God is always cooking up new things for us; it’s His joy. And so, memories may be cherished, but we must keep them in their place, lest they subdue us. We have all heard of people who spend much of their time reliving the past. The reasons for this can vary. Perhaps they are getting up in years and don’t see much of a future ahead. Possibly tragedy has hit; both the present and the future now look bleak. Then there are those who are just overly sentimental by nature. What’s listed above is often described in such terms as: “prisoners of the past,” “quitters,” “sentimental fools,” etc. But what they all have in common is that they have come to settle for yesterday’s bread.
It was the ancient Hebrews who quickly learned of the problem with yesterday’s bread. For the first time in over four hundred years Israel had become a free people. But where would such a great number now find the food needed to sustain them day after day until they came into the Promised Land? For all who can conceive of it, their God would miraculously provide it for them. “I will rain bread from heaven for you,” Jehovah said to Moses. And it happened as He said. The bread would come upon their camps in the early morning. However with this heavenly bread there came a stipulation. The people only had so many hours in which to eat it. In other words, one of the first laws instituted for the new nation under God was: No eating old bread. Nevertheless many of them neglected the command and let the bread remain past the time allowed. Also they went out to gather it on the seventh day – the day they were instructed not to gather it. Yes, it appears that from the beginning they were an obstinate bunch.
Many have been the times when I’ve heard a believer say words such as these: “With all the miracles that the people in the wilderness witnessed, how could they have doubted and disobeyed as they did?” My answer would be that we see and hear Him in greater ways today - or so we ought to - and we doubt and disobey even as did the Hebrews. Would it surprise you to know that the Almighty is still raining bread from heaven? It has never stopped. And would you believe that like the ancients, we too have it remain past its time? In other words, we too have a thing for old bread.
But what exactly is this bread that He sends His children today? It is Jesus. Did Christ himself not say, “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” But how do we receive this food and this drink, the body and the blood of our Lord? It is in the form of the written Word that we receive Him. Listen to what His disciple John penned: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” And so, when we receive into our hearts and our minds the written Word, we receive the bread which comes down from heaven, Jesus Christ our Lord. There is one thing however that the church has failed to grasp. Simply it is this. Jesus ever comes to us new and fresh - that is to say, at the time the old bread is no longer edible. Yet we commit the same wrongs and have the same lack of faith as the Israelites. We store Him up and neglect what has arrived in our new season. Why? The answer isn’t difficult. The old bread is already handy. It is more accessible than the new that has just fallen fresh from heaven. We may understand that the old will not be as beneficial to the believer as what has come anew, but that’s okay by us. It’s okay because we have grown quite familiar with what is now past its time; we’ve come to know it well. Therefore it will never surprise us, find us unprepared for it, or possibly even shock us. Fresh bread from heaven has a tendency to sometimes do these things. Still, our heavenly Father knows the nutriments each of us needs for the continued growth and well-being of our spirit man.
Or let’s learn a lesson from our lives in the flesh. All of us know that when newborns come into the world, they can feed on nothing more than the mother’s milk, or its equivalent. After some time they’re able to take in baby food. From there they graduate to certain table foods. Then before we know it they’re eating meat right along with the rest of us. It is pretty much the same with one who becomes born of God. What I’m saying is that our God has more than just milk and some easy to chew table foods in mind for us. Eventually He desires for us to partake of a little meat. For the more complete the diet of our spirit man is, the stronger and healthier we will become. The stronger and healthier we become, the more fit we are to take up our weapons of war and efficiently utilize them.
Still, many are the people of faith who never imagine themselves ingesting anything beyond milk and some light foods. And so, their weapon and the armour they become clad with are not of the greatest quality, yet it is all that they can bear; too light in weight perhaps; not very able to protect, or to strike a significant blow with. However, God in His mercy and loving-kindness towards His children often lifts up a standard against their foes, lest they be destroyed. But then there are those who have become strong and wise for reason of how they partake of the Lord in the food and drink He offers them. These are likely to do well in the battles they engage in. Yet they must never come to believe that they have done enough; that they have gone the distance; that they can put down the sword and rest. As long as we walk in the shoes of our mortal man, the Lord ever looks to do something new in us. Never does He tire of equipping His soldier with a new weapon, teaching him of a new strategy, or having him climb a mountain that he thought to be too great. You see, all of the above are much like the food and drink we take in. He would have them to be new at every new season of our lives, always benefiting us in newer and greater ways.
Every believer who is resolute and steadfast in their God, fully devoted to the carrying out of His will – to them the darkness becomes real. Rightly do they discern that there is an unseen enemy who moves about. His arrow can sow in them a lie if they are not careful; his flaming darts, deception. The weapons of his warfare may in fact strike hearts with fear, discouragement, unbelief, gloom, unfounded suspicions, anger, and the list goes on. But the mighty One of heaven and earth has not left the sons and daughters of the kingdom without means. For them He has fashioned armour for their protection, and weapons by which they may attain victories. “And the weapons of our warfare,” writes the apostle, “are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds…” And what exactly is it that our Lord and Captain equips us with, that we may stand and not fall in the dark day? Simply it is the written Word. Even as this same Word serves as food for our spirit man while we grow in spirit and truth, so does it serve for the weaponry that God provides us.
Why is it that the people of faith have an enemy so bent on their destruction? It is because he is a hater of God, and all that is good. And so it only follows that he hates all who are loved of God, and love Him in return. His senses are not dull but keen. These he puts to use while he fully devotes himself to the task of learning all about us, of coming to know us well. Sad to say, he may outshine the believer in what he has been called to. What is his top priority? It is to know our strengths and our weaknesses. He then directs his attacks at the areas where he sees we are vulnerable. But for this we have a shield. The shield is our faith. It is able to intercept lies - those flaming arrows - before they find their aim. Now we counter with the sword. Our sword is the Word of truth, but now a specific word that has come to us for the present danger, so that we may expel the lie intent on bringing us down. Yet the word that He sends us we must believe in our hearts, in order for us to emerge victorious in the conflict. And such is the nature of spirit warfare.
There is however a common misunderstanding that so many of us have when it comes to the use of what He has equipped us with. We somehow feel that the sword that’s been put into our hand is the one we will fight with till the end of our pilgrimage in this foreign land; we believe that a word or a concept He’s unfolded to us has been given that we may wield it against the darkness for as long as our warfare goes. After all, it came to us so alive and with power. In a mere breath so great a victory was wrought by it. But would it surprise you to know that it may have only been given for a day, perhaps an hour, or only for a moment? But the moment was crucial. When afterwards we tried to employ it, it was awkward, strange to our hand, no longer able. But we thought it best for the weapon to remain on our person, since we continually cherished the memory of its victory, though now it only served to weigh us down. “Abandon it!” exclaimed the Lord. “It is no longer useful. It has become cankered; the weapon has fulfilled its purpose. I have new things for you. Put away the weapons of the warfare of long ago and I will do a new thing with you. Throw out the old manna with its worms. Drink of the new wine. And I have meat for you to eat that you know not of. I desire to fashion for you a sword that you have never before seen, a greater armour than what you have known. I will cut out for you a path that you have never trod, and bring you to a mountain that will amaze you. Yes, and there are deeper wells to drink from, so that springs of living water will ever gush forth from within you.” Such is the longing of the Lord for His own.
Even as He takes the children from faith to faith, its increase knowing no end; or as He brings them from glory to glory until they shine forth like the Son, so He works in the lives of His elect concerning all things. It is then not meant for us to stop in one place for too long, or to become attached to a thing beyond the time it was intended for us. The old at some point becomes no longer profitable for where He is about to take us. A new day has come. A new region lies before us. Yet to move from one path onto another
is rarely if ever a smooth transition. But if we refuse the Spirit’s bidding to follow, it is at that point that the adventure ends. It is then that we’ll gradually sink into a spiritual stupor. We’ll become overly fond of past experiences and speak often of them. Now we are content to just sit and bide our time until we go home to be with the Lord. It sounds very peaceful and rewarding, we must admit. But is this a picture of one who has finished the race? Unless I’m wrong, I would think that comes upon the drawing of our last breath. I’m sure that Caleb of old would have agreed. I say this because he was still seeking to do battle – and then with giants - when he was a whole generation older than the rest of Israel’s army.
I wonder. Even with the ushering in of the kingdom in its fullness, will the development of our person simply cease? Or could it be that we will always come to know Him at greater heights and depths? Will we not ever search Him out? Will not knowledge and understanding ever increase towards Him who is Himself unending? And the delight of the new wine – will it never cease to be made new in us? The Word of God, the Bread of Life – will He not be our sustenance forever in all these things?
Where then do boundaries lie in the things that God has planned? I imagine there would be no place for them. That is, unless we choose to stop and set them up. But that would never change the fact that He is from Everlasting to Everlasting. And continuously He calls out to tell us so. We then should never stop seeking, following, hoping or believing, for the end of Him is nowhere to be found. And so, ever does He turn our way, bidding us always to come and dine.
- J. Pecoraro
