Coriander Bread and Honey
I am frequently mystified by the Lord’s chosen way of providing for me, but it is always, always good.
When you ask God to “Give me my daily bread,” as he invited us to, what do you hear in that petition?
I’ve heard it as though God’s provision were conditional. “I’ll give you bread if you, 1. keep asking me so I can feel important and 2. only beg for the bare minimum to stay alive.” As though he’s dividing out chunks of dry loaves to peasants in the bread line. Peasants who should be grateful. “Give us this day our daily bread” can sound like “put me in my place, and teach me not to expect much.”
I know in my head that God is Love, but my knee-jerk reaction to scripture can still make him sound like a selfish, petty, needy boyfriend.
How do I “fix” my reading? How do I hear him speaking in his real tone of voice? It can help to ask an obvious question: if he’s the kind of God who wants me to ask for daily bread, what is daily bread? Is it something given by a stingy, joyless taskmaster?
What better example is there of daily bread than manna? As the Israelites traveled in the wilderness on their way to Canaan after fleeing their slave-masters in Egypt, God sent a flake-like substance to appear around the Israelite camp every morning for them to gather and eat . It fell six days a week, with a double portion on the sixth day so they’d have enough without harvesting on the sabbath. It was as much as anyone could need for one day.
It fell every morning, regardless of their good or bad behavior, every day for forty YEARS. They grumbled? Manna. They made a golden calf to worship? Manna. Whether they acknowledged him or not, he fed them manna. So much for mis-reading #1. He didn’t need them to make him feel important by doing some kind of manna-dance in the morning. He sent it every, single, day.
It was more than sustenance, too. It was delicious! It was flaky and tasted like coriander and honey. It was more than they needed. It didn’t just keep body and soul together. It fed both body and soul. So much for mis-reading #2. They were not kept on a dry crust of bread and stale water. The Lord delighted to delight them!
So what is my daily bread? It is delightful sustenance that I can trust him to provide. I don’t have to ask correctly or often enough. I don’t have to expect the bare minimum. In fact, I don’t have to know what to expect at all! The Lord gives me my daily bread in forms I never looked for.
God told the Israelites he’d provide bread for them, but when it appeared the first morning, they just said, “What is it?” The name for this daily bread became “manna”, which sounds like the Hebrew for “what is it?” I am frequently mystified by the Lord’s chosen way of providing for me, but it is always, always good.
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Provisions for the Road
"Not Home Yet" by Brandon & Liv Booth
It’s not “Coriander Bread with Honey” but Liv’s and Brandon’s book: Not Home Yet includes Liv’s full recipe for the bread we serve every week at our Signpost Inn Evenings. We open our home and offer hospitality and welcome. The conversation is good, but it’s the bread that keeps people coming back!
Grab the book, learn how to give the “incarnate grace of hospitality” to others and bake a great loaf of bread!
The audio version is also available!
Food for Thought
Things the team found interesting this week, no endorsement implied.
These Are The 2 Paths To Happiness
An Interview with Naval Ravikant on YouTube
What makes us happy? Money? Fame? Yep, sure, IF you want a kind of hollow happiness. This video is a fascinating examination of happiness from a non-Christian, quasi-Buddhist perspective. It’s a great way to start the conversation and then ask, “What would Jesus say?”
The Most Failed Writer of All Time - Mockingbird
By David Zahl at Mocking Bird
“Success is an attire; sometimes it slows you down if it grows too heavy… Success destroys what gives success.”
Why Do Our Moral Views Keep Changing?
Psychology Today
“The next time you find yourself baffled by someone whose moral views differ sharply from your own… it's worth thinking about the reasons behind the change.”
