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Until You Eat It
By Mary E. Stephens
Jan. 11, 2025
When my mom was a little girl she hated oatmeal porridge.
Sometimes when she refused to eat it, her mother made her sit at
the table until she had finished it. As I recall, on one occasion she
was still sitting there when lunch time rolled around. I don't
know when she finally did get it down, but it was a hard lesson
for her.
My Gramma also taught her children to eat the things they didn't
like first so that they could get them out of the way. This works pretty well,
since once the serving of what you don't like is gone, you're
free to enjoy the rest of your meal. It did backfire on my mom's
youngest brother once when he was a little boy. He didn't like
peas. He and his siblings were guests at someone's home without
their parents being present, and they were served peas along
with the rest of their dinner. My uncle ate his right down so
quickly that the lady was impressed and, remarking that he really
loved peas, she generously gave him another helping. Thankfully,
his siblings spoke up and told her why he had gobbled his peas
down. Being a very understanding and gracious lady, she told him he
didn't have to eat the second helping, much to his relief.
Years later, when we were kids in our own home, I remember my
mom putting food in the fridge that one of us had refused to
eat. The offender was told they would have eat it at the next
meal (probably before they got anything else). It seems like my
sister might have pushed this through two meals once, but I
don't remember clearly. Much of the time, however, we were made
to eat the food one way or another.
We were not allowed to be picky eaters. Some parents don't
understand that, but my parents had been missionary kids and my
dad was a pastor for much of my life. They knew that people were
offended when kids turned up their noses at perfectly good food,
so they determined to teach us to eat things, even when we didn't
like them. They only made exceptions for things that were
completely non-essential (or that actually made us sick in some
way). If we didn't like a particular dessert or condiment, we
were usually allowed to politely turn it down. Also the
occasional real luxury item that came into our home was not
always required eating. If we didn't like morel mushrooms, for
example, we weren't encouraged to eat them because they were
rare delicacies. If someone didn't take their share, that was
"more for the rest of us." But, we were not allowed to say we
didn't like anything until we had at least tried it. "Yuck" was
a forbidden word in reference to food. If we said it, we got a
double portion of the food to which we were referring.
There are similarities in spiritual food. Sometimes God puts
something in front of us that we need to eat - we need to take
it in and absorb it into our lives. It is meant for our good and
for our growth. If we turn our noses up at it, so to speak, we
may find ourselves stuck there in that lesson until we take it
in. The Lord also may save it and force us to eat it at a later date
before we can get the good food other people are eating around
us. He may choose to discipline us at the time and make us eat it. He
may even leave some things off our plate because we aren't ready
to appreciate them and they are extra blessings we aren't mature
enough or adventurous enough to appreciate.
Here are some verses to consider:
Jeremiah 15:16
Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto
me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy
name, O LORD God of hosts.
Psalm 119:103
How sweet are thy words unto my taste!
yea, sweeter
than honey to my mouth!
Revelation
10:9-10 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give
me the little book. And he said unto me, Take
it,
and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall
be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out
of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet
as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Sometimes the things we learn from God's word are sweet to us,
but there is an element of sadness or "bitter" flavor afterwards
because we know that He will fulfill His word and it will not go
well for some people, even some whom we love.
1 Peter 2:1-3
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn
babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord
is
gracious.
Newborn babies have a strong desire for milk. It is their only
source of nourishment after they are born. We should desire
God's word in a similar way. And, the purpose is so that we can
grow. In doing this we will taste that the Lord is gracious.
This reminds me of
Psalm 34:8, O
taste and see that the LORD is
good: blessed is
the man that
trusteth in him.
Hebrews 5:12-14
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that
one teach you again which be
the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such
as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that
useth milk is
unskilful in the word of
righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to
them that are of full age,
even those who by reason of
use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
The
author of Hebrews is rebuking them because, although they should
have been mature by this point and able to consume the strong
meat of the scriptures, they were still acting like babies. They
were not skillful in understanding the word of God. Growing
through the word brings us to full age where we have exercised
our senses and are able to discern good and evil. This comes
through chewing meat - studying the word of God and not shying
away from the difficult or "tough" passages. There are people
who have been Christians for years and years and are still
unskillful in the word. This isn't how we are meant to live. If
you try to live your whole life on milk, things are going to go
wrong and there are nutrients that will be missed. Your health
will suffer for it. So, also with spiritual things. As humans we
are made to consume meat as we mature. As Christians we are
meant to consume spiritual meat as we mature. We are supposed to
become skilled in the word of righteousness.
2 Peter 3:18
But grow in grace, and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him
be
glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Jesus Christ is the Word according to John 1. So, growing in the
knowledge of Him requires the word of God. Hearing the word of
God brings faith to us, both before we are saved - unto
salvation, and after - to mature into grown up Christians. We
need to be consuming God's word and lessons He puts before us so
that we can grow into the people He means for us to be.
The question is: what do you choose? Are you going to willingly accept all the
spiritual food that God gives you? Or are you going to fight Him
and have to be force fed? It would be sad if, because you're too weak in
the faith or content with baby food, you miss out on the
meatier or richer things. Are you really happy to never get
past the milk stage?
If something is important, God, in His wisdom, may force you to
sit there with it until you eat it. You might as well make up
your mind now to "eat up," and get it over with, always
remembering that better things are coming.
