Who Are You?
Who Are You? Find Out at the Banqueting Table
My eight-year-old, Anna, came into my room in the morning and nuzzled my cheek, cuddling. She said softly, “I don’t know how to explain it, but when I’m with you, what I feel is love. One time when you were sleeping, I saw written here [moving her finger along my cheek], ‘love.’ It was like made out of light or something.”
Wow. My little girl saw the Father’s love literally written on me! When I went to journal this experience, Holy Spirit drove His message home to me even more. Having written down what Anna said, I turned the page to continue writing. Across the entire next side, the creators of this particular journal had splayed the verse, “His banner over me is love!” My eyes grew bigger as my spirit took in His words. Jesus was loving on me with His lavish tenderness.
The reason I share this experience with you is that today He wants to love on you too. Even right now, He wants to draw you into His arms, hold you close, and show you His deep love for you.
“Let’s delve together into the Scripture He was highlighting. “He brought me to the banquet room, and his banner over me is love.”
This verse is for you. He has fashioned a personal banner… just for you. He has spread it gloriously across the sky over you, telling all of creation who you are. Written indelibly there in the heavenly places is the word that expresses the deep core of His heart for you. “Love.” You are deeply, passionately, tenderly, eternally loved.
Let Him speak these words deeply to your heart today. Ingest them. Drink them. Imbibe them. Eat them. Digest them. Assimilate them into the fabric of your being. Let them become the essence of who you are. His words of everlasting, undying devotion are inscribed as a breathtaking proclamation over you, decreeing exactly who you were created to be. His.
Let’s go even deeper. The NET Bible study notes give these attention-grabbing alternate translations for the second half of the verse:
- “He looked at me lovingly.”
- “His intention was love toward me.”
- “His glance upon me is love.”
The NLT captures a beautiful nuance too:
- “He escorts me to the banquet hall; it's obvious how much he loves me.”
I want to drink richly of this glorious love! So I sat here just now and looked at all 50 translations of this verse on my YouVersion app one by one, letting His gentle expression wash over me. That’s what He means by “He brought me to the banquet room.” He wants you and me to come eat. His focused, determined intention toward us is love; this is why He is calling to us, drawing us after Him, enticing us into His banqueting room. He wants us to feast on His love… this is the purpose of the banqueting room!
Do you realize that His generously spread table is what we need the most? When stress presses in, when sadness steals away joy, when adversaries seem to close in on every side, what is His answer? “You prepare a table…” The banqueting room. Come, slip away. He’s beckoning you to recline with Him at His table. Look up into His beautiful eyes. “His glance upon me is love.” He is gazing at you with profound affection. Rest in His arms. Rest… and feast.
“You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing.”
Yes, beloved child, you read that right. A six-course dinner. This is no quick fix, no on-the-go snack, no morsel of love that He wants to feed you. He eagerly desires to teach you how to feast on His love. He has escorted you, drawn you here to this place with Him to give you exactly what you need. To tell your heart that you belong to Him… that He’s got you… that you are His very own… that He will never, ever let you go. To fill that hungry, empty, aching place inside you with His sumptuous goodness. To nurture your famished soul with His intimacy. To feed you… Himself.
Here under His eternal banner of love, an extravagant dinner is served. Will you come to the table?
