You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5)
In the midst of our worst battles, Jesus is there, spreading a table (though sometimes it seems like a dixie cup and a paper towel). He doesn't just commune with us on the mountain tops, but He visits us in the valleys as well. It is in these times that the anointing is often the greatest, flowing down over our heads, overflowing our cups.
Though it's a wonderful experience, it's not just for us. This is the oil of destiny and duplication, the times stored to be poured out into others as the Lord leads. King Saul sort of missed that. Though Samuel had found him and anointed him king, Saul wasn't having it when the girls started singing, "Saul has slain his thousands and David his TEN thousands!"
Saul wasn't having it. There was only room for one slayer and it was going to be him. At dinner one night, he set a table of his one, one of contempt and competition. He held a javelin under the table, but his son Jonathan made sure that it didn't make it's mark.
Though Saul didn't rejoice at seeing God's plan unfold at his table, Jonathan had been around the palace long enough to recognize a king when he saw one. He risked everything to be sure that David, the destiny of the kingdom would survive. Later, Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, crippled when his nurse fled the castle and dropped him, would sit at David's table. Though Jonathan had died, his deeds lived on.
Though we may not be royals in the physical world, as Christians we all have a sphere of influence, a round table of community. I've shared a few of the folks who sit at my table, others of them you may never meet except through the grace rushing under the pages of my books. They are people who have poured into me, people I've let my life overflow onto and into, though never quite in the ways I'd like. They have other folks at their tables too, people who I wave to and work with because I know they're good people.
Jesus did this too. At 12, he went to the temple, not to preach, but to learn. Though hundreds followed him, he poured himself into twelve common men: tax collectors and fishermen, rebels and doubters. That dozen and a the women who went along with them changed the world.
Look around your table and start setting places. The ministry that is your life might change the world too.
Father God,
Thank you for the people you've brought into our lives to pour into us, the Pauls who make us reach higher and believe beyond where are. Prepare us for own outpourings into the people whom you've called to be our Timothys. Thank you for the laughter and hope from the Barnabus encouragers You've sent to us too. Fill is with Your Spirit, with the living water and new wine from Your cup. Help us live a life worthy of giving away.
In Jesus' name,
Amen
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