I had this thought today about eating and prayer. Seems logical, to me anyway. Nowadays, there’s a belief that we’ve been
getting it wrong with eating three times a day.
There’s even room to say that maybe we ought to be eating more, say, six
total meals, instead. That would be more
like grazing throughout the day, instead of only eating large portions at
certain times of the day. Today, I only ate one meal. It is after eating this meal and not feeling
too well that I had a thought about the connection between prayer and
meals. How awful that felt to wait all
day and then only to eat dinner. If I feel discomfort, I’m sure that this
cannot be a healthy choice, either. That
discomfort and poor choice reminded me of Deuteronomy 8, where God talks about
what we live on.
“So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”- Deuteronomy 8:3
I have loved this chapter since my
sophomore year of college, but I thought about living on bread alone and living
on the words that proceed from the Lord.
It is kind of profound to think that is what we live on. I mean, really. Alive in Christ and that is
our way of being sustained and satiated.
Who could forget Jesus’ own words about who
He is in regards to food.
“but whoever drinks
of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I
shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into
everlasting life.”- John 4:14
Jesus is the Living Water, and we have the
ability to draw from Him whenever we choose. There’s no well we’re waiting
for. The Holy Spirit dwells within every
son and daughter and is there for the drawing.
To even address what was said way back in
Deuteronomy, there’s another identity stated by Jesus in John 6.
“Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I
say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from
heaven and gives life to the world.”Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread
always.” And Jesus said to them, “I
am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who
believes in Me shall never thirst.”- John 6:32-35
After reading everything, we see the dangers
of eating once a day in regards to food. But, I am becoming more aware of the
real dangers of only eating of the Bread of Life once a day, and drinking from
the Living Water once a day. We ought to be eating and drinking spiritually
more than just once a day, and continually at that. Meeting at the well and at the table of God’s
Presence all day, and frequently at that.
