I am a breakfast girl! It’s my favorite meal; I could eat breakfast food morning, noon, or night. Toast, pancakes, biscuits, eggs, salty meats of any kind—bring it on! My current go-to: whole oats, greek vanilla yogurt, blueberries, and honey; yum! I really look forward to breakfast each day (probably more than I should…).
Our church is currently fasting for 21 days; as a part of that, I have set aside food and activity that I know, for me, are barriers to or distractions from the devotion and communion I could/should be having with God. Breakfast, however, did not make my set-aside list.
At women’s Bible study last night, we were discussing the scriptures for this week’s teaching. The leaders asked us to share which verses we appreciated or really stood out. My contribution was the amplified classic version of Job 23:12:
I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed and treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
When I encountered this version a couple years ago, I both loved the beautiful wording and felt intimidated by its implications at the same time. I try to personalize scripture where I can, speaking it for and over myself in first-person. The wording of this verse was already set for that; what remained was to receive it as truth and be a “doer and not just a hearer only”. But I couldn’t do it; it felt too supreme and myself too inadequate, like I was being dishonest in who I perceived myself to be in order to confidently believe and walk it out. After all, I have often turned back from His commands and I have not treasured Him more than food; how could this verse possibly be true for me? Yet here it was again for my consideration.
So during my devotional time this morning, guess what? Yep; He asked me to give Him my tasty, tasty breakfast. My initial response? I balked, said no, pushed back against His ask. My incredulous flesh sprinted ahead to the front of the line, cutting in front of His Spirit in me before He even had a chance to respond. It’s embarrassing to feel bullied by your own self.
And so I went for a walk in the dark and the cold of the still-early morning; it’s a means by which I’ve found God faithful to “come, let us reason together”. He lets me speak my piece and try to make the case for not doing what He asks; He’s extraordinarily patient! Not surprisingly today, I had no true argument to bring, only that my worldly nature didn’t want to give up breakfast. Why was that such a big deal anyway, it’s just a few bites of food; how could that possibly matter in a kingdom?
As we walked and talked, He helped me understand. His kingdom is full of His followers, disciples, His chosen heirs, co-heirs with Christ; the ones whom He has sent with His authority to be witness and testimony for His salvation gospel, spokespeople for the King, to be distinctive from the world. It’s a pretty big deal; we’ve chosen to be under His command. It’s not about whether I miss out on a cup of yogurt, but that I’m obedient, willing, submitted. That’s part of what fasting is for—responsiveness; tuning in, listening, commitment.
Don’t we so often expect God to be true to the promises Jesus Himself taught in Matthew 7:7-8?
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
If we are asking, seeking, knocking, we anticipate Him faithfully complying. In a covenant relationship, would reciprocal behavior be out of line? If He is seeking any part of us, shouldn’t we let Him find it? If He asks something of us, shouldn’t we give it? If He is knocking at the door of our heart, shouldn’t we be open to Him?
It was longer than it should have been but I did tell Him yes, He could have the breakfast He asked for. It felt a little humbling as I remembered it was Job himself speaking the words in Job 23:12, who even in the direst destruction, having lost so very much, still essentially uttered, I do what God says; His words are a treasure to me! I’ll even go without food if I can have His words instead.
Giving Him my little breakfast reminds me of the boy who gave his little lunch of bread and fish to Jesus, with which a crowd of more than 5,000 were fed to the point of having leftovers (John 6:1-14). Jesus took what was given to him, spoke His thanks and blessing over the seemingly insignificant morsels, broke them (they became more in the breaking…), and distributed them to His disciples for them to give to the multitudes. Their bodies ingested the food but what they were really feeding on was Jesus’ supernatural working in what was given to Him; His words, His touch, in His hands. He works in His higher ways in what we give Him, when it’s not in our hands any more. Saying yes is treasuring His words more than a few bites of something.
How will He work in what I’m NOT eating?
What will He do with time I give Him that I’m not giving to other things?
Ephesians 3:20 declares He “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”.
It’s only day four; what might He have in store for the remaining 17 (and beyond)??
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image by ellie ellien on unsplash