My baby refuses to eat from a bottle. He wants his Momma. More than that, he wants the closeness, he wants the comfort, he wants what he has always known.
He wimpers in hunger, his stomach anxious to drink the milk, but his heart rejecting the method like a child unwilling to swallow the very medicine that will restore them to good health.
I act like this baby sometimes. Sometimes God gives me something that is good for me – something that will nourish my soul. But it comes in a form I am unfamiliar with, in a way I do not understand or need, and I reject the meal he provides, and continue wimpering for something more.
As the mother of this small baby, I know how to satisfy him – I know that if I step in, I can assure a happy baby in minutes, nursing him back to the cuddling and full belly he longs for. It is hard for me to say no – to stay away and allow him to learn, but neccessary nonetheless.
I imagine God feels the same way – so able to satisfy our longings, but knowing what is best for us may come with a little pain. He could step in, but we would never learn the lesson, and we would be right back where we started at the next feeding. So he chooses to wait, and make us endure, make us accept – to give us the unknown. He did it in the desert with the Israelites, giving them bread they had never seen and water from a source they had not fathomed.
We are like the Israelites – eating the mystery.
Deuteronomy 8:3
“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
May we guzzle every spirit-meal He provides no matter what form it comes in, knowing that it will nourish and satisfy our hunger!
