Some notes I typed from my Bible study this morning...more like ramblings...
The
language of “the table” is a bit vague here.
In the original writing from Psalm 69, “they” are the enemies of the
psalmist. In that psalm, the writer is
asking God go pour out wrath on them and that the “table set before them become
a snare…retribution, and a trap.” It
seems to me that the table set before them is one that is set by God. A pagan sitting at God’s table would suggest
a pagan being confronted with both the truth of who God is and the choice to
submit to God. Those who choose to reject God are doomed. In this sense the table becomes a bad thing
to that person. The table that is God’s
nourishment in the word becomes a snare and a trap. The trap of rejecting God causes them to be
judged for their rejection and they find themselves trapped in the slavery of
guilt and shame. I don’t think it is as
if God has given only specific people this “spirit of stupor”, nor do I believe
that this “spirit of stupor” makes people stupid. When we go back to Psalm 69, the wording is
negative in the sense that God did not give people a sense of understanding
(eyes to see and ears to hear). They
can’t automatically understand the gospel without some measure of desire to
seek it out. Paul makes this a positive
statement in saying that this “non-giving” of understanding is the same as
being given what I would call a “confused spirit” towards spiritual
things. We are automatically numb to the
gospel. We aren’t born into faith and
therefore must be awakened to it by some means.
Something has to happen that causes us to seek out eternity. Something breaks through the fogginess and
“stupor”. I have that line from the
movie Dune in my head where Paul
Atreides constantly hears the phrase “The sleeper must awaken!” in his own
mind. I think this state of not having
eyes to see or ears to hear just means that we are given a totally blank slate
when it comes to the decision to accept Christ.
God has made things so that “the sleeper must awaken” and search out the
truth of Christ. In other words, I might
see and hear something that is overtly Christian in nature, but I have to make
a choice to investigate that and see where it leads. I can SEE something that is overtly Christian
in nature, but I don’t recognize it as explicitly Christian in nature and
pointing towards Jesus. I might just see
that it is different. With my
“non-seeing” eyes, I am attracted to the “otherness” of this thing. Upon investigation, I awaken to the fact that
that this Christian thing (a preacher, a book, a website, a whatever) is
pointing to Jesus. Then my eyes that
were not coerced to see find the truth of Jesus for themselves and this leads
to salvation.
