There’s always another table, isn’t there? Always another meal, another source of sustenance. The table, the place of the experience of God’s provision, never seems to stop giving, does it? It is this knowledge that allows the people of God to boldly pray, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” What more could we want? In God’s presence, and at God’s table, we lack nothing, so we want nothing. God’s desire to keep bringing us to a table, to keep providing for us, will not run out. It is a well that cannot run dry. Therefore, we shall not want. Scripture has a special word for this kind of life without lack – shalom. This ancient Hebrew word is a gift, for it defies a simple translation. It refers to peace, harmony, wholeness, and general well-being. Shalom means everything fits, everything belongs. Nothing is out of joint. There is no lack in shalom. It is this deep, abiding certainty that, in the presence of God, there is no lack, no danger.
In shalom, our infinitely generous and caring shepherd has brought us, his sheep, into green pastures with calm, safe, still waters. But in the bold prayer of Psalm 23, we’re not just eating green grass and drinking from still waters. Beyond that, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” We’re lying down in this place, in the care of the shepherd, because there’s nowhere else to be, nothing to run from, no next big thing to chase after. Shepherds would typically keep their flock moving from one pasture to the next, which served two purposes. First, by “green pastures,” we don’t mean luscious, colorful meadows. In the Middle East setting of the Psalmist, we mean pastures with just enough green grass for the sheep to eat before moving on to the next one with just enough green grass. Second, being on the move was to hopefully stay one step ahead of predators. But we don’t find ourselves in the care of just any shepherd. The Lord is our shepherd, and therefore we are free and safe to not only eat the green grass, of which there is an abundance, but to lie down in it as well, paying no mind to what may or may not happen if we don’t keep moving.
Then, Psalm 23 makes a pivot into a new image. In addition to being our shepherd, God is also the gracious host to whom we gratefully say, “You prepare a table before me.” If everything we’ve said so far in Psalm 23 about God’s provision and protection are true, then isn’t that shepherd also the host whose table we eagerly want to be at? And what are green pastures and still waters, if not a table through the eyes of sheep? At this table, “My cup overflows.” There is no lack. There is abundance. There is shalom.
However, God has invited our enemies to the table as well. This may rub us the wrong way at first, but it is certainly good news. In the care of the shepherd, whose provision and protection are never in question, why shouldn’t our enemies be welcome at the table? It is those enemies, those people who scare us, those people who make life hard for us, that we encounter in the valley of the shadow of death, but it’s not a problem. “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” Yes, in the care of the shepherd, at the host’s table, our enemies are welcome, for as Jesus teaches us, in the presence of God, enemies become neighbors.
This life without lack, these green pastures, and this table at which our cup overflows and our enemies become neighbors, is prepared and ready for each and every one of us. Pull up a seat.
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