You Are Invited!

“I’m so busy.” “I have too much on my plate right now.” “My family needs me.” “My church needs me.” “My neighbor needs me.” “My job is really demanding of me and I am so exhausted when I come home, I just want to veg.” We’ve all heard these comments over and over. Most of us have said them at one time or another or even frequently. It has become a badge of honor for us to be in high demand and have much to do. Cell phones have put the accent mark on our importance to the world around us. If a call or text comes in, we stop mid-sentence to see who it is and often interrupt the conversation we are in with someone to answer the incoming call or message.

“When the banquet was ready, he sent out his servants to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ But they all started making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’” Luke 14:15-21 NLT

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” Psalm 23:5 NLT

As I ponder these tables, I wonder what it looks like in today’s language. I wonder if it is the Lord providing daily spiritual sustenance through reading His Word, taking time for conversations with Him in prayer, fellowship with other believers, worship music, etc. And we say, “Not today. I’m too busy with other things.” Though we know He always has good things to teach us, encouragement, wisdom, forgiveness, grace, etc., we still say, “I’m too busy. My list is long today and I don’t have time to come to the table He has prepared for me.”

In the parable, the one who prepared the banquet said, “Go quickly to the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame… Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so the house will be full. For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.” Luke 14:21b and 23-24 NLT

When we are not hungry, we don’t come to the table. When we are too full of ourselves and our accomplishments, we don’t have time for the feast the Lord has prepared for us. Those who are hungry come and are fed.

Lord, open my eyes to see the feast you have prepared for me. Create a hunger in me for what you have prepared. Slow my racing mind and help me to linger at the table with You and allow my soul to be fed. Thank you. In Jesus precious and holy name, Amen.