As we continue to walk with David through Psalm 23, he says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” In using the word “table,” David pictured what we would call a “tableland,” which is an elevated and fairly level region, a plateau, a perfect place for summer grazing.
When I think of “tableland,” I can’t help but think of my wife’s home town. Her home town was named from the Spanish word Mesa—meaning “tableland”—because it was descriptive of the town’s location on the high plateau of the South Plains. In the early twentieth century, their first committee considered two possible names for the town—La Mesa or Lamesa. While some preferred the Spanish version, the committee ultimately decided on Lamesa (pronounced la-mee-suh) to differentiate the town from La Mesa, California.
Now, back to David’s Psalm. We should recognize that these tablelands don’t just appear on the horizon fully developed. No—it takes a lot of work to convert plateaus into pastures. They must be developed, and the groundwork takes years, generations, even centuries.
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