by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Joy in the Midst of the Chaos

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

My family didn’t take many vacations when I was growing up, I’m not sure that many people our family knew did. But we did go on picnics, especially to Leaburg Lake up the McKenzie River from Eugene, Oregon.

The Eugene Water & Electric Board had a hydroelectric dam on the river that formed a narrow lake where they also created a park. It was a beautiful park (now Lloyd Park) with tall fir trees, a baseball field, and plenty of places to fish.

My grandparents often arrived at the picnic first to secure the best picnic table available. Though we all brought food to share, my grandparents had their portion ready by the time we arrived.

There was a table prepared for ALL of us.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…”
Psalm 23:5a English Standard Version

God has set a place for you at his table.

God has arranged a table before all of us even as we are surrounded by enemies this side of the grave. Many of us feel the effects of a world that appears to be in chaos. Everyday we hear of storms ripping cities apart. Everyday we hear reports of lives lost in war. Everyday we hear of our nation being torn apart by our differences.

In the midst of this chaos we know that we have a place prepare for us at God’s table. It is a table where God’s family gathers; where we laugh through our tears, where we sing through our anxiety, and where we dance through our pain.

This picnic, this feast, that we enjoy in the presence of our enemies is nothing compared to the feast that waits for us.

“On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.

He will swallow up death forever…“
Isaiah 25:6–8a English Standard Version

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