A Continual Feast: You Are Invited!

“Every day is a terrible day for a miserable person, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast” (Prov. 15:15, NOG).

Wow. Could there be a more dramatic contrast than the one encapsulated in our verse for today? We have presented to us: a life made up of unending terrible days, versus a joyful banquet that never stops. Looks like we get to pick. I know which one I’m going for!

What do I mean by this? I mean that Holy Spirit has spread a table for us in the presence of our enemies (Ps. 23:5). It’s up to us whether we pull up our chair at His table each day. Here on the earth, the presence of spiritual enemies is a frequent thing. In heaven we won’t have to deal with them anymore, but meanwhile, they are around regularly.

So it’s in their presence that Holy Spirit spreads this continual feast for us. He doesn’t wait for them to go away. He just sets up a delightful banquet for us right in their midst. Then He makes them watch while He feeds us His goodness and His gladness.

Every time we choose joy, we are taking our place at His table. Every time we choose a posture of trust and rejoicing during trials, we are picking up our fork to dig in. Every time we thank Him for His unceasing kindness to us, we start ingesting “the richest of fare.” Every time we lift up our eyes to Him and begin to exalt Him in the middle of a battle, we find ourselves inside His banquet bubble once again. The enemies around us recede into the background. It’s just us and Jesus, and His love pouring into our spirits.

A cheerful heart does, indeed, have a continual feast. What a liberating way to live life on a fallen planet! You know, my friend, we never even have to leave the table. A continual feast – He really means that.

I recognize that there are a whole of a lot of days here on Earth that look like this: “…The fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines… the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food… there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls…” (Hab. 3:17, NIV). The prophet Habakkuk was acknowledging the painful reality around him with these words.

However, he didn’t stay there with his focus. He certainly could have. It would have been the easiest thing to decide that he was in a season where “every day is a terrible day” (see our intro verse again on that one). Really, that default heart posture takes the least amount of effort. We certainly can pick it with the free will that God gave us. My friend, misery is an available option for anyone that prefers it.

But Habakkuk didn’t. In the very next verse, he bursts out with, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior”!

Habakkuk was coming to the feast. He recognized that although there were no physical figs or grapes or steak or lambchops to be had, yet there was a banquet accessible to him. In the presence of God, there is fullness of joy. Always. On every single day – even the most painful ones. Do you hear Habakkuk making a choice there? “I will rejoice! I will be joyful in Him!”

One more observation about this. Yes, we choose joy each day. At the same time, we need Holy Spirit’s empowering. Habakkuk went onto acknowledge this with his concluding thought: “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights” (v. 19). The secret to Habakkuk’s chosen joy was that God empowered it.

As he chose rejoicing, Holy Spirit gave him deer’s feet. As he fixed his gaze on God, he found himself once again on the heights. He found himself feasting in the midst of his enemies; feasting even during famine. As he sat down at God’s banquet, the Lord anointed his head with oil – the oil of joy! “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” (Ps. 23:5, NIV).

How about you? Are there enemies all around? No matter. The table is spread. There’s a place setting there marked with your name. Will you come? If you will pull up a seat, He will feed you with the goodness of His presence. He will pour His oil of joy on your head.

Yes, if you will choose rejoicing today, He will enable you to stand on the heights!

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If the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy, are we living in the fullness of His Kingdom? Why or why not, do you think?