By the Still Waters'. 3
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"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." The shepherd's tent in the wilderness was a little sanctuary, where the hunted man was sure of shelter, where every wanderer, whatever his character or his past might be, was received and furnished with food.
We need more than shepherd care; we need also mercy and grace. Sin and its curse drive us into the wilderness. Our past is full of enemies which haunt us—the sins we have committed. Our own heart contains relentless foes of God, who give us no rest. Satan watches ever to destroy us.
But there is a place of refuge from all these pursuing foes. The shepherd's tent is a picture of the cross, a place of shelter for the sinner hunted by his sins. We must not forget that it was the Shepherd himself who died on the cross for us. "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." We have in the cross not only a place of refuge within which no enemies can pursue us, but under its shadow we have also divine hospitality. "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies."
A man fleeing from a storm ran under a great tree. There he found shelter. But he found also fruits which the storm had brought down from the tree—food for his hunger, and a spring of sweet, pure water, at which he quenched his thirst. So in the shadow of the cross, the friend of Christ finds not only refuge from all enemies, but also provision for all his needs.
Not from our sins only, but from all danger of whatever kind, do we have shelter in Christ. The picture of the table spread in the wilderness in the presence of enemies, is true of the believer in every sense. As the guest of God he is safe from every foe. Paul puts it in very strong words in the eighth chapter of Romans: "If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the One who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the One who died, but even more, has been raised; He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us!"
"You anoint my head with oil." Anointing the head was one of the tokens of hospitality in the East. Jesus reminded Simon that he had failed as host in the honors shown to him as guest: "You didn't anoint My head with oil." Such anointing was the highest mark of respect that could be paid. Only the most distinguished guests were thus honored. When David uses these words here he means that he had been treated by the Lord as a most highly honored guest.
It seems strange to human reason, that the God of heaven should so lavish his love and kindness upon sinners of a mortal race. We are apt to regard such words as exaggerations. But the Bible abounds in expressions of the same character. When the prodigal was about to return to his father, he said that he would ask for a servant's place because he was not worthy to be called a son. Yet when he reached home he was received, not as a servant, but as a son. Jesus said, "I call you not servants, . . . I have called you friends." The beloved disciple exclaimed, "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God: and such we are!" No words can describe the honor and the blessedness of him who has become God's child by receiving Jesus Christ. The best things of divine grace and glory are his. Being a child of God, he is also an heir, an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ. It is past comprehension, that this God of wonderful loving-kindness, takes us in all our unworthiness, brings us into closest divine fellowship, and puts upon us the highest honors of the universe!
We may think of anointing also as an emblem of spiritual blessing. Oil was a symbol of the grace of God. Jesus was anointed at his baptism, and went forth full of grace and truth. If we yield ourselves to God, we, too, shall receive a heavenly anointing. Then we shall be filled with God. The beauty of the Lord our God shall be upon us. Our faces shall shine with the shining of holy peace. Our words shall have in them divine sweetness and grace. Anointed for God, our life shall be a blessing to everyone it touches. Our shadow, as we pass along the streets, shall bless those on whom it falls. We shall be God's saving health in this world, diffusing the influences of heaven amid human sorrow and sin!
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life—and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." This reads like a line out of an angel's life in heaven. Can that mean here—in this world? What! in the life of toil, disappointment, loss, sorrow, and tears—which we must all live on earth? Surely this must be only a poet's dream of life. No! it is the life of faith and trust, in this world. Toil, trouble, trial, belong to life as men see it, but in faith's realm this is the picture always— "Goodness and mercy all the days." Even in sorrow and loss there is goodness, always there is mercy. Thus it is unto the end, and then—"I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
The ending of the story of this life of blessedness, is not in this world; it is in heaven. We know that the believer shall indeed dwell in the house of the Lord forever. We have the finishing of the picture in the book of Revelation. "They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes!" Revelation 7:15-17
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