THE INVITATION
The book of Isaiah heralds this invitation from the Lord (Isaiah 55:1-3),
Come, everyone who thirsts…come, buy and eat!
The earnestness is easily caught.
Listen diligently to me…
Interwoven in the pleas is the importance of the invitation. The whole point.
Why do you spend your money on food that doesn’t satisfy?
Come, delight yourself in rich food…
As God’s people, we have a long history of making our home in the riches of the world, in the treasures of other cultures, other gods. The word of God in Isaiah 55 called them out of otherness and into something better. Calling them back to their intended dwelling and purpose, and the graciousness of the Lord, their creator, sustainer, and savior.
As we read passages like this one in Isaiah, we can relate. We are constantly being inundated with the culture of the world. Media is an amazing resource. No doubt. If not guarded, however, it will shackle us to “food that does not satisfy.” I believe it is a safe assumption that we are as guilty of consuming the culture of the world today as God’s people in the time of Isaiah’s message.
Can we take a moment to pause and consider the invitation from God.
Delight yourselves in rich food.
THE TABLE
The psalmist writes, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The same God who has invited us away from “food” that doesn’t satisfy us is our shepherd. There is no lack when we eat from his table. Neither should we want or desire “food” from any other table.
He leads perfectly.
He sets a table for us—in front of our enemy. Instead of eating and indulging with our enemy, we should eat from the table prepared for us by our shepherd. Instead of eating the food offered to idols, we should drink from the very sustenance of Jesus. The table set for us is the work of the cross— the body and blood of Jesus. Broken and spilled out. His surrender—broken and poured out—becomes our surrender, and it is the richest food.
Is this picture of a table alluding to our salvation? Yes (Matthew 26:26). But does the table end there? No. There is a perpetual, continual, steadfast, new every morning table for us. It meets our greatest need to be bought back from sin, to be reconciled to the Father. It also meets the need we have to stay—abide— with Jesus.
The Lord is a good shepherd and leads us all the days of our lives.
THE EATING
Imagine a restaurant owner inviting the beggar who waits by the dumpster each night for food thrown out with the trash to come to sit at one of his tables and serves him graciously while the food is still fresh. That’s a close modern-day picture of what took place in Ruth chapter 2.
Tucked in towards the front of the Bible is a story about a couple of widows returning home from a foreign, depleted land. There’s a lot of history and hints of things to come. But, for today, there is one scene of particular interest.
The younger widow, Ruth, finds herself picking up scraps of barley left behind by harvesters in the fields of a man named Boaz. He is a kinsman-redeemer of her mother-in-law, the older widow. A kinsman-redeemer, simply put, was a family member who could legally provide and care for widows and orphans.
At one point in the story, Boaz invites Ruth to the harvest table (Ruth 2:14-16).
And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain.
This scene exemplifies or foreshadows, perhaps, the invitation we see in Isaiah 55 and the table in Psalm 23. The next verse is my favorite part of the story.
And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.
Satisfied. With leftovers. I have asked myself, how often do I sit with the Lord, at the table he prepared for me, and eat until I’m satisfied? How hungry am I?
A similar phrase is used in the story about the feeding of the five thousand found in the Gospels. Jesus blessed the fish and bread and gave it to them…
And they all ate and were satisfied. Mark 6:42
How ridiculous would it have been for someone not to eat the pieces of bread and fish given to them?
Think about the amount of scriptures that talk about the abundance of God’s provision.
Oh, that we would hear the invitation, sit at the table, eat, and take something with us as we go.
THE PAUSE
It takes a great pause from our forward motion, our momentum, and plan to hear the invitation, to see the table our Shepherd daily prepares for us, and to eat until we are satisfied.
Ruth was working in the fields. She and Naomi had nothing. If she didn’t gather, they wouldn’t eat. But when Boaz spoke, “Come and eat, “ she paused the work, the frantic gathering, the self-provision, the ‘if I don’t do this, no one will’ mindset, and sat at the table and delighted herself in rich food—with a take-home box.
What if Ruth had not stopped gathering scraps to attend the feast? Would she have food for that day? Probably. Would it have been enough to satisfy her and Naomi’s hunger? Maybe. Would the scraps be enough for leftovers? Nope.
The thing is, the stress of life, the cost of living, the push for promotion and betterment, the cares of this world, and even spiritual growth at times tell us to keep working. Keep striving. Don’t stop till the goal is reached.
Listen. There’s nothing wrong with hard work and effort and discipline and setting goals.
But. When the call of call of the Shepherd sounds, come and eat with me. I’ve prepared what satisfies. Everything else should cease. Our provision in every way is prepared for us by God. It’s rich food that satisfies. And staying at the table with Jesus will silence the enemy. It exposes every falsehood and distraction he is dealing with.
Jesus, our kinsman-redeemer, has invited us to the table he prepared for us with his very life. We can either accept the invitation and eat until we are satisfied, or we can continue indulging with the world and its ruler, which never satisfies and leads to death.
At some point in our life, in our journey with Jesus, he has to be enough. We have to be satisfied with what he’s prepared. With him!
Blessed our those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Matthew 5:6
Those are Jesus’ words. He is our righteousness.
I’m writing this from a “teach me more, Lord“ perspective. I need to grow in this area. So, as a closing I leave you with this prayer/reflection of mine.
Pause.
Pause the worry and hear his invitation.
Pause the self-provision and sit at the table.
Pause the pride and eat what has been prepared.
Pause the weariness and taste and see.
Pause the unbelief.
Pause the noise.
Pause the hurry and stay a while.
Stay.
Stay a little longer.
Stay until the “plate” is clean.
Stay and see what’s left over and what you can carry away.
Stay until Jesus is enough.
Stay until Righteousness is what you long for.
Stay until Jesus satisfies every need and desire.
Brave Sparrow 