Christmas 2021: Focusing on the Table, Not the Enemy

“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” (Psalm 23:5, KJV)

Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her. And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zechariah, after his father. And yet his mother responded and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.” And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all amazed. And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began speaking in praise of God.” (Luke 1: 57-64, NASB)

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. It’s such a short sentence, but it is a powerful picture of the Christian walk.

I’m sure you’ve been there, because we all have. We all have enemies. And sometimes, our enemy isn’t a person. Sometimes our enemy is something completely unseen that tucks itself up to the table and stares us down, waiting for us to blink. 

Depression. Anxiety. Fear. Unemployment. Infertility. Disappointment. Lost dreams. Low self esteem and body issues. Grief. Intimidation. Disease. The list can go on and on. 

Now, I know I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating: Living under the blood of Jesus and being a Christian doesn’t guarantee the absence of struggle. Salvation doesn’t make us impervious or aloof to things going on around us, and it doesn’t lift us above those valleys in life. We will have to walk through those things with faith or without. 

But seriously, I don’t know how people do it without. Because what David so simply and beautifully shows us here, is that even in the midst of all our enemies, God sets a table for us. And that analogy does more than provide a shallow or tarnished hope to hold on to; it’s not a bumper sticker or a flimsy affirmation we post on our social media to make everyone think we’re doing okay. This table is a symbol of safe harbor, an oasis of Godly peace in the middle of turmoil. It’s something deep and substantial, and Christians that are mature in their faith see it as a firm and steadfast truth: that God provides us peace in the middle of the tempests of life.

There are a few things worth noticing in that handful of words. First, is that God “prepares” this place for us. It’s not haphazardly thrown together. It’s intentional. It’s been planned out, and executed to a high standard. Second, is that it is a table– a symbol that we can see God’s bounty in. There is nourishment, provision, and rest at this table, and it has been set with you in mind. Lastly, that table is set “before me,” which suggests a deeply personal connection. It’s not out of reach. It is right before you, easily accessible and welcoming.

To me, I picture the table I sat at in my younger days, before marriage and moving away. I picture a table where my parents, brother, and I sat for family dinners on a nightly basis. To me, that table was a safe place. There were many difficult conversations had there, but there were even more meals shared in laughter and comfort. When we were there, we weren’t worried about what we were in the middle of. The room could be full of our “enemies,”– and indeed, I’m sure we brought our fair share of baggage in our minds– and we’d still enjoy our meal and each other.

That’s what God does for us. Even if the room is full of nasty, gnarly, snaggle-toothed enemies that are really more mental than physical giants, He still offers us refuge and a place to recharge before going out to battle those enemies. When we can see and really understand that, the rest of the verse comes naturally, “You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.” 

It’s a good thing that God doesn’t fill our cup to the proportion of our faith, right? Because most of the time, our focus is on the enemy staring you down across the room as you sit at the table. Friends, we need to be focused on the table, and our God that has not only set it, but is sitting down at the table with us.

And there is someone in the middle of the Christmas story that needed to refocus himself from those daunting enemies to the power of our God. In the midst of the story of the birth of Christ, is another birth altogether: that of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist.

You see, Elizabeth and Zechariah were well into their old age, and Elizabeth was barren. The Bible never says, but anyone that’s ever struggled to get pregnant will know: When you’re yearning so badly to have a child of your own, and constantly coming up with nothing, you start to feel isolated in your struggle, like you’ve been barred from a deeply meaningful stage of life. It can be hard to trust God, when you pray and pray to conceive, and nothing happens. Why would God deny such a blessed prayer and a deep desire?

So when the Angel Gabriel comes to Zechariah, tells him Elizabeth will conceive in their old age, they will have a son, and his name will be John, Zechariah questions the angel, saying, “How can I be sure this will happen?” As a punishment, Zechariah is silenced through the duration of his wife’s pregnancy. When the baby is born, there is confusion over what he will be named, since it was tradition that the first son be named after his father. It gets to the point where Zechariah has to write down for the community, ‘His name is John,’ which unlocks Zechariah’s voice and he begins to sing praises to God.

Here’s the gist: Elizabeth and Zechariah were up against an enemy called infertility, and when God came through and gave them a child in His time, Zechariah’s focus wasn’t on the table prepared before him, but it was fully set on that enemy. To him, the enemy seemed daunting, unconquerable, and final. So much so, that Zechariah dared to question God’s bountiful love for him, a love that was PREPARED and ORDAINED before all of the heartache happened.

And God, in all His goodness, did not decide to pass over Zechariah for his lack of faith. Instead, God filled his cup to overflowing, and still allowed him to enjoy fatherhood to his impossible child.

Guys, when God claims us as His own, we are marked by His Holy Spirit, which invites us to this set table and fills our hearts to overflowing, even in those moments that we feel we have nothing to our name. Because truly, we have nothing to our name. Indeed, the nature of Christianity– of being a sheep– is that the name of Jesus, the name of our Shepherd, is made higher than ours. And because He is higher than any other thing, we are able to enjoy rest and refreshment, even in the presence of our enemies. We can know the deep riches of Christ, even when life leers at us from across the room and threatens to crush us.

And glory to God, His love for us is not contingent on how much faith we have. If that were the case, He wouldn’t have been born and died on a cross until we could prove ourselves worthy of that sacrifice. Not only that, but if it was, that would take salvation out of God’s control and put it into ours. Our salvation is and will always be, solely in the hands and control of the Savior. This Christmas, let’s remember that our Shepherd came to us as a child, in the most unassuming of places so that we could be invited to the table that was already set for us.

Merry Christmas, friends. Enjoy your holiday, and don’t forget to meditate on the fact that this day is in remembrance of a Savior that came to earth. Emmanuel, God with us.