Imagine going on a remote camping trip, only to realize you forgot to bring along food. Miles from civilization, your only option is to forage for food in its natural habitat. Except that there is very little vegetation in the desert wilderness you find yourself in. Starvation becomes a very real possibility.
Such was the situation the exiled Israelites found themselves in following their miraculous deliverance from Egyptian captivity. But, you know the story: God wonderfully provided sustenance from heaven during their forty-year wilderness wanderings. And, near the end of his life, Moses reminded God's people of God's miraculous provision, and the important lessons to be learned from it.
"He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 8:3)
The point? Don't let the provision detract from the Provider. The true food is the Provider, not the bread He provides.
This lesson was certainly not lost on God's Son. Amidst hunger pangs from a forty-day fast, in the face of the great tempter, these were the very words He used to deflect the first great temptation (Matthew 4:4). And, this no doubt factored in to what He taught His disciples to pray: "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11). The model prayer is a reminder that the bread we must seek is that which only the Father can provide.
Jesus challenges us to consider that life is much more than the food and provisions we work so hard to acquire: "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25) His perspective - and the proper perspective - is best summed up in His words, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." (John 4:34)
It is too small a thing to only live and work to provide three squares a day. When our primary focus becomes that of Jesus' - "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." - it is then that we truly live. And it is then that the great truth of Matthew 6:33 rings true in our lives: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
May we today find and work for the food that is truly food.
Steve
©Steve Taylor, 2011
Such was the situation the exiled Israelites found themselves in following their miraculous deliverance from Egyptian captivity. But, you know the story: God wonderfully provided sustenance from heaven during their forty-year wilderness wanderings. And, near the end of his life, Moses reminded God's people of God's miraculous provision, and the important lessons to be learned from it.
"He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 8:3)
The point? Don't let the provision detract from the Provider. The true food is the Provider, not the bread He provides.
This lesson was certainly not lost on God's Son. Amidst hunger pangs from a forty-day fast, in the face of the great tempter, these were the very words He used to deflect the first great temptation (Matthew 4:4). And, this no doubt factored in to what He taught His disciples to pray: "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11). The model prayer is a reminder that the bread we must seek is that which only the Father can provide.
Jesus challenges us to consider that life is much more than the food and provisions we work so hard to acquire: "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25) His perspective - and the proper perspective - is best summed up in His words, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." (John 4:34)
It is too small a thing to only live and work to provide three squares a day. When our primary focus becomes that of Jesus' - "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." - it is then that we truly live. And it is then that the great truth of Matthew 6:33 rings true in our lives: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
May we today find and work for the food that is truly food.
Steve
©Steve Taylor, 2011
posted by steve @ 9:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home