Have you ever noticed how instinctively we assume being in the presence of God requires being put together first? Most of us feel it. Before we pray. Before we repent. Before we worship. Before we come to this Table of the Lord. We think we need to be ready, emotionally calm. We need to be strong. We need to be moral. We need to be worthy. But what makes a person worthy of God’s presence? Is it repentance? Sincerity? Performance? “Spiritual momentum”? Does grace require worthiness, or does grace create it? Can the presence of God ever be dangerous for God’s people? In the OT, the presence of God was powerful enough to bless, but holy enough to kill. People mishandled holy things and died for it. Priests trembled. So what happens when an unarmed, hungry, desperate, imperfect man, who lies to a priest and violates ceremonial law, walks right into the presence of God & eats holy bread that he has no right to eat? What does God do with him? Lightning? Correction? Judgment? In 1 Sam 21, David eats bread he shouldn’t & lives. If we’re paying attention, that moment is a preview of something far greater, it’s a preview of the Table set before us this morning. Because at the Lord’s Table, the same question stands: Who gets to feed on the presence of God? David’s story is going to answer that question for us and prepare us to answer it as we come to Jesus’ Table today.
