The Word of God as Food (Part 1) By Babatunde Olugboji
Just as we need food for survival, we need God’s Word to nourish our souls. He created us with His Word, and with the same word, He sustains us.
Here is how God himself addresses Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. (Psalm 81:10)
However, just as we are intended to find fulfillment in God’s unwavering love (Psalm 90:14), His word is designed to nourish us and fill our souls abundantly. In other words, one of the primary means by which God satisfies our starving souls is by providing us with His words to consume. The psalmist prays, “I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments.” (Psalm 119:131)
Like a famished and thirsty traveler yearning for any form of sustenance, the psalmist approaches God’s word, seeking to be nourished. As a Bible scholar observes, “The psalmist portrays himself as a fledgling bird with its mouth agape, ready to receive nourishment.
This imagery suggests that he is consuming essential nutrition, rather than indulging in a mere snack or dessert. Rather than accepting God’s word out of a sense of duty, he pants and yearns for God’s commands. ”When God speaks, He has the capacity to fulfill the profound needs of the soul.
Bread of Heaven:
The Bible records Jesus’ miraculous act of feeding over 5000 people along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The onlookers are amazed, and a sense of hope begins to rise that He may indeed be the awaited Messiah, the “Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14).
Perceiving their intention to make Him king, he retreats for a time. Later that day, His disciples embark on a journey back to their base in Capernaum without Him. Then a storm arises. Following this, Jesus calms the storm. The following day, the crowd that had been fed realizes that Jesus and His disciples are absent. Consequently, they board boats and set off for Capernaum in search of Jesus.
The narrative intensifies when they eventually locate Him. They inquire, “Rabbi, when did You arrive here?” (John 6:25). Instead of addressing their relatively simple question, Jesus bypasses the small talk and gets straight to the core issue: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (John 6:26). This accusation is peculiar. In other parts of the Gospels, Jesus criticizes His adversaries or admonishes the crowds for their desire for signs. 
Here, however, it is not the signs and wonders that attract them, rather, it is the satisfaction of their hunger. Jesus warns them, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27). He clarifies that the effort needed to obtain the sustenance He offers is to have faith in Him. It is only at this juncture that they request a sign, completely overlooking His previous statement: “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness” (John 6:31).
In essence, they are saying, “Prove yourself, Jesus! Perform another miracle involving food like Moses did!” They make this demand despite the fact that He had just miraculously fed them on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee, an event to which they can personally attest.
As people without food can starve to death, people without spiritual food, God’s word, can starve to death spiritually. Let’s be wise.
To be continued
Have a great week.
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