Not At My Table

And they tested 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

A classic passage about what we want vs. what we need in life. However, it was tables that entered my mind this morning, as in letting that stinkin' thinking pollute my breakfast table. Back in the day someone might have referred to a bee in the bonnet for something that bothered a person so much that he or she could think of nothing else. Such a test has come into our lives recently here in this little town, and I couldn't help but think that the perpetrator does not deserve a place at my table. This was followed quickly by the admission that when I am doing this sort of thinking, I don't deserve a place at God's table.

Noshing on dark emotions, mulling over things, chewing on my own bile, and other ungodly activities in my mind would not make me suitable at anyone's dinner table much less the sovereign Lord who has been so good to me. Gratitude, praise, worship, and love are far more appropriate attitudes to bring to my Lord's table. The fruits of the Spirit are a better offering to my Lord our host than to disgrace His table with that whirlwind of stinking thinking that has beset my mind recently. Of course in all of this we need our Lord Jesus to strengthen the mind to resist that sort of grumbly hateful mental activity. Time to turn it around to humbly grateful thinking by thinking on my Lord and all He has done and who He is!

It is a tough task as the toxin spread by this man who tests us so seeps deeply into the mind in a breathtakingly short time. Time to well remember the words of John: You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

Prayer in place of pernicious pondering! May God be praised on this His day,

Bucky