“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies….” The 23rd Psalm
It was a huge surprise to me when I realized this for a
comforting promise. Part of the comfort came in learning who “mine enemies”
are, and that they are inside me, exactly where my God lives.
He has prepared a table before me in the presence of my
enemies, which to me is always fear masquerading as pride, greed,
lust, anger, gluttony, envy, sloth and any other negative I’m feeling. When one
or more start to battle for my attention (at my table), I get to react not at
all…just turn my attention immediately to God and remember, “Not my battle,
God…and I thank You.” (I said that I get to; I did not say that I always do…but
if I want peace, I always have to come to that, eventually.)
The other part of the comfort is knowing exactly who “mine
enemies” are not.
They are not people. There are people who love me and people
who don’t, and at any given time those who love me can feel like my enemies,
but that’s usually because we’re each certain we are right on some
irrelevant matter. We get to merge our opinions until we both feel right
and good about our opinion.
Those who don’t love me are life’s emery board…I get to rub
against that board until I’m smooth and non-resistant, meaning I no longer
react to my stuff that I see in them…and we each move on.
Thank you.
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