"A Table In the Wilderness"

"...Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?"  Psalm 78:19

After an unusually difficult weekend of issues, primarily in regards to care-giving for my 93 year old mother-in-law who has dementia, I found myself running out of the door early this morning in search of some peace and quiet.  As I rounded the corner of my favorite walking place I was awe-struck by the scene awaiting me:

This Mama Doe and her fawn were peacefully grazing in the yard of an uninhabited vacation home...

They were just as curious about me as I was about them...so we stood there staring at each other...
Me...gazing at them with such joy and thanksgiving to the Lord for His kindness to me this morning...and them...wishing I would leave them alone to finish their breakfast...

Finally they had enough of looking at my funny face and decided to turn high tail and run off to greener pastures...

My heart was overflowing with joy as I watched them go...because God had heard my prayer...He knew that I needed this gift today...

Mama and fawn may never know just how much they blessed me...

(Don't you just love their white flags waving good bye??)

So, as I watched them frolicking away I felt better equipped to face my day...

Thank you, sweet friends from God's creation...

Oh wait!!! Just as I was about to turn away, here came another fawn leaping out of the woods...and actually there were two of them, but I couldn't get a picture quickly enough of the other one!  They are a part of the communal deer family here in my neighborhood.  There have been three fawns that I've been watching this summer...but I think they came from two different mothers because they aren't always all together:

(This is a picture from another day a couple of weeks ago...notice how much they've grown since then)

So...after all of this excitement, I rounded the next bend in the road and came across the picture featured at the top...here again for you:

And the first words that came to my mind was this phrase: "A Table In the Wilderness"....

I wasn't too sure where that came from so when I got back home I looked it up in the Bible and found the above reference to Psalms 78:19.  This was spoken in regards to the people of Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness and kept 

"testing God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy.  Yes, they spoke against God: They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?"  (Psalm 78:18-19)

and the Psalmist goes on to say in verses 20-29 how God struck the rock so that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed, and then, as if that wasn't enough, they asked if God could also provide bread and meat?  

God was pretty frustrated with these ungrateful Israelites, but He showed them His mercy again by providing manna, "the bread from heaven; men ate angels' food"  (verse 24-25) and feathered fowl to eat, so many it was like the sand of the seas; and so they "ate and were well filled..." (verse 29)  and it says in verse 32 that

"In spite of this they still sinned, and did not believe in His wondrous works."

So I thought to myself after this morning's adventure and discovering these words that I do not want to be like the ungrateful Israelites.  God demonstrated His love for me this morning by providing a gift that blessed my heart with such joy and peace that I could not keep silent. He spread His table before me in the wilderness and tenderly fed me from His Word and with His Holy Spirit. He gave me "the true bread from heaven," Jesus Christ His Son,  (see John 6:32-58)

With such a wondrous gift, how could I keep silent?  

Dear Friend, Perhaps you are also going through some difficult times and are in need of some "angels' food"... It is my prayer for you that God will direct your path to His "table in the wilderness" that He has prepared especially for you. Your place may be different than mine...His provision may be something totally unique that speaks to you personally.  Take some time out of your busy day or weariness to seek Him out.  He will not fail you.  

"Happy Trails to you, Until we meet again..."

(Roy Rogers and Dale Evans)

The Food that Satisfies

How often have we cried, "I'm starving!"  "When's dinner going to be ready?" "I'm so hungry I could eat a cow!"

One of our family gatherings...waiting to be fed...

As I look back on my life I know I've said that zillions of times...especially as a growing child.  And how often have we heard our own children say the same things? Probably more times than we could possibly count.

Now, let's tell the truth...how many of those zillions of times were we truly starving? How often were we (or our children) really so hungry that we could "eat a cow"?   (A nice juicy steak might be nice...)

Yes, I am well aware that there is tremendous hunger in the world, and possibly closer than we think, and it is an immensely horrific problem for millions of people.  As much as I would love to solve world hunger, that is not what I am really talking about tonight. That is an issue that is larger than my capacity to solve.

No, the kind of hunger that is really on my mind is soul hunger.  If your soul could speak, how often do you think it would cry, "I'm starving!" ?  Probably more often than we care to admit.  Could it be possible that a person could attend church every week, listen to Christian music, attend all kinds of "Bible Studies" or other spiritual help groups, conferences, and concerts and still have a starving soul?

Yes...highly possible.  How could that be? I mean, wouldn't that be the right kind of "diet" to have a well nourished soul?  It should be. But I've seen people come and go from church to church, Bible study to Bible study, all manner of conferences and groups, etc., etc, etc., and still not grow and mature in matters of the soul. They never can get enough food to satisfy the hunger of the heart and soul. Why?

Perhaps because we get so caught up in the frenetic search for answers and just the right "food" that we overlook the most basic important nutrient of all...a total ingestion of the best food ever offered; The Bread of Life...Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to His disciples in John 6:35

"I Am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, 

and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."  

And in verse 48-51

"I Am the bread of life.  

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

This is the bread which comes down from heaven,

that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread,

he will live forever;

and the bread that I shall give is My flesh,

which I shall give for the life of the world."

The rulers and disciples did not truly understand what Jesus was saying to them at the time...and for a complete discourse on this I commend the whole 6th chapter of John's Gospel to your reading.

But what we need today, what I need today, is a buffet table full of the Bread of Life...open for you and me to partake of freely...to breathe Him into our hearts and minds so fully that we no longer crave the running to and fro seeking every special program, every marvelous speaker, the over abundant diet of  constant activity of worship, studies, preaching, teaching...having "itching ears", heaping "up for themselves teachers" and possibly even having turned "our ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."  (See 2 Timothy 4:1-5)

You may wonder how can someone get too much of Bible study and preaching and teaching, etc., and not be fed properly?  It's simple...

We get so busy chasing after more knowledge and the better "worship experience" that we lose sight of the One Who stands there waiting for us to 

"Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, 

for I am gentle and lowly in heart, 

and you will find rest for your souls.

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30  

Now, please don't think that I am against going to church, Bible Studies, conferences, etc., etc.  But on the other hand, the warning is this...Don't become so addicted to eating more and more "food"...even when it is so-called food for the soul, that you overlook the most valuable nourishing meal of all: Jesus Christ, the living Lord, the Bread of Life who gave His life for your soul...Who stands at your heart's door knocking, waiting on you to let Him enter into the innermost part of your very being...

Warner Sallman's picture of Jesus Standing at the door knocking

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,

I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

Revelation 3:20

Yes, this is the food that comes down from heaven...Jesus Christ...knocking at your door (and mine)...waiting for us to invite Him in...to dine with us...for eternity! How wonderful is that? 

Lord Jesus, I'm starving...I'm hungry, hungry for more of YOU.  Help me stop the frantic frenzy of chasing after the rich foods that will never satisfy...and fill me with YOU...and YOU alone. YOU ARE the Bread of Life who came down from heaven....seeking for me. Please come in and dine with me...forever. Amen. 

For a continuation of this "series" of thought, go to my next post, "Be Still And Know"