As you might guess from my previous post, I have been in need of some encouragement. While some aspects of my life have gone very well, and I am grateful for God’s blessing on me and my family through the COVID-19 crisis, God has allowed me to experience frustration with regard to churches in the area where I live.
This morning, I read this verse in Deuteronomy:
He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 8:3 (CSB)
As I read these words this morning, I am encouraged by them.
First, I am challenged that the hunger I have felt for a healthy church fellowship should teach me humility. Rather than grumbling to God about my lack, I should realize that God has promised to sustain me until the end. And, I as I learn humility, I also learn that not all my ideas of how church should happen are correct. Perhaps some of my ideas are unrealistic and need to be abandoned.
Hunger teaches us that most of life is beyond our control. Realization that this is so should teach us humility. The fact that there is any church at all is a work of God’s grace. The church is the manna that God provides for our hunger for fellowship and encouragement.
Secondly, in Scripture, I have the very words of God that have been given to teach us the way to go. Also, the Apostle John teaches us that Jesus himself is the very Word of God. I have Scripture and I have Jesus.
As recorded in John 6, Jesus claimed to be the bread of life, thus indicating that the mana that the Israelites ate in the desert was a picture. Manna is to our physical hunger what the Word of God is to our spiritual hunger. Jesus and the recorded words of God in Scripture are sufficient for our spiritual nourishment.
I am encouraged that when I look to Jesus (and take my eyes off the train wreck around me), I have enough.
If you are encouraged by this post or would like to make a comment, please use the comment form below to offer your feedback. I enjoy hearing from you.