Have you
ever seen something in a couple of different verses, and missed putting the two
together?
I had that
happen this week, and I felt God breathing on it. When I feel that, I try to
take it seriously, even if the thing he’s breathing on isn’t exegetically
pristine.
Someone pointed out this verse to me recently:
Someone pointed out this verse to me recently:
"If
the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to
us, a land which flows with milk and honey. "Only do not rebel against the
Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection
has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them."
[Numbers 14:8-9]
Read that
again: the enemies of the fulfillment of the promise of God are our bread. Our
nourishment. Provision for us.
This
reminds me of something Father said to me one time when I was asking him to
take these kind of enemies away from me: “Son, how do you ever expect to become
an overcomer if you never have anything to overcome?” May I be honest? That
wasn’t actually comforting to me at the time.
But he’s
talking about enemies as bread. Bread. That reminds me of another verse:
“Give us
this day our daily bread.” [Matthew 6:11]
Together, these verses are suggesting a couple of truths to me:
Together, these verses are suggesting a couple of truths to me:
♦ I’ve
misunderstood the enemies and obstacles to the fulfillment of God’s promises. I’ve
thought of them as evil, bad, nasty things. It sounds like they’re something I
should embrace: my nourishment, my provision, the stepping stones into the
promise.
♦ There’s a
connection between these enemies and obstacles, and the provision that Jesus
specifically instructs me to pray for. Seriously? Am I supposed to pray for
these? Well, if the Book is true (consider Matthew 5:44) Now I’m not convinced
that he’s necessarily saying, “Pray that enemies come into your life” when he
commands “Pray for your enemies,” but I don’t think I can stretch it to “Pray
that you’d never have enemies” either.
♦ And what’s
this about *daily* bread? I heard something the other day: “A day
without an enemy to overcome is a wasted day.”
♦ Can I be
honest? Learning how to receive nourishment from bread is easy. Learning how to
receive nourishment from enemies is more difficult. It might be, though, more
important.
Father is
not, I’m convinced, all that excited about us having enemies to overcome. I’m
convinced that he’s far more interested in the “overcoming” part than he is
about the difficulties of handling the enemies. I’m convinced that part of the
reason that overcoming is interesting to him is that it brings plunder into the Kingdom.
It also rubs the enemy’s nose in God’s victory in us. That’s cool too.
It also rubs the enemy’s nose in God’s victory in us. That’s cool too.
But the
enemies in your way, the obstacles between you and your promises, those are
your bread. Learn to feast on them.