Skip to main content

Food that is Life-Giving and Life-Sustaining

In my previous post, I wrote about how the Lord promised to give strength to Israel to go in and conquer the land.  But the strength came from an unusual source, it came as they obeyed the words of the Lord:  “Soon you will cross the Jordan River, and if you obey the laws and teachings I'm giving you today, you will be strong enough to conquer the land.”  (Deut 11:8)

I also wrote that we are not part of those to whom that strength was given in order to go in and conquer the land.  Nonetheless, it is important to obey God’s word.  We can see that from the opposite, that is when we disobey, our strength can be dried up:  “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up.”  (Ps 32:4)

Normally, in order for our bodies to function properly and effectively, we need fuel and that fuel is food.  And without the fuel, we would have no strength. Yet there is a food that is necessary, not just for strength, but for life:  “And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers 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.”  (Deut 8:3)

I don’t normally use quotes from other sources in my posts but I thought this quote from Got Questions (website) says it so much better than I ever could:

“It is not by bread alone that we live, but by everything that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord—that is, anything and everything that God chooses to give us. God alone is the real source of life and everything in that life for His people (John 15:1-5, John 14:6).  He is our all in all.  God’s Word, the Scriptures, is life-giving and life-sustaining.”

The spiritual food that we really need is every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Such words are both life-giving and life-sustaining.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle. Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida .  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value? We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value? Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent. I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it.  The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for...

Don't Get Tripped Up

I do enjoy traveling and I keep an eye out for good prices. I also enjoy looking at trends in travel. For a while, the travel industry focused their advertising on taking those trips that might be on your bucket list.   That faded a bit and I started seeing ads about taking the trip of a lifetime. I guess both those campaigns have been waning since I’ve been seeing information about taking an “epic” trip.   Recently I noticed the phrase “unforgettable trip” in advertising.   More recently, I’ve been seeing promotions about taking “sustainable” trips and even “reconnecting to our roots” trips. As I’ve been pondering these advertising campaigns, I thought I’d consider what their ideas encompass and then look at them from a spiritual perspective: 1.   “ Bucket list trips ” are based on a list of the experiences a person might hope to have before they “kick the bucket” (i.e. die).   While I can certainly come up with a bucket list of trips, I’m thinking a bu...

Above My Pay Grade!

We like things that we can study, know and understand.  Sometimes we find it difficult to accept that there are things that might be hidden from our knowledge and understanding. The Scriptures indicate that there are some things hidden by design:  “The Lord our God keeps certain things hidden. But he makes other things known to us and to our children forever. He does it so we can obey all the words of this law.”  (Deut 29:29) Some versions of the Bible translate the hidden things as “secret things”.  Regardless, there are things which have been revealed and things which are kept hidden from us and remain secret. We may chafe at having to deal with the fact that some things remain hidden, but that’s often when faith and trust come in.  The Psalmist wrote:   “O Lord , my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.”  (Ps 131:1) The Psalmist seem to realize that th...