{"id":356,"date":"2010-06-15T14:53:59","date_gmt":"2010-06-15T19:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newlifedesign.wordpress.com\/?p=280"},"modified":"2010-06-15T14:53:59","modified_gmt":"2010-06-15T19:53:59","slug":"you-prepare-a-table-before-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/2010\/06\/15\/you-prepare-a-table-before-me\/","title":{"rendered":"You Prepare A Table Before Me…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s begin by defining “Table” =<\/strong> a high usually flat topped plateaus of the continent.\u00a0 Classic example is Table Mountain, near Cape Town, which is world renowned.\u00a0\u00a0 They are also known as alp lands or tablelands.\u00a0 These are very sought after by the shepherds.\u00a0 Another word commonly used to refer to these particular places is \u201cmesas\u201d \u2013 the Spanish word for table.\u00a0 So it may be seen that what David referred to as a table was actually the entire high summer range.\u00a0This is when the Sheep are reaching the high mountain ranges where they will spend their summer.<\/p>\n

Early in the spring even before all the snow has melted the Shepherd will travel all the way up to the high tableland to prepare the range for the sheep.\u00a0 Several things must be done.\u00a0First there is the preparation of the grassy fields.\u00a0 The shepherd will spend countless hours on his hands and knees looking for poisonous weeds like the white cammas.\u00a0 If these are spotted they must be pulled up by the roots.\u00a0 These could prove fatal especially for the young lambs.\u00a0 Just a few bites or even a nibble would cause the sheep to become paralyzed and stiffen up like wood and then the sheep would succumb to all the toxins of poisons in his body from the plant and die.\u00a0 The shepherd will take drastic steps to avoid these plants or just eradicate the entire grazing range of them.<\/p>\n

Second, he will make a trip just before the sheep arrive in order to do more preparation of the tableland for them.\u00a0 He takes along a supply of salt and minerals to be distributed over the range at strategic spots for the benefit of the sheep during the summer.\u00a0 The intelligent, careful manager will also decide well ahead of time where his camps will be located so the sheep have the best bed grounds.\u00a0 He goes over the range carefully to determine how vigorous the grass and upland vegetation is.\u00a0 At this time he decides whether some glades and basins can be used only lightly whereas other slopes and meadows may be grazed more heavily.<\/p>\n

This is exactly what David has in mind when he penned the phrase, \u201cHe prepares a table before me\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 He has gone on ahead of us and prepared the way for us.\u00a0 Here is a clear parallel of the Christian life.\u00a0 Like sheep and especially lambs, we somehow feel that we have to try everything that comes our way.\u00a0 We have to taste this thing and that, sampling everything just to see what it\u2019s like.\u00a0 And we may very well know that some things are deadly.\u00a0 They can do us no good.\u00a0 They can be most destructive.\u00a0 Still somehow, we give them a whirl anyway.\u00a0 Christ has gone before us and knows that what is out there is destructive and that is why he warns us and makes provision for us if we will just take it.<\/p>\n

Another thing on the Shepherd\u2019s mind is attacks from wild animals that would seek to do harm while they are grazing on the tableland.\u00a0 This takes a watchful and careful eye from the Shepherd.\u00a0 Prey like coyotes, wolves and cougars are quick and very stealth.\u00a0 You will never see the animal but all the sudden you see the damage it has brought about.\u00a0 They will lie in wait and watch the sheep looking for the best opportunity to attack hoping to stampede and scatter the sheep knowing that one little straggler will be caught off guard and they will catch it.\u00a0 With many raids it can look like the cougars would almost play with them like a cat would with a mouse just before it kills it.<\/p>\n

This is very time consuming for the Shepherd and is full of drama and danger. \u00a0He could lose his life in the process of securing safety for the sheep and He knows this.\u00a0 If there are animals like this present the \u00a0 will have to go hunt them down and kill them so that the flock can rest in safety and refuge.<\/p>\n

It would do all of us well to walk a little closer to Christ because that is the place of sure safety and security.<\/p>\n

The provision of our Good Shepherd in all this is that Christ; our great Good Shepherd has Himself already gone before us into every situation and every extremity that we might encounter.\u00a0 We are told emphatically that He was tempted in all points like as we are.\u00a0 We know He entered fully and completely and very intimately into the life of men upon our planet.\u00a0\u00a0 He has known our sufferings, experienced our sorrows and endured our struggles in this life; He was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief.\u00a0 Because of this He understands us; He has totally identified Himself with humanity.\u00a0 He has, therefore a care and compassion for us beyond our ability to grasp.\u00a0 No wonder He makes every possible provision to insure that when we have to cope with Satan, sin or self in that situation before; He is in it now again with us and because of this, the prospects of our preservation are excellent.<\/p>\n

It is this attitude of rest in Him, of confidence in His care, of relaxation as we realize His presence in the picture that can make the Christian\u2019s life one of calm and quiet confidence.\u00a0 The Christian walk can thus become a mountain top experience-a tableland trip-simply because we are in the care and control of Christ, who has been over all our enemies who would demoralize and destroy us if they could.<\/p>\n

We are going to have trials and tribulations even on the tableland but Christ has gone ahead of us and made provision for our victory.<\/p>\n

Question:\u00a0 When I come to the Lord\u2019s Table for communion \u2013 a feast of thanksgiving for His love and care do I fully appreciate what it cost Him to prepare this table for me?<\/p>\n

Phil. 2:5-8 – This meant laying aside His splendor, His position, and His prerogatives as the perfect and faultless One.\u00a0 He knew He would be exposed to terrible privation, to ridicule, to false accusation, to rumor, to gossip, and to malicious charges that branded Him as a glutton, drunkard, friend of sinners, and even an imposter.\u00a0 It entailed losing His reputation.\u00a0 It would involve physical suffering, mental anguish, and spiritual agony.<\/p>\n

In short, His coming to earth as the Christ, as Jesus of Nazareth, was a straightforward case of utter self-sacrifice that culminated in the cross of Calvary.\u00a0 The laid-down life, the poured out blood were the supreme symbols of total selflessness.\u00a0 This was love.\u00a0 This was God.\u00a0 This was divinity in action, delivering men from their own utter selfishness, their own stupidity, and their own suicidal instincts as lost sheep unable to help themselves.<\/p>\n

In all of this there is an amazing mystery.\u00a0 No man will ever be able fully to fathom its implications.\u00a0 It is bound up inexorable with the concept of God\u2019s divine love of self-sacrifice which is so foreign to most of us who are so self-centered.\u00a0 At best we can only grasp feebly the incredible concept of a perfect person, a sinless one being willing actually to be made sin that we who are so full of faults, selfish self-assertion, and suspicion might be set free from sin and self to live a new, free, fresh, abundant life of righteousness.<\/p>\n

Jesus told us Himself that He had come that we might have life and have it more abundantly.\u00a0 Just as the sheep man is thrilled beyond words to see his sheep thriving on the high, rich summer range it is one of the highlights of his whole year, so my Shepherd is immensely pleased when He sees me flourish on the tablelands of a noble, lofty life that He has made possible for me.<\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 This is why he had to come and die for us and we couldn\u2019t die for ourselves \u2013 we are so full of sin, selfishness and self consumption and our own comfort; none of us would have been willing to lay our lives down and be the sacrifice for sin-not even for ourselves much less for anyone else.\u00a0 John 15.\u00a0 Christ knows that it is in the self sacrifice that we find life so now our sanctification process is about teaching us to deny self, sin, Satan and lay our lives down for others.\u00a0 I think this is another reason why we will have trials and tribulation here on this earth.\u00a0 Christ is teaching us an appreciation of the ultimate sacrifice as well as getting us less and less attached to ourselves and looking more and more like a Phil. 2 attitude.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s begin by defining “Table” = a high usually flat topped plateaus of the continent.\u00a0 Classic example is Table Mountain, near Cape Town, which is world renowned.\u00a0\u00a0 They are also known as alp lands or tablelands.\u00a0 These are very sought after by the shepherds.\u00a0 Another word commonly used to refer to these particular places is \u201cmesas\u201d \u2013 the Spanish word for table.\u00a0 So it may be seen that what David referred to as a table was actually the entire high summer range.\u00a0This is when the Sheep are reaching the high mountain ranges where they will spend their summer. Early in the spring even before all the snow has melted the Shepherd will travel all the way up to the high tableland to prepare the range for the sheep.\u00a0 Several things must be done.\u00a0First there is the preparation of the grassy fields.\u00a0 The shepherd will spend countless hours on his hands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}