Come To The Table
You're invited...
I don’t know how you best hear God’s Spirit leading you. I would love to know, and if you are my sibling in Christ, perhaps one day we will walk and talk about our stories in Heaven. Or maybe we will be so captivated by God’s glory that all the past - even the sanctified past will be forgotten. Knowledge of our eternal life in Heaven will remain for now an exciting and strange mystery.
Often though, the unique communication style of the Lord to me lights upon my pondering thoughts with a simple phrase. Maybe just a word, but usually a simple phrase that seems to loop and repeat and weave itself into my scripture reading, my prayers and conversations with people in my circles. The phrase might even be found in a song or a movie or perhaps it’s a theme that weaves itself into my dreams in the night.
If this one, seemingly insignificant phrase is truly given by Holy Spirit’s leading, He will also lead me to a scripture passage, and together He will lead me into understanding, wisdom, and discernment of what it is that He wants me to know. I love the Scriptures, and I enjoy the treasure hunt of digging and sifting through the inspired, living and breathing words of God. Gratefully, I join the Lord on this adventure of being taught and growing in faith and knowledge of God. He is so kind to lean down to pay attention to us, and He is patient to teach us what He wants us to know for the next leg of our journey home
I want to share one of these phrases with you. Remember, this is a seemingly generalized and insignificant phrase - unless the breath of God has breathed it over you, repeated it at every turn for days and weeks, and for me - years. Unless God calls me into communion at His table with His word and His presence, the table can be just an everyday piece of furniture with ordinary people sitting to enjoy a meal or play a game or engage in debate. So, when He, Creator Father, calls us to His table it is actually a holy gathering.
But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. Luke 14:10 ESV
Come to the Table.
That’s it. As I’ve already stated, it’s a simple phrase. If you are still reading along you might think how ordinary these words are to speak. A mother and father probably speak these words hundreds of times as their children grow into adulthood. They could be a question of negotiation or reconciliation, “Would you come to the table?” They could come across as a command, “Come to the Table!” And yet the more I ponder this phrase, I recognize it as an invitation from the Lord Himself.
The more I search the scriptures, the greater the depth of meaning as in the communion table. The generosity of His sincere invitation has become priceless and holy to me. You might call this a rabbit hole that leads into too many topics and takes too long, but I recognize this invitation to Come to the Table with the Lord as just the entrance through the doorway of more intimate relationship with Him. His invitation tells me:
I’m invited
I’m accepted
I’m included
I’m beloved
I’m family
I’m welcome
And so, if you are interested, I’m inviting you to join me on this adventure series entitled, Come to the Table. Over the last many years of pondering the idea of what it means Biblically, scripturally to come to the table with the Lord, I’ve taken note of the numerous table scenes. Don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself. Go to a Bible concordance and search the word ‘table’. You might be surprised. I was amazed.
I will leave you with one story, perhaps it will whet your appetite to learn more about God’s word, the way He speaks to us, and His great desire to have a real relationship with us, His creation.
One Sunday as I participated in corporate church worship my mind was filled with a living-color vision of an enormous table. It was undoubtedly a banquet setting without end. The table itself was thick, solid roughly hewn wood planks, and at the head of this table, seated in glory, was Jesus. I could not see His face, but I could see His radiance, and I knew it was Him.
I could see my dear man and I sitting at the other end of the table simply enjoying our meal and His company. We were all very chatty, smiling and laughing - thoroughly enjoying every morsel of being fed at His table. I felt the honor and the joy, but I also knew that I was completely accepted, wanted, invited and welcomed into His presence and anticipated with a name plate at my seat. Every chair was intended for a specific someone known in advance. Every place setting contained a name plate - lovingly engraved.
As I was taking in the scene, continuing in worship and thanksgiving with tears streaming down my cheeks, the vision expanded. One by one, the people most dear to me - family and friends - people I know and love, began to walk up and take their place at the table. I was completely overwhelmed with the gracious love and generosity of the Father to let me have this peek into what it means to Come to the Table.
The scene was so full of love, celebration, laughter, and hope that I was completely undone, and wept all the more as my spirit came into agreement with this precious scene. But it wasn’t a one-and-done. This table at which Jesus sits and to which He extends a gracious invitation has filled my dreams, worship moments, and prayer times for quite a long time now. My prayers and worship will never be the same.
Dear Shiney Reader,
Come to the Table.
You’re invited.
We are making space for you.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20 ESV
Eyes on Jesus and Shine,
Lisa
Lisa, that is such a precious invitation extended to us all - Come to the Table. Like you, it is through repeated words and Scriptures crossing my path that the Lord uses to speak to me. May we keep on inviting others to His Table as there is yet room. Blessings!
Love the vision of Come to the Table. This past year I've been impressed to pray for my cousins nightly that they might accept the invitation to come to the table. I feel strongly I should not give up. I want to see them at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.