11/25/2025
If you find yourself at the end of a really long season of struggle and stress and you feel like you are running on empty or just don’t have much left to give, I invite you to come pull up a chair with me at the banquet table of my Heavenly Father. As a shepherd, David recognized an ancient path to follow. In Psalm 23, he outlines the way of finding peace and restoration by following the Good Shepherd. In the Passion Translation we find the way:
Yahweh is my best friend and my shepherd. I always have more than enough. He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace near the quiet brook of bliss. That’s where he restores and revives my life. (vs.1-3)
As we prepare to gather together with friends and family for the holiday season, I encourage you to be intentional in thanking God for his provision and care over the past year. I have heard the Lord say that this season will be a time of refreshing. As we meditate on the goodness of God and his luxurious love, it allows his Spirit to flow through our soul like that quiet brook of bliss and release living water. The commentary in the Passion describes the Hebrew word menuha as meaning “the waters of a resting place.” This is the same word we find in Isaiah 11:10,
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.
This describes a celebration of victory! A place of resting in the victory that Jesus has brought on our behalf. Song of Solomon 2:4 also describes this place of loving rest,
He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.
When we follow him to the place of victory and rest that he has prepared for us, we can be restored from all the stressors of life that have drained us. He desires, out of his great love for us, to fill us up with his delight. We can find joy in this place and strength for our souls. This is a place of abiding in his presence. We do not have to do anything to prepare this table. Unlike all the cooking and preparation we do for our family and friends at the holidays, this table is set for us. All we have to do is accept the invitation and soak in his loving kindness. Even after a season of intense warfare, where it feels like the enemy has been bringing one assault after another, there is an ancient pathway that leads to a table of rest.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5, NIV)
There is a beautiful picture here of the Lord setting his table for us right in the midst of our enemies, and there is nothing that they can do about it. The matter is settled and we feast in the victory that has been displayed before our enemies on our behalf. This is the banquet table that I encourage you to be aware of as you sit at the holiday tables. Soak in the love and victory that is spread before us and that covers us. Allow your heart to be filled with the goodness and joy of the Lord. Celebrate the victory, even before you see it fully manifest in the physical, knowing with confidence that it has already been won. Allow your soul to be refreshed and restored with this Kingdom reality.
