Are You Feeling Satisfied with Scraps for Dinner?
We are into the new year and hence, new beginnings. Gaining spiritual insight is having the ability to use our spiritual eyes and ears, so that we can receive the ah-ha realisations from the Lord and thereby set our lives on a good path for the year. Gaining insight is very much a function of how much time we spend in our bibles. The really sad thing about us as believers, is we are satisfied with very little when it comes to the Word of God.
We used to have two miniature Dachshunds, Speedy and Beauty. Cute, but not very intelligent. They lived in a vet’s house, were well fed and had every reason to be content. They got the best quality dog food our money could buy, specially “formulated for all their nutritional needs” and as the vet kept telling me, they “did not need any scraps, it will just make them fat and unhealthy.”
The word of God is like that, specially formulated and meeting all my spiritual needs.
“Every scripture is God-breathed and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness. So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17)
The bible has everything we need for life. A regular diet of the word would make us “complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We don’t need anything else, it is the spiritual food for our spirits.
But coming back to Speedy and Beauty, these dogs were not satisfied with quality dog food specially formulated for their needs. Like we can be not satisfied with just reading our bibles, we follow various streams of information looking for that message that will feed our souls. The dogs seemed hungry all the time, which is what I think we become (spiritually hungry) when we don’t spend an appropriate time in the word of God. Always being hungry, the dogs would breath in everything you put into their bowls, whether it was bread or fillet steak!
As a result, Speedy (who lives up to his name when it comes to food) was always sitting ready, tail wagging, waiting for food. He finally took to standing between my feet while I was preparing meals, keeping careful watch for anything…anything at all… that may fall from the chopping board. It could be onions, broccoli, carrot peel, you name it and he will inhale it faster than you can say “Jack flash.”
It’s not that he was hungry; he just had no discretion! No taste either for that matter! I’d wave my finger at him, telling him that he should “get a life and enjoy his food more,” but all he did was watch my hand and the surrounding area in case he missed something!
He eats without thought or discretion.
He eats without tasting what he has eaten.
Even though he had good food available to him, he ignored it and opted for scraps from my table.
I think God feels as frustrated with me when it comes to the food He is feeding me. 
- I sit there in the morning, waiting at His feet for any “crumb” from His table, when each day; He has prepared a table that is overflowing for me (Psalm 23:5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.“)
- I am so intent of eating the crumbs that I do not actually taste what He has given me. (Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”)
- Each day I quickly wolf down what the Lord has prepared for me, but it is quickly done and I am off to find some more “truth” elsewhere.
- I am not thinking about or actually tasting the spiritual food. I am not meditating on it (which in the original Hebrew means to chew). Yet this same food, has the ability to fulfill the needs of my spirit completely, and it really is all I need to live.
Instead I go out looking for other sources of food: other people’s interpretation of the Word, or what other respected people are saying about the Word, happily selecting a few morsels from here or there. And when my friends share with me an insight they have received from the Word, having enjoyed some delicious bread from the Lord, I hungrily lick up their crumbs.
Yet never do I take the time and intentionally taste and savor the delicious feast that He prepares for me everyday, which will meet all my needs in every aspect of my life! Each day the Lord prepares a table for me, so that I can find refreshment, sustenance and all I will need for life.
Everyday He gives me my daily bread, do I even pitch up to eat?
So ask yourself:
- Are you eating from the Word of God to meet the needs of your spirit and be refreshed, sustained, energised, encouraged, renewed etc?
- When you do eat, do you tick off a to do list – I have read my bible. Short, quick and finished. Do you engage in study, meditation, prayer and participate in a relationship with the Lord, making it a priority of your day? Do you taste what the Lord reveals to you in scripture and delight in the insight given?
- Are you satisfied with getting your “truth” from another source other than the word of God, because you could not be bothered to mine the word of God for your own rich morsels that satisfy the needs of your soul?
Oh Lord, please let me never neglect to eat from Your Word personally. Do not allow me to settle for the crumbs from another’s table, but help me to feast on your Word myself. Help me to discern that the best meal is served up in the pages of your Word. I ask Lord that you will refresh my times in scripture so that I may realise and enjoy the richest of fare from your Word. Help me to make spending time in your word a priority for this year so that I may receive insight and grow up in my faith to be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.
Other posts that may interest you are:
Five Obstacles to Spiritual Growth
Tree Woman – Rooted and Growing Spiritually
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