Soul Food
January 5, 2010 by aubrey
Filed under Devotionals
Hunger is a good thing. Here in America, food is in such abundant supply that most of us rarely if ever really get hungry. If I come home at the end of the day and say, “I’m starving. What’s for dinner?” my wife knows not to take my words too seriously. Often, especially during the holiday season when feasting is the order of the day, I’m more apt to respond to the offer of food, “I guess I could eat something.” Hunger is good, not because without it we wouldn’t eat (I’m evidence to the contrary), but because a hungry man enjoys and appreciates food far more than a man who is not.
If hunger is a good thing, spiritual hunger is an excellent thing.
One of the things Job said to his critics was this: “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” (23:12)
Jeremiah wrote, “Your words were found, and I ate them….” (15:16)
And of course the Lord Jesus, who really was starving at the time, answered Satan’s suggestion to turn stones into bread with, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)
Some people wake up with an appetite; they wake up hungry.
I don’t. But I do wake up with a spiritual appetite. When I was a young person, like most young people I liked to sleep in as long as possible. But as I age (and hopefully mature spiritually), I find myself rising earlier because I wake up hungry. What gets me out of bed in the morning is my spiritual appetite.
Hunger can be specific. When that happens we call it a craving. Expectant mothers are notorious for their curious cravings. A person may crave an orange, a piece of bread, a steak, chocolate or even a pickle. (A pregnant woman might even want a chocolate pickle!) A specific hunger may be my body’s way of telling me that it needs a certain kind of food, a particular sort of nutrition. Just as there are a variety of foods in the natural realm, so it is also in the world of the spirit.
Sometimes, I crave Comfort Food. I hunger for the devotional comfort of the Psalms. At other times I have a taste for what I call Brain Food - the practical insights and wisdom of books like Proverbs & Ecclesiastes. Often I long for the strong theological meat of the Torah in the Old Testament and the Epistles in the New: Solid Food that, like protein, sticks to my ribs. I have even been known to enjoy Baby Food, the milk of the Word - food processed by another person and spoon fed to me in the form of a lesson, a sermon or a devotional. (I once knew a man who ate baby food every morning. His quiet time consisted of reading a short devotional. This man was a successful CEO, but like a child, he began his day by eating what someone else had chewed on and digested.) If all you eat is baby food, how will you ever grow up to be a man? Sometimes, but probably not as often as I should, I crave Health Food - the not-very-good-tasting-but-good-for-me words of the Prophets; the broccoli, carrots and peas of the Scripture feast. And sometimes, not usually in the morning but sometime during the day, I like the boost of energy Snack Food can give me. (The trouble is, many Christians try to live on snack food: a verse here, a sweet little promise there. They never seem to sit down at the table and eat a full meal. I knew a teenage who carried his lunch to school, and though his mother kept the refrigerator and pantry stocked with nutritious fare, he usually carried nothing but snack foods: maybe three bags of chips and a sweet drink!) People who try to live on snack food usually end up with heart trouble.
But the older I get, the more I find I crave the words of Jesus Himself, the Whole Food of the Gospels. In the last few years I think I may have spent more time with Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John than in all my previous years put together. I wish someone had told me when I was young that it is impossible to spend too much time in the Gospels. It is not for nothing that we are called “Christians,” and if I am going to know anything about the Word of God, it ought to be the words and works of the Lord Jesus.
I’m not much on New Year’s resolutions. But let me challenge you to eat more this year.
God has provided a veritable banquet, the table spread every morning with exactly what you will need for the challenges of that day: daily bread. Arise and eat, for it is all SOUL FOOD.
AAJ
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