How much of your day's work is spent planning or making sure things don't fall through the cracks?
If we have a full or busy day of work, you can bet there is planning involved. The majority of our responsibilities include planning for what lies ahead. The simplist and guaranteed event that happens in our country at least three times a day is planning when and where we will eat and refuel our bodies and minds. God incorporated a need to plan and stay regulated with our bodies requirements for food consumption, sleep, and peace of mind.
As a Mom who raised three highly active and mega-calorie consuming kids, I have had my fair share of planning around food preparation. From the time these little bundles are welcomed into the world, an around the clock schedule for when to feed the baby begins. As we are able to leave the house with the baby, food must be packed or a designated area for where to nurse must be incorporated into the planned outting. Then there are the busy days, weeks, and years of planning meal prep for the week around work, school and practice schedules that include food consumption for five individuals. Food must be gathered from stores, brought home, unpacked and organized, and prepared several times daily.
There have definitely been times in me and my husbands lives where we were forced to stick to a fixed food budget. A time that comes to mind is a time when my husband found out he was losing an account, which forced his employer to withhold paychecks for 3 months before he was forced to move companies. He had only been in his current place of employment for a short time after making a career change. Of course, we found out the next day that we were expecting our first child. It's a wonder how these instances happen in life.
One evening when I was about 6 months pregnant I was craving steak. Me and my husband were out for a drive and close to an Outback Steak House. I told him I really wanted a steak. I knew we could not afford to go to a restaurant, as this was several months without him receiving a pay check. Thankfully I busy working but, still not enough was coming in to cover steak. He said, " Ok, you want steak?" Then he took the next left and headed toward the Outback. As we got closer, he rolled the windows down in the car and said, "Here's your steak." He proceeded to drive around the Outback three times. All the while, the charcoal and steak filled smoke billowed into the windows. I believe that I even stuck my head out the window at one point to really inhale the amazing smell of one of the most memoriable steaks that I've ever not eaten. Of course, I was laughing all the while. Thank God for humor and for my husband.
After God brought His people, the Jews out of Egypt and freed them from slavery, there was much grumbling from the children. They wondered how their lives were any better now, when they had left behind full pots of meat and abundant bread to fill their bellies that were available to them daily. Now they were in the desert with no food. The Lord heard the grumblings of the children of Israel and spoke to Moses with promises that He would provide food for His people daily.
The Lord provided food for His people. God shows that we must be disciplined even with our food consumption. We must learn to trust Him to meet our needs. Even in the desert, the Lord required each household to take no more than what they needed for each day. If they took more than what they needed it would spoil and become infested with worms. These are important reminders to all God's people. He wants us to watch what we eat. He wants us to trust Him to provide. He wants us to pray to Him with needs that we have. He also wants us to obey Him when He tells us to only take what we need for a day. Remember the "Our Father," that He told us to pray. His prayer incorporates all the above lessons.
Exodus 16: 11- 18
“11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
12 “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying,
‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread.
And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”
13 So it was that quail came up at evening and covered the camp,
and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp.
14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness,
was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground.
15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another,
“What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
16 This is the thing which the Lord has commanded:
‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person,
according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’ ”
17 Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less.
18 So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over,
and he who gathered little had no lack.
Every man had gathered according to each one’s need.”
The other wonderful thing about the food that God provided daily for the Israelites, was that they didn’t have to pack food to travel across and through the desert. They didn’t have to worry about the food spoiling. They were instructed to take only what they needed for that day, their daily bread.
God is good!
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