A Table in the Wilderness

There is a heart condition within each of us that bends away from God in the pursuit of something "more". Sometimes we are completely aware of our pursuit. But often we step away quietly and slowly. Our moving from God takes place first in the geography of our thoughts, traveling to our hearts, and then into our actions. These pursuits are so easily camouflaged by our culture if not completely accepted. So, in this pursuit, in this chase for fulfillment we find a temporary replacement for God. Once we find it,we can't live without it. If it were taken away we would collapse.

What might be something that you have established in your daily/regular lifestyle that has become a substitute for God? Would your self worth, your desire for praise, your need to be accepted...would these collapse to some degrees if you returned to God in this area of your life?

When we bend away from God we are at the same time bending our hearts and lives away from freedom. True freedom. Like a mouse who regularly faces death while attempting to grasp the cheese. The mouse craves the cheese. He sees the cheese. But, for some reason the mouse does not see the death attached to the cheese. And so mice continue to crave the cheese and pursue the cheese and die before they even get a taste of the cheese.

I know this illustration breaks down to some degree. But, how often do I crave the cheese, see the cheese, and yet, I don't see the death that comes with it. Or maybe I choose to be blind to death attached to my cravings.

A step towards Godless cravings is a step back into slavery, a weathering of my soul, a layer of film wrapped around my heart. A step here and a step there and I am running. If I run far enough I begin to stand, in my hardness, in my pride. Emboldened. Blind to the trap of my own cravings.

This seems to be a theme in Psalm 78. There is a recounting of the Israelites journey through the wilderness after God frees them from Egypt.

V.11 They forgot his works and wonders that he had shown them.
V.18 They (willfully) tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
V.19 They spoke against God, saying, "Can God spread a table in the wilderness?"

They forgot his works and wonders. They demanded what they craved. They doubted he could provide a feast in the wilderness.

I believe I struggle with these exact forms of doubt fueled by pride and fear. Looking back at the taste and the dreadful delight of sin, success, and control, that I often intentionally wander back into, my question, my actions, my heart, asks God, "Can you spread a table in the wilderness? In my wilderness? On my journey?" In my pride, impatience, or fear, etc, I go ahead and set the table with my own provisions, because I doubt God can do better.

God, can you spread a table in the wilderness? The answer is yes, but how?

v. 11, says, they forgot his works and wonders? Have you forgotten? I know I often do.

1. Remember the works and wonders God has done in your life.

God sets the table and fills it with his works and wonders. Psalm 23:5 " You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." The feast on the table is a feast that fully satisfies. The table in the wilderness is full, rich and abundant.Water is always sweeter from a rock in the desert. Food falling from heaven feeds more than our stomachs.

2. Receive with joy and wonder.

The idea of sitting at the table is to receive. Receive the provisions on the table. Receive the fellowship around the table. Receive the works and wonders. Receive with joy and wonder in such a way that your heart, burns, longs, and craves for more.

Jesus sat at lots of tables. He sat with sinners and tax collectors. He went and had dinner with Zacchaeus. When Jesus invited himself over to his house, Luke 19:6 says, Zacchaeus, "hurried and came down and received him (Jesus) with joy." Salvation was on the table that day. Zacchaeus was forever changed because he sat at the table with Jesus.

After Jesus' resurrection he walked along the road with two strangers. They walked and talked for a while. They were hungry at the end of the journey, hungry for more of what this man was saying. You might say they were craving God, like never before. As the three of them sat down at the table, Jesus blessed the bread, broke it and gave it to them. The he vanished. The response of the men he had walked with, Luke 24:32, "Did not out hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scripture?" These men got up from their table and traveled all the way back from where they came to tell everyone about Jesus! They walked to the table, they sat, they were blessed and their hearts burned to go out and share more.

3) You cannot spread this table.

One night in an upper room at a table with his disciples Jesus offered the greatest feast of all, himself. His body and blood. This offering would be fulfilled on te cross. He walked in obedience to his death. He sat alone in the wilderness, at an empty table, in the presence of his his enemies, anointed with pain and death, and a crown of thorns. His blood overflowed.

Why did he do this? To spread the true table (Jesus) in the wilderness of our journey. So, that his works and wonders, and the joy of salvation could cover the table like no other feast can do. So all who believe in him might receive him. These are the children invited to the table.

Rest your feet. Let your thirst be quenched. Let the hunger of our your soul be forever satisfied.

Come, sit at the Table in Wilderness!

Ps. 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.