Feed Me!

I love the smell of fresh baked bread!  It ranks up there with the smell of coffee and bacon (the trifecta of breakfast).  There is a bakery next to a restaurant we love to eat at that has wonderful bread, cookies, pastries and more delicious goodies.  The smell of the bakery hits you way before you get there.  Now that you’re hungry let’s talk about food some more. Buying groceries is something all of us must do because we all must eat.  My little girl has a one word phrase when she wants to eat.  She cries out “hungry” – not “I’m hungry” or “Can I have a snack.”  Hunger drives us to gather food.  At the grocery store there are many aisles of various foods.  You gather what you need for a week or two, take that home and prepare daily meals out of that supply. 

In Matthew 6:11, Jesus said, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  He was referring to praying for and spending time in a daily word from God’s Bible.  The Bible is, let’s say, the “grocery store”.  You can’t eat the whole grocery store at one time but you can gather enough to fill you one meal at a time and then go back for more when that runs out.  We eat physical meals several times daily (and snack in between).  We should also eat “spiritual” meals several times each day (and snack in between).  We must stroll through the “aisles” (books, chapters) of God’s Word and select what we need for that day’s meal.  Maybe we need more patience – go the “aisle” with patience scriptures on the shelf and put them in your basket.  If you can’t find it in the big “grocery store” (Bible) then ask for directions (from a pastor or more mature Christian) or just read the signs (table of contents, index).

Jesus said we need bread daily.  The Old Testament tells of a story when manna, a substance used to make bread or that was eaten by itself, fell from heaven and was available each day to feed the Israelites while they were wandering in the desert (Exodus 16:1-36; Numbers 11:1-9).  The manna was only good for that day.  Any manna stored up (possibly in fear or greed) was infested by worms and mold.  The picture was that God provided daily food to fill them.  We too need daily food from the Lord – that’s His Word.  What I ate (read and applied) yesterday was good but I need a fresh Word from the Lord today.  Physical food is great and a must but we can’t live by bread alone – but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). 

Jesus said something great.  He is the Bread of Life.  John 6:35 says, “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’”  He is the true and living bread (John 6:51, 58).  Jesus had just performed an all-you-can-eat miracle of feeding the five thousand in John 6:1-15.  It was so good and the people were hungry the next day came to find Jesus so He could do it again.  He told them His real purpose wasn’t to be a buffet for the belly but one for the soul.  The things of this world will not satisfy you very long.  You can be deceived into thinking that worldly things will bring fulfillment.  Maybe they do for a moment but they quickly fade and we’re off searching for the next fix.  My prayer is that you find your fulfillment in The Bread of Life – Jesus and His daily Bread (the Bible).  Don’t chase after Jesus like the 5,000, merely searching for “bread and fish” and miss Him - the Bread of Life.

Thirsty?

Have you ever been so thirsty you thought you were going to die? Maybe your thirst hasn’t ever been that bad but I’m sure you have had a time when you really needed a drink. Maybe after working or exercising? Water is not an option for life, it is a necessity. You can go a few weeks without food but you will die without water in a couple of days. Our bodies are comprised of about 70% water, which blew the mind of my six year old when I told her that. She thought for sure she was about 70% candy and part of me thinks she is right.

Thirst is an indication of dryness. Your brain tells your mouth, lips, and tongue you need refreshment. But it’s not your mouth, lips and tongue that really need the water – it’s your vital organs. Your mouth’s dryness is a warning your life needs refreshing water or you will die. Where there is thirst, there is dryness. Where there is thirst, there is a longing to be refreshed. One day Jesus told a woman at a popular well, “Give me to drink” (John 4:7). This woman had more than a physical thirst. She was dry and thirsty in her soul. She spent her life trying to quench her inner thirst with many broken relationships. Her thirst could only be quenched by “living water”. Jesus gave it to her that day and she never thirst in her soul again. This was what she had been searching for all of her life and this well never ran dry.

In Isaiah 43:19, the Lord tells us, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Verse 20 goes on to say He will provide a drink to His people. In Israel, it rains mostly in the winter. The dry river beds in the summer stand as a testimony that the rain that fell will once again fall and refresh the land. When the rains do come in Israel the riverbeds usually overflow into the land around them and refresh the land and water the crops. This is the picture of God giving rivers in the desert.

Water is a emblem of the Holy Spirit in Scripture. God wants to pour His Spirit into your life and soak you to the point of overflowing. Not only does it refresh your dry riverbed, it overflows in the life of those around you. God doesn’t want you dry and empty. He wants you filled with His Spirit, overflowing with purpose and calling. Psalm 42:1-2 says, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” Appearing before Him every morning with a hunger and thirst opens your dry and weary riverbed before Him. Panting like a water-starved deer is how we should seek Him every day. Searching relentlessly for His presence. The good news is you don’t have to look far. Just look to Jesus and stop searching in the wrong places.

Are you thirsty? Is your life dry and weary? Have you tried to quench the thirst in your life through relationships, achievement, prestige, etc? Everything in life will leave you wanting more because it cannot fill. You will constantly have to go back to those wells and never be able to draw out enough to quench your innermost thirst and dryness. Jesus can quench your thirst and will keep you refreshed and hydrated. You can be like Isaiah 58:11, “And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong. And you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”

A Drink For The Thirsty Soul

John wrote in Revelation 1:18 these powerful words of Jesus, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore.” Jesus defeated death and has the keys of not only Hades and Death, but also the key to a fulfilled life in Him. John goes on to say in Revelation 3, “I know your works. You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” Does that sound like you? Are you spiritually dead? Sometimes the events of life can drain us. Maybe your spiritual life was once vibrant and life-giving but now it has been sucked dry. You can be refreshed and once again be satisfied.

Isaiah 55:1-2 declares the hope you need. “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink, even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk - it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.” There is a drink for the thirsty soul that only Jesus can provide. A drink of alcohol won’t fill you or bring the peace you need. The Lord isn’t saying you need a better diet (although I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt most of us). It is the refreshment in the Spirit. It is time spent in His presence. Jesus is the drink for the thirsty soul.

Maybe you’ve been through some real trials and temptations lately. The Psalmist wrote, “The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead. So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.” Does this sound like you? There is a drink for the thirsty soul. Perhaps you’ve experienced a personal tragedy. Psalms 61:2 says, “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to a rock that is higher than I.” Have you been attacked unjustly by those around you? It especially hurts when it’s those you love the most. The Psalmist experienced this,” With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause” (Psalm 109:3). There is a refuge of living water for your thirsty soul.

Maybe you have been just overwhelmed with work and your life is just full and fast paced. Palm 63:1-2 says, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” There is no land too dry and no time too weary that a drink of His Spirit cannot satisfy. You could be even caught in shame in guilt. Psalm 38:4 says, “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.” There is no burden too heavy for the Lord.

It is time for you to drink from the fountain of the Lord’s Spirit again. John ends Revelation with these words, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17). Refreshment is only found in God’s Spirit. It is better than water in a desert and air conditioning in the summer. Respond to this invitation from the Lord to renew your relationship with Him. Repent of obstacles and sin in your way and drink of His living waters once again.