WILL YOU DINE WITH ME?
02nd Nov 2016
Luke 14: 15-24, records the story of a banquet prepared by God - the invited guests all had excuses and reasons why not to come. The invitation was then extended to the poor and needy, those in the highways and byways stating that the original guests would not be at the gathering.
Many years ago, when reading this parable I felt the pain the Father, who had prepared such a feast, invited many and was now so sad as He learned the limp excuses and refusal of His wonderful offer. Those who turned Him down had no idea of the privilege of such an invitation and had not valued all that had been prepared for them.
I wept uncontrollably as I felt their loss and the disappointment in the heart of the Godhead. So much had been prepared for the guests and their rejection and pathetic excuses were hurtful in the extreme.
Psalm 36:8 “They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them to drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” - speaks of a feast of God’s love, eating our fill, drinking from Eden’s spring water, being bathed in light! All available, all prepared for us to sit down with the ‘lover of our souls’, but the question arises, will you come? Are you too busy, too careworn, too preoccupied?
An old chorus sums up what I am seeing -
“Come and dine,” the Master calleth, “Come and dine”;
You may feast at Jesus’ table all the time;
He who fed the multitude, turned the water into wine,
To the hungry calleth now, “Come and dine.”
by Joyce Sibthorpe
