Daily Bread, Daily Blessing

Sooner or later, lettuce wilts, meat spoils, milk turns, apples get soft and mushy, bananas turn black… In short, food rots.


Hardly an insight, I know….


But who of us has never experienced the unique stink of a rotten egg? Is there anyone reading this who has never mistakenly swallowed a big gulp of milk gone bad? Can we each relate to the strong churning in your stomach that happens when you find and – foolishly – open the mysterious container long buried in the back of the refrigerator, only to find – and smell – the black, fuzzy thing that 3 months ago was a leftover half of a tomato?

So let me say it again – in spite of our best efforts to prevent it, eventually all food rots.

This is why when we’re hungry, none of us want a year-old orange, or a piece of chicken that has sat opened and exposed on your counter top for the last 3 weeks. No, we want something that’s new, unopened, just-baked, or freshly picked from the valley of the Jolly Green Giant. This is also why we need a constant supply of fresh food, because what was good for yesterday may not, in fact, be good for today.

Evidently, even Heaven’s bread rots. Way back when the Hebrews first left Egypt for the Promised Land, they had to wrestle with the rot-factor of manna sent from the very hand of God. You remember the story…?

God had miraculously delivered the entire nation of Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. Perhaps as many as 2 million people were suddenly on a group hike away from the only place they’ve ever known – Egypt – and the only life they’ve ever known – slavery. As they left in something of a rush (see Ex. 12:33), they understandably took what food they could, including, according to Scripture, their unleavened bread dough (Ex 12:34).

Well you certainly don’t have to be a biblical scholar to figure out that regardless of the amount or variety of food they might have had with them, there’s no way it could last very long when you’re trying to feed 2 million people a day, not to mention the effects of desert heat on unpreserved food. And sure enough, not long after “…the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt…” the Israelites are giving Moses an absolute fit over the fact that they now don’t have anything to eat. Moses passes their complaint up the line to God.

The Lord said to Moses, "I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel. So tell them at twilight you will eat meat, and every morning you will eat all the breayou want. Then you will know I am the Lord your God.'"

That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost were on the desert ground. When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, "What is it?" because they did not know what it was.

So Moses told them, "This is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. The Lord has commanded, 'Each one of you must gather what he needs, about two quarts for every person in your family.'"

So the people of Israel did this; some people gathered much, and some gathered little. Then they measured it. The person who gathered more did not have too much, nor did the person who gathered less have too little. Each person gathered
just as much as he needed.

Moses said to them, "Don't keep any of it to eat the next day." But some of the people did not listen to Moses and kept part of it to eat the next morning. It became full of worms and began to stink, so Moses was angry with those people.

Every morning each person gathered as much food as he needed, but when the sun became hot, it melted away.

Exodus 16:11-21 (NCV)

Time after time throughout the Exodus story God has to continually drive home the point to the Israelites that He wanted them to depend on Him constantly and completely for protection, guidance, blessing, and – as this story illustrates – provision. “Don’t try to stockpile my blessings. What you gathered yesterday doesn’t count for today. And all that I provide for you today is just that – for today. You don’t have to s-t-r-e-t-c-h what I give in the hope of making it last longer. I won’t ask you to warm up bit of blessing leftovers that you have to try to preserve somehow. I don’t work that way. Rather, I have an infinite store of graces, and gifts, and mercies, and blessings that I’m anxious to share with you daily. And make no mistake, I WILL PROVIDE!”

So God gives them a practical object lesson to drive home His point. God caused the manna from heaven to rot – quickly.

When Jesus taught His disciples – the original bunch as well as the present-day group of us – to ask the Father to “give us this day our daily bread,” it wasn’t because refrigerators and modern food storage techniques hadn’t yet been invented! No, it was a manna reference. Jesus was pointing to the fact that God still wants to be depended on to provide the daily gifts, graces, and blessings we need. Why? Because, in the figurative sense, God’s blessings grow stale when we try to hoard and hold them past their daily expiration date.

In spite of that fact, many Christians (in the West, anyway) are frustratingly content to settle for a once-a-week, pre-packaged Sunday serving of God’s blessing. Now understand, many of these same folks will move heaven and earth to ensure they have something fresh and nourishing to eat – multiple times a day! But when it comes to the daily care and nourishing of their souls, rather than spending time each day gathering a ration of new and nourishing blessings fresh from the hand of God, they choose to gnaw on some fuzzy out-of-date bit of spiritual leftovers of gifts and graces that simply were not meant to last beyond the day they were given. And then, adding insult to injury, they drag themselves around in their spiritually under-fed and weakened state, wondering why it is they have little or no spiritual stamina and/or power!

It’s just not the way God set it up to work! His faithfulness in providing for our daily soul-nourishment is custom made to intersect with our obedience in coming to Him to receive. And when His provision and our obedience come together you have a believer who has the understanding described in Annie Johnson Flint’s classic hymn (SASB #579):

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase,
To added afflictions he addeth his mercy,
To multiplied trials he multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limits, his grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of his infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

Don’t let God’s blessings rot out from under you. Instead, go to Him every day for more!

Keep your altar ready and your fire hot…!

Willis

Now THAT Left a Mark!

Have you noticed how some people go to great – sometimes even extreme – lengths in marking, piercing, or modifying themselves? Some do it to stand out from the crowd as an expression of their individuality. Others mark themselves they way they do in order to blend in, as in some settings and cultures tattoos or other body markings are a visible sign of association or affiliation. Whatever the reason(s) behind the action, those who have marked themselves in some way are usually loud and proud of what they’ve done, wanting everyone to take notice.

One result of today’s explosion in the popularity of body art was the fellow who not long ago offered his bald head as advertising space! For a price, he was inviting businesses to “…send me a tattoo or have me go to a tattoo parlor and get a temporary ink tattoo on my forehead and this will be something [you] choose, a company name or domain name, perhaps [your] logo…"

Hmmm…

One of the first Sundays after I arrived in my appointment at the Evangeline Booth College, just a couple of years ago now, I noticed a number of the cadets – men as well as women – walking around our campus with bandages of various sizes stuck to their arms, legs, ankles, and Lord knows what all else. Some had a single, relatively small bandage, while others had so many they looked like apprentice stunt doubles from a slasher horror movie! It was another one of those things that make you go, “hmmm…” So going up to one guy whose forearm was wrapped with a 3-inch Ace bandage, I asked what had happened to his arm. “Oh, nothing,” he said, “we’re just required to cover our tattoos when we’re in uniform!”

I’ve got to tell you that while I am not what you’d call a “fan” of tattoos and body art, when measured on the “concern-o-meter” I’m far less interested with what marks or identifies someone on the outside. I take much more notice of what seems to mark a person on the inside that works its way out into behavior and attitude. (Note to any Southern Territory cadets who may happen to read this and get the wrong idea: NO! This does NOT mean that you can go out and get more tattoos!!)

If you’re a believer, did you know that at the point you invited Jesus into your heart, GOD marked you? It’s true -- check it out…

“[I]n Christ, God put his special mark of ownership on you

by giving you the Holy Spirit that he had promised.”
Ephesians 1:13 (NCV)

You see, with salvation comes an inner mark – by way of an inner Presence – which God intends for people to see in us.

Tell me...what person having just gotten a new tattoo or piercing doesn’t show it off to friends, family, and those they happen to meet (assuming, of course, that the “artwork” is placed in a location socially acceptable to be seen by the general public!)? So why should it be any different following the experience of being marked spiritually? Christ’s “artwork” within us should be easily seen in the way we live, the choices we make, the words we use, the attitudes we display. But far too often, believers shy away from letting their inner Jesus-marks be seen by those around them, preferring instead to hide what God intended to be noticeable. Tell me…just how does that help to promote and advance the Kingdom we claim to belong to?

Years ago, we used to sing a chorus that went like this:

I would that others might see
The marks of Jesus in me.
For they will not believe,
If they do not perceive
The marks of Jesus in me.

There’s a lot of truth in those simple words. It’s so much easier for someone to believe a witness that is clearly and openly seen.

I wonder...What do people see in your life? Do others see the evidence of His marks in you?

Since Jesus willingly and very publically took onto Himself the marks of punishment and death that belonged to each of us, how is it that some Christians try to justify or rationalize hiding the marks of His life and influence within them?

Coming back to the matter of the cadets with the bandages… I told them to stop the Band-Aid silliness. Remove the bandages and let the world see you for who they are – warts, tats, and all!

If you’ve been an “undercover Christian,” consider this an encouragement to do the same thing in your witness. Peel off whatever has hidden your Christ-marks. Be open and proud about the work Jesus has done, and is still doing in you.

Keep your altar ready and your fire hot…!

Willis