Food

Food

All the wild animals, large and small, and all the birds and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them in your power. I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.

Genesis 9:2-3

Breakfast: A bowl of granola with a glass of orange juice.

Lunch: A turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich.

Dinner: Sweet-and-sour chicken, rice, green beans, and tossed salad.

Is anyone hungry? All through the Bible, we see that God uses food to provide for us, to refresh us, and to sustain us.

God provides food for us. In Genesis 1:29, God said, “Look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.” Psalm 104:27-28 reads, “Every one of these [plants, animals, people] depends on you to give them their food as they need it. When you supply it, they gather it. You open your hand to feed them, and they are satisfied.” The words all and every point out the vast extent of God’s food supply throughout the world.

God refreshes us with food. The variety of foods that God has created on this earth is broad. He does more than just provide—he refreshes us with a mixture of shapes, smells, textures, colors, and flavors. Sprinkled through the Bible are foods like grapes, mandrakes, melons, figs, pomegranates, leeks, garlic, bread, quail, venison, and much more.

God sustains us with food. Perhaps the most vivid example in the Bible of food as sustenance is found in Nehemiah 9:21. Hearkening back to God’s care for the children of Israel, this verse acknowledges, “For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness.” God supernaturally provided manna and quail for the Israelites to eat.

It’s amazing to realize that God’s work of providing, refreshing, and sustaining goes back to Creation. “I realized,” wrote Ingrid Trobisch, “I had never really thanked God for all the work he had done in my creation. I was overcome as I thought of how God had made plans for my life long before I was born.” God is so good.

Gracious God who provides, refreshes, and sustains,

We want our mealtime thanks to be motivated out of gratitude to you and not just habit. Thanks for the bounty you provide us. Amen.