All creatures look to you
To give their food at the proper time.
When you give it to them,
They gather it up;
When you open your hand,
They are satisfied with good things.
When you hide your face,
They are terrified;
When you take away their breath,
They die and return to the dust.
There’s something exquisite about food. It looks good, it tastes good, it’s good for our bodies—what exquisite design!
Food also reminds us that, like all creatures, we’re dependent. We need food. We have full confidence in fridges and farmers, but if that supply were ever cut off we’d be in trouble in a couple of weeks.
And that also seems like the design of God. We don’t have humps like a camel to store fat that allows us to go weeks and weeks without eating. It’s all quite humbling. We’re never that far from death.
I think that’s why Jesus taught us to fast. Fasting is going without food purposefully. (In our day people do media/chocolate/coffee fasts, but the ancients experienced fasting as going without all food.) Part of what happens when we fast is that we’re reminded of our dependency. We feel in our tummies how much we need our LORD and, thankfully, how much he loves us and provides for us.
This praying day, if you choose to eat or if you choose to fast, be reminded of the One who “opens his hand so you can be satisfied with good things.”
Praying and grateful for food with you this day.
Andrew
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