What’s the difference between a feast and a meal? The first thing that pops into my mind is that feasts are BIG. But there’s more to it that that, isn’t there? A feast is not just a lot of food; it’s a lot of good food. A meal may be merely about sustenance. A feast is about succulence. A meal may be bolted down in a hurry, in the course of doing something else. A feast is meant to be enjoyed, lingered over.
In Psalm 91 (a top ten for many), it says, beginning in verse 5:
“You will not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day; nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand my fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look…”
Notice how it acknowledges that the terror, the arrow, the pestilence, and the destruction are real. And notice how many, even many near us, will be victims to these things. The Lord is promising protection right in the mid-dle of terrorism, disease, war, the results of living in a sin-ravaged world in general. And we are not blind to these things, for “. …with your eyes you shall look” But ONLY with your eyes. We cannot effectively minister to this broken world around us if we remain willfully ignorant of what’s go-ing on around us, but we risk slipping into despair if we meditate on the horror. Like Peter, we get our eyes off Jesus and the water we’ve been walking on begins to suck us down.
Look at the end of this Psalm, verses 14-16:
Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him upon high because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”
Great, comforting promises, but it gets better. See where it says “. …show him My salvation.”? A more accurate translation there is “cause him to feast his eyes on My salvation.” Once again, there is no doubt that if all God did when He saved us was to rescue us from hell, that would be more than we deserve, more than enough to praise Him eter-nally for. But the salvation He offers is a feast for the eyes! LOOK what the Lord has done! This is what we meditate on; we don’t merely look with our eyes; we don’t take a quick glance for information. We gaze upon it with all its promises of provision, protection, healing, deliver-ance, and victory! We are meant to enjoy our salvation, even as we care for the hurting and look upon the darkness around us. Because the darkness is only around us; we are in the Light.
