Last weekend, my church held a one day seminar on Biblical Meditation by Mike Bullmore, pastor of Crossway Community Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I was only able to make it to the morning sessions but something Mike Bullmore said in the second session, particularly impressed upon my heart.
He read from Deuteronomy 8:1-3.
The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers.
And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 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.
Commenting on this passage, Mike Bullmore caught my attention when he made this vital point: "we are not made for bread".
The passage tells us that God led the Israelites through the wilderness to humble them. At times, He even allowed them to go hungry, only so that He might satisfy them with manna. He did this to show the Israelites that they were not made to be satisfied by physical food alone, but by the very word of God. They were created to be satisfied by God Himself.
We need food, water, shelter, clothing and many other physical things. We are also given many things, simply to enjoy - good books, loving relationships, fruitful work, relaxing vacations, Disney World, summer picnics, etc... But, we ought to remember that we were not made for these things.
Dear friends, we're not made for bread.
If you'd like hear to the entire second session on Biblical Meditation, here's the link.
10 comments:
We are made to be satisfied by God himself. I agree completely.
But don't you think that satisfaction comes to us through many avenues--Bible study, prayer, meditation. And food for which we are thankful, relationships that honor God, and work that glorifies him?
(And speaking of Disney World, I'm interviewing the president of Disney Parks in two weeks!)
Mark,
Yes, we are indeed satisfied by many things - prayer, meditation, food, work, etc...
But what struck me as simple, yet profound is that we weren't created for these things, though we need and enjoy them. It's so easy for me to forget in the midst of my working, eating, drinking, vacationing, reading...just life.
It's a matter of purpose - we were created to be satisfied by Him...it's just another way to say - we were created for Him
He says, as I bite into my multi-grain.
Ah, well.
But this morning, your words also resonate, reminding me to let go of some things that seem of ultimate importance. To relax, and wait for manna.
ESI, Good point and I really like this post. Feeds right into what I strongly believe but not always strongly practice.
I will say we were made for loving relationships with God and with each other. But without the word of God, that all goes for nought. We need that word for these relationships to become more and more our experience, in the will of
God.
This is definitely the message that American Christians need to have. Most of us are utterly dependent, emotionally if not physically, on our stuff. I know I am. I'm trying to become more detached in that regard.
As to food, I see it as a daily pleasure. It's not enough to fill me, I want whatever it is that thrills me in that moment. Another thing I'm working on.
This is definitely the message that American Christians need to have. Most of us are utterly dependent, emotionally if not physically, on our stuff. I know I am. I'm trying to become more detached in that regard.
As to food, I see it as a daily pleasure. It's not enough to fill me, I want whatever it is that thrills me in that moment. Another thing I'm working on.
LL,
At least it was multigrain, instead of processed white. ;-)
Ted
Thanks for your thoughts - yes, I think you're right that we were made to be in relationship with God.
The point of the post is that we're not made to simply consume or to be satisfied with physical food...it's necessary but not enough and not the reason for our creation.
RLP,
Thanks - we cannot consume our way to happiness, can we? We won't be satisfied by these things, good as some of these things may be (food, vacations, books, apple pie...) because that's the way God made us.
We'll only get complete satisfaction in Him.
ESI, Yes. So many people live for that and miss the point. And even we in Christ can do the same, then we wonder why life seems so empty. The richest in Christ are often those who have the least in material goods.
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