May 3, 2017
Good Morning!
Warm bread and olive oil, chips, popcorn, and chocolate, these foods are the ones that I find hard to resist. I don’t always crave them. But during the middle of the afternoon, my resolve wanes and, more often than I’d like to admit, I begin to want them. The foods we crave, generally speaking, tend to be high in the trifecta of cravers everywhere: fat, sugar, and salt.
“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” 1 Peter 2:2,3
Those first weeks of life, an infant wants to be fed every two hours. They hungrily seek and search frantically for the milk their mother provides as their craving to be fed kicks in. Satiated, the babe passes out in what can only be referred to as a milk coma. The cycle repeats two hours later when the need to be fed returns. Peter has issued quite a challenge to believers in this verse.
What makes a craver crave the pure spiritual milk God wants us to have? The knowledge that God is good and the taste of His loving kindness. One taste triggers the craving. I want, like a newborn baby, to latch on and drink freely of His word. When you know God is good, you want more.
“O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.” 2 Samuel 7:28
The word of God is loaded with the elements of fat, sugar, and salt. The perfect ingredients for those who have cravings. When the Israelites offered sacrifices to God, they were instructed to offer fat with the offerings. The fat of the animal was the choice part, the part God desired (Leviticus 3:16). Think of the fat of His word as the rich cream of milk, the heavy whipping cream that most of us don’t use often. His word is rich, abundant, and satisfies.
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103
His word brings a spiritual sweetness to our lives. We can find encouragement, joy, and understanding within the pages of scripture that will bring a lightness to our spirits even in times of great difficulty. His word comforts, guides, teaches, and disciplines us in ways that refresh and restore our souls.
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you make know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:6
In ancient times, newborns were salted (Ezekiel 16:4) to prevent infection and disease. Salt was also used as a preservative and a seasoning. The priests of Israel would use salt to purify the equipment used in the worship of God as well as include salt in the daily offerings by fire. The salt of His word purifies us through truth. We find words of correction and grace that season us so that we also can offer grace to others.
One taste of God’s kindness and goodness and we are no longer satisfied with any substitute. We only crave what He can offer. His word fills us and grows us into our salvation. Have you tasted that the Lord is good?
“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8
Blessings,
Mimi
