Promises Promises

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Psalm 23 vv5&6

Its clear from Psalms that David sees God as a king like himself. Just as the kings of his day had vassal kings under them so David recognises himself as a subject king before the LORD. If David has been called to the table of the King of kings his enemies had better not touch him. That God should then anoint him and fill his cup to overflowing should fill the hearts of his enemies with terror for in opposing God's Anointed, the one God has favoured, they oppose God himself.

'Follow' in 'will follow me' literally means to pursue. While his enemies flee, the blessings of God which 'surely' follow on from his anointing will not only be available for him but will pester him till he receives them. But this is far more than a promise to bless. Jesus tells us he is the good shepherd yet, reading Psalm 23, I can't help but see Jesus as the lamb sustained by his shepherd-father on the path to Jerusalem, shadowed by death in Gethsemane and glorified at Golgotha where he was mocked by his enemies.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.*

We are foolish to depend on a promise unless we know the basis on which that promise was made. On February 14, millions of cards will be given, proclaiming undying and everlasting love but there is only one love we can totally depend on - a love not based on emotion, duty, relationship or even devotion but on a covenant, sealed in blood. "Will you still love me tomorrow?" the song asks. "Don't just take my word for it", Jesus says, "see what I did for you."

* Colossians 2:13-15

Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (c) 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission.

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