Hello siblings
What’s our relationship with food, and how does it correlate to our spiritual lives? This question ought to be in each of our thoughts as we consider Today’s Holy Nougat
Exodus 16:19-20 CEVDCI
[19] Moses told them not to keep any overnight. [20] Some of them disobeyed, but the next morning what they kept was stinking and full of worms, and Moses was angry.
Spirituality and Food
Siblings, more and more as I reflect on this Nougat, I am struck by the fact that our attitude toward food can be a serious deterrent to our walk with God. I agree, the text is primarily about obedience, and we should not miss that important point, but there’s that undertone, rather a sub-theme about food that I believe we should explore.
Food in and of itself is just that, food. It is neither good nor evil. Of course, if one has allergies or is intolerant to certain types of food, our approach to food shifts. Food can be our enemy, resulting in hospitalisation, or death. For some of us, food triggers fear, as we consider the potential it has to transform our wellbeing.
Yet, others have very positive relationships with food. No allergies bother them, so they eat whatever they like, wherever and whenever they like. Even with allergies, many of us have particular foods that give us joy or a sense of comfort. That’s good. Yet, all I’ve mentioned doesn’t really address the issue of food and spirituality.
The Bible speaks about food offered *by* God, as well as food offered *to* gods. However, did we notice that the Bible also mentions food offered to us by the ‘_god of this world_’? That’s where things become … spiritually concerning.
Genesis 1 presents us with the ideal – before creating humanity, God (Elohim) put everything in place for us all, including food. In Genesis 2, we see the story being redacted to include clear instructions about food. It is even accompanied by a threat of consequences. By Genesis 3, food is offered to humanity by the god of this world, and it becomes a source of temptation and defiance, not just nutrition. In many spaces, we count the response to the temptation of food as the original sin.
Interestingly, in Luke 4, we find that the Second Adam, our Creator who became human, was also tempted by the god of this world to eat. Do you find it uncanny that the temptation combines the first temptation ever faced by humanity with the major miracle/temptation of the Exodus?
Hmmn
You might also have remembered that Y’shua referred to Himself as the Bread of Life, or Living Bread (see John 6:35). So when the devil tried to get Y’shua to turn stones into bread in Luke 4:3, the devil deliberately missed a few points.
A. As the Living Bread Y’shua didn’t need to turn anything to bread – His food (meat) was to do God’s will (see John 4:34). Although natural hunger would have sailed Him, He was not controlled by His hunger; not was He inclined to be ‘_like God_’ (see Genesis 3, and the temptations that followed in Luke 4), as He was wholly confident in His identity as the *Son of God*. Y’shua did not yield to the god of this world, nor the temptation presented by the food.
B. Y’shua, having been with YHWH God in the wilderness with the Children of Israel, was extremely aware that YHWH didn’t turn stones into bread. Rather YHWH rained bread from Heaven, or – for our literalists – bread appeared on the ground. At best, the bread was atop the stones; the stones were not transformed into bread.
These points are critical in helping us see the delicate balance of food and spirituality in the Bible. While God offers food for our nutrition, it is the Bread of Life that we need.
Having provided a foundation for our Nougat, let’s move from those two cited examples to the wilderness context.
You see, back in verse 3, the Children of Israel publicly yearned for the ‘fleshpots of Egypt’. In that instance, fleshpots was literally referring to food, a vast diversity of food, and not all life’s indulgences and excesses. We realise, however, that YHWH had rescued them from more than physical bondage. YHWH was calling them to spiritual freedom, which included obedience – *even to the extent of their choice of food and drink*.
*Therefore, their desire for the food of old was tantamount to a rejection of God’s ways*! Followed by their hoarding, it suggested that they also didn’t trust God to meet their every need.
Self-Check
What does our food relationship reveal about our relationship with God?
Digging Deeper
Siblings, it seems ironic that both the first and second Adam were tempted by food, and that the Children of Israel craved the wrong food – almost to their detriment. 1 Corinthians 6:13 tells us that excesses (i.e., a life of indulgence in the fleshpots) have the potential to destroy us. I believe that if the god of this world, the enemy of our souls, tempted Adam, the Children of Israel, and Y’shua with food, it is not impossible for a repeat effort in each of our lives. While we may eat to live, we are not obliged to live to overeat.
Y’shua’s response to the god of this world is instructive for us all. He was unequivocal. Humanity does not only need regular bread for survival (so there’s no need to hoard); but we need the Word of God – our Living Bread. How about that?
Today, when YHWH calls us away from the fleshpots of our old lives, let’s not look back. Rather, let’s embrace the opportunity for YHWH to supply our needs, and, led by God’s Spirit by day and night, eat of our Living Bread daily, so that we may enter, eventually, into the Land of Promise redeemed and restored.
Point to Ponder
What’s our relationship with food, and how does it enhance or hinder our spiritual lives? Selah
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May all we seek be found in Christ
