“Feasting in the Presence of Our Enemies”

Scripture Text: Isaiah 25:6-9

As I read through the text for today, the passage that leapt into my mind is the 23rd Psalm. Let’s say it together.

Read Psalm 23

For me, the key line in this poem of praise is this – “I shall not want”. Jehovah-Jireh – “the Lord provides”. He provides for all of our needs, and when we receive His generosity, we are completely satisfied. But we need to remember that He satisfies needs in a way that is very different from the gratification that comes from the world. And having said that, I will also say that we need both God’s gifts and those of humanity. And by that I mean that many times, God gives through the lives of His people. Amen? In our Tuesday morning Bible Study, we’ve been reading through Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, and we have just begun chapter 15.

Read Romans 15:1-2

As we read and discussed these verses, in particular the issues of bearing each others burdens and building each other up, we talked about the needs of our brothers and sisters in this congregation. We know that many in our church will be alone during the holidays. We know that some are out of work and struggling to make ends meet. We know that while holidays are generally seen as times for celebration, that there are many folks who really have to stretch to find a reason to be happy, let alone to be celebratory! And the question came up – How can we help them to “bear their weaknesses”?
A plan has begun to reveal itself, and great anticipation is also beginning to build. It seems that there is going to be a dinner and fellowship for all who will be alone for Thanksgiving, and while I can’t tell you much more today, I hope to be able to provide some details next week. Let it suffice to say that you will not be alone for this Thanksgiving! And we’ll just have to see where this takes us and even what may develop beyond this!

Read Isaiah 25:6

I don’t know if we will be providing the “finest of aged wines”, but the Lord will be preparing a feast of the best food. But isn’t that the way that God always works? He not only includes us in the working of His plans, but He seems to inspire and enable us to do the very things that He desires to have done but can’t even begin to do on our own! He could very easily do it through His own miraculous touch, but He wants us to be a part of His work.
Have you experienced this before? You have known that God wants you to do something that is nearly impossible, or at least beyond your own ability, and as soon as you take that first step in faith toward that “unattainable” goal, everything begins to fall into place? Finances start to take shape, people begin to get on board, resources that were previously unknown start to accumulate, needed facilities are suddenly available, and so on.
And you begin to understand the word that says “Nothing is impossible for God.” – that God invariably, provides a feast for us every time we show that we trust Him.

But to go back to our Psalm for a moment, what’s this about “feasting in the presence of our enemies”? Our enemies, especially in this context, are those who would much rather see us starve than receive the best of meats - the world doesn’t want us to find peace and hope for our life. The Lord wants us to feast; it’s the world that wants us to struggle. The Lord wants us to rejoice; it’s the world that wants us to suffer. The Lord wants us to have clarity of vision and fullness of life; the world would prefer that we were blind, totally dependent on them for guidance.
In the middle of our adversity, no matter what form it may take, God is there to help us through it. And even more than that, He doesn’t stop at “just barely enough” - His greatest desire is to bring unbridled joy into our barren lives, to give us a feast of the finest foods when we would be satisfied with a single hamburger.

Read Isaiah 25:7-8a

A shroud is the cover that goes over a dead body. And it is in His banquet that life and trust are restored, that vision is made perfect again, disease and crippling injuries are healed, and spiritual blindness becomes a thing of the past. The shroud that covers us and makes us fearful and holds us down and keeps us in the dark and tells us that all hope is gone won’t just be removed – it will be destroyed, never to enfold us again! Not just an incredible feast for today, but a vision of the future that is filled with God’s goodness and hope!

Read Isaiah 25:8b

The tears that He will wipe away come from our failed life in this world. Remember the story in Luke about the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears?

Read Luke 7:36-38, 44-48

Our sins are just as plentiful as this woman’s were, but how many tears have we shed? Have we become too comfortable with God’s forgiving and generous nature? Has sin become so commonplace in our lives that it’s no longer given a place of contempt in either society or the church? How grateful are we for God’s personal sacrifice on our behalf? If we are grateful, why aren’t we shedding tears of shame, as well as ones of gratitude?
But if we have no tears, how will we ever experience God’s mercy gently wiping them away? We just might miss out on one of heaven’s greatest gifts! And if there is no shame, how can there be any repentance, and without our turning away from sin, how will the Lord be able to remove our disgrace.

Read Isaiah 25:9

The joy of those who dine at His glorious banquet will be overwhelming. Now I don’t know if our plans for a special church Thanksgiving feast will be quite that glorious, but I imagine that it will be pretty good! And this last verse for today will be the theme verse for that dinner. How ever it comes about, it will come because of God’s Grace and Will; because we will trust in His great gifts, many just might be spared from the solitary loneliness of a holiday; and it will be a day of rejoicing for us because it will also be a day of rejoicing for the Lord.

Feasting in the presence of our enemies – maybe we should invite those who have snickered over our predicaments, or who may have even caused our trials in the past so they, too, can see what our all powerful and all mighty God can really do. We’ll have to pray about that won’t we?

“Surely, this is our God.” What a glorious God! Praises to His majesty!