Sustenance.
It’s a funny word right? I was the kid that survived on cheerios, chicken fingers and French fries, and peanut butter and jelly for probably the first 6 years of my life. I was so picky. Thankfully my stepfather came into my life and turned that upside down. At nearly every meal, a forkful of something that smelled weird, looked weird, felt funny or had onions in it was shoved in my face and he said, “here, try this!”
As much as I lamented those days then, I confess he is the reason I love food and am willing to be adventurous in my cuisine. I finally stopped resisting when he asked me, “have I ever had you try anything bad?” (maybe limburger cheese.) But it was true. The things he had me try were usually good, and good for me as well!
We have to eat to survive. Some of us enjoy that journey – maybe too much – and will try anything once! And some of us get through it simply because we have to, sticking to the basics.
And so we get caught up in the business of surviving – we must eat. So then, what will we eat? Will it be fresh produce, packaged cereal, or homemade oatmeal in the morning? Will we go gluten free, sugar free, fat free, or cholesterol free – or say, screw it all, I’ll eat what I want!
As much as I want to have a bountiful, all-natural diet, I am often in the last camp of late.
My personal opinion has bounced between many different camps on the matter of food, what I should eat and why I am eating it. I didn’t end up with a thriving 8 pound baby on a diet of French fries, I’ll say that much. But there have been times that the question “what should I eat?” has been such a burden to me, I throw up my hands in despair.
Then I reach for the nearest package of Oreos.
One morning I realized… I don’t spend nearly as much effort thinking about my spiritual food as I do my physical food. I crack open the Bible when I can, usually follow a reading plan. Depending on if the baby is asleep or not, I might have time to write and reflect. To engage scripture. But many times, I just don’t. I spiritually snack. Even then, the bits and pieces that I take in, well, don’t taste very good sometimes…
Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “and he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know […] that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
In this entire passage, God is reminding Israel of what he did for them in the wilderness and, in light of that, what they learned about how they should live. In reliance upon him.
See, in all of Israel’s grumbling and wandering, God didn’t forsake them, but instead continued to try to draw them to himself. He forgave them over and over again for silly stuff. Now sometimes there was punishment, yes. But he never abandoned or wiped them out entirely. When he fed them manna in the desert, he was feeding them of himself. Literally, it was bread from heaven!
That was probably, like, the perfect food.
All too often, I will dismiss a Scripture on a dull day, saying, “sure that was good, but it didn’t “do anything” for me today.”
The word of God never returns void. It always accomplishes its purpose.
To restore.
To convict.
To encourage.
To teach.
To rebuke.
God gives us more than food for sustenance. He gives us himself. First in Christ and his death and resurrection for our forgiveness and reconciliation – amen! And then in the Holy Spirit to always be with us, teach us and guide us.
Time in the Word is just as important as time spent couponing, meal planning, going out to eat and grocery shopping. Because we cannot live on physical bread alone. Our spiritual man needs sustenance too.
His Word is to be our food, our daily bread, as the psalmist says. Sometimes, that bread might not taste so great… but maybe that means it is all the more necessary to our diet.
Has He ever had you try anything that wasn’t, ultimately, good?
The Stay At Home Wife 