Many of us sat down to the beginnings of a feast on Friday. We decided that we wanted to know Jesus better this year by reading his words to us. We opened our Bibles out of a new or continuing commitment to taste and see that the Lord is good. 

Some of us will consume large helpings at a time, gaining an overview of the grand sweep of redemption’s story. Others of us will take smaller portions, teasing out the hidden seasonings and savoring each bite.

It is a bounty, this book. An embarrassment of riches spread across our laps. It is a grand invitation to know the God who shouts with thunder, whose voice shatters the cedars; who woos and whispers; who weeps and pleads.

This is the God we meet in the morning stillness or the hurried lunchtime moments, during nap times and coffee breaks or bedtime preparations. He meets us there, the Word made flesh disclosing himself before our eyes. He calls us away from the nets of our ordinary lives to the wild adventure that is life in him.

These words examine us; confront us; comfort and strengthen us. They are life and bread and living water. They counsel us, delight us, and free us from ourselves. They teach us to stand up, stand strong, stand in the gap, and stand in wonder.

They are sweet as honey, light to our path; hope and peace, conviction and glory.

They are Truth.

Come to the table, all you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, you who are broken or lonely or worn down by life. Come, all you who long for more; for meaning; for purpose. Come, you who long to know and be known; you with your anger and questions and fears. Come and feast. You will find all your soul hungers for at this table. At this banquet, spread for you.