubts about my ability to persevere, to get to where He is leading me. Doubts about the goodness, the reliability, the power of the God I serve and follow. Despite the abundance of the "food" He has placed before me, I partake of the garbage the enemy has deceived me into consuming. Yet this is not where I must remain. At His table, He provides a way out.

What I need to do, and you as well, is examine where all these thoughts and suggestions are coming from. Do they agree with what He's spoken in His Word? Do they match what we have learned about His character? Do they align with what He has told us about how He views us? Do they lead us closer to Him, or further from Him? When we do this, we are doing what His Word tells us, taking our thoughts captive to Him. When we realize how far from him these darts, these suggestions and thoughts are, we can surrender them to Him and replace the lies that they are with His Truth. When we do this, we evict the devil from the seat he has no right to. Isn't it time for all of us to do just that? To evict the devil from his seat at our table?

May we live in the reality of all of the 23rd Psalm. May we never cease to partake of the bounty of His table, our table, and do so in the very presence of our enemy. The only seats at this table are ours and our Lord's. He's prepared the table before us. Will we now partake of it's bounty.....and starve the devil as we do so?

Blessings,

Pastor O