Supper on the Tailgate
Pastor Jerry A. BurnsThou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Psalm 23:5Ray was racing to get his last field of corn off before the rain. His wife drove out with a hot supper, set it on the tailgate, and said, “Sit down and eat. The field will still be here in ten minutes.” The work was not done, but supper came anyway.
David knew what it was to be fed before the trouble was over.
The Bible does not tell us exactly when he wrote this psalm. But think of the day he fled Jerusalem from his own son Absalom. An army was coming after him. Out in the wilderness, friends brought him beds, wheat, honey and cheese, “for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness” (2 Samuel 17:29). The danger had not gone away. Yet David sat down and ate.
That is the same picture we find in this verse. Just before it, David is walking “through the valley of the shadow of death” (v. 4). Now the Lord who led him like a shepherd sets a table for him, right where his enemies can see. They are still there, but they cannot stop the meal.
And that table is not thrown together in a hurry. The word “preparest” means to set in order, to arrange ahead of time. God planned His care for you before you ever got there. Nor does He give barely enough. He anoints David’s head like an honoured guest, and the cup runs over.
It is easy to think God will bless us once the trouble ends. But David found Him setting the table right in the middle of it. God does not wait for the battle to end before He feeds His children.
What has He set on your table this week, right in the middle of what is still unsettled?
