While having lunch with my son the other day, we got into a discussion about what could be known about God from the food before us. We thought of these:
- He’s good, and he cares about us. He has created us with a need, to eat, and he has amply provided for that need. There is plenty of food on the earth to feed his creation, both man and beast.
- He wants for us to enjoy life. We have a sense of taste, and he hasn’t made our food an unpleasant experience. On the contrary, he has made eating a very pleasant thing, with a great variety of foods and tastes to choose from.
Other things about food and God we thought of:
- The enjoyment of the fellowship we have as we gather together to eat, whether as a family, or as a congregation. It is a good gift he has given to us, to have a reason to sit down together, and enjoy each other’s company.
- Fasting makes a difference with him. Whether it’s because of a more earnest desire on our part for the situation about which we’re fasting, whether it’s from a father’s care for his children that he doesn’t want us to be hungry, or for whatever reason may be, fasting can accomplish something beyond prayer, Matthew 6:18, Mark 9:29.
- He has used famine for discipline, and to accomplish his purposes, Leviticus 26:26-28, Psalm 105:16ff.
I later realized that his omnipotence is also seen, in that he is able to provide for the needs of all men.